On Jan 3, 7:46 am, "Don Phillipson" <
e...@SPAMBLOCK.ncf.ca> wrote:
> <<
> He also knew, like everyone else, that a big operation had aborted in
> Czechoslovakia, that the Foreign Office and the Defence Ministry had
> jointly blown a gasket and that Jim Prideaux, head of the
> scalphunters, the oldest Czecho hand, and Bill Haydon's lifelong
> stringer, had been shot up and put in the bag.
>
> John le Carré, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
> ---
>
> "stringer": action man?
>
> I found:
> ---
> A snitch or informant. A person who gossips about someone or who gives
> information about them to authorities, often in exchange for
> something.
>
> Urban Dict.
>
>
>
> In newspapers, "stringer" is a part-time employee paid for piecework
> (not on salary.) But we know that Prideaux was a lifelong and
> pensionable MI6 "officer" (since head of the Scalphunters = physical
> force crew) and not an "agent" (part-time helper:) so this might be
> either an editorial slip or Circus jargon for an assistant or team member.
Great. Probably the 2nd.