London Central

London Central refers to the head office of what, at the time and in the real world, was referred to as the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS). It is therefore where most of the main characters from the Samson Series are based.

The counterpoint to London Central is Moscow Central, also mentioned in many of the novels. In this respect the two terms can also have ideological and political dimensions - i.e. shorthand for 'West' versus 'East' during the Cold War, or Liberal Democracy versus Communism etc.

It's also possible to equate London Central as the SIS in its entirety - i.e. the institution, not simply an office location. In this case Moscow Central can be taken to mean the KGB, the comparable Soviet intelligence service.

It is traditional of course for the KGB and SIS to be framed as arch rivals - two of the major global intelligence services locked in a never-ending battle to subvert each other's operations and hierarchy via use of moles and other covert methods. From the beginning of the Samson Series, Silas Gaunt claims there has been long-term, successful penetration of London Central by Moscow [Berlin Game, Chap 4]. What's more, Bernard Samson believes this situation to be ongoing: ‘We haven’t run a good double agent in years and we haven’t landed any of their important agents either.’ That adds up to one thing only: someone here is blowing everything we do.’ [Berlin Game, Chap 14]. Readers are therefore challenged to work out to what degree London Central remains under the control of its Soviet Bloc rival ...