# William Boyd on spy fiction and the British psyche

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Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-new-statesman-podcast-subscriber-only-edition-1939815/william-boyd-on-spy-fiction-and-the-british-psyche.md
Podcast: [The New Statesman Podcast, Subscriber Only Edition](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-new-statesman-podcast-subscriber-only-edition-1939815)
Published: 2026-05-09T09:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://www.newstatesman.com/podcasts
Audio file: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/nssubscribers1913/Boyd_Podcast.mp3?dest-id=814410
Processing state: not_requested
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Duration seconds: 2184

## Resource

Spies - and stories about spies - are one of Britain's greatest cultural exports. From Ian Fleming's James Bond, to the works of John le Carré and Graham Greene, it seems that in the world's eyes there is something quintessentially English about the double agent and his, or her, deadly deceptions. Novelist and screenwriter William Boyd shares this fascination. He first explored the theme of espionage in his 2002 novel Any Human Heart and went on to pen a James Bond continuation novel called Solo. His latest trilogy explores what happens when a travel writer becomes entangled in Cold War Espionage. He joins culture editor Tanjil Rashid.

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