Mr Aitken spoke only once, replying when asked to confirm that his name was Jonathan William Patrick Aitken: "It is".
"I'm pretty sure plenty of fellas would be a bit envious of how I'm earning a bit of pocket money from time to time," he told news.com.au, replying when asked whether it was a good retirement gig: "Oh, most definitely".
Montague was no more forthcoming about her mystery mission on Twitter, replying when Simon Conway cheekily asked whether she had been "Having a kip in a cupboard somewhere?" with: "If only!
It's striking how often in Smiley's People he seems to have only one word in a scene, but gives the brief exchange – replying, when asked how he is feeling, "impatient" or "fine" – the kick of a Shakespearian soliloquy.
On the other hand, a visiting actress from Italy, where Pepsi is not yet bottled, confounded her hosts during an interview on a Pepsi-Cola television show last winter by replying, when asked if she had ever heard of her sponsor's product, "Oh, yes, but in Italy we call it Coca-Cola".
He shook his head as he was asked if he would he stick to his "on the front line but not on the frontbench" position, replying: "When the interviewers become bored with saying 'on the front line but not on the frontbench' I know I've really broken through with my communication strategy.
