 Like Maskell, he later read mathematics at university, becoming a Fellow of his college, and a member of the Cambridge Apostles, a secret society which at that time was largely Marxist, formed from members of the University of Cambridge.Banville himself said that the motivation to write the book came from seeing Blunt smile to himself when not aware of being on camera, just before giving a press conference following the announcement to the British House of Commons (by prime minister Margaret Thatcher) of his role as the 'fourth man' in the Burgess-Maclean-Philby spying ring.The small secret smile, said Banville in an interview on BBC Radio 4's "Today" programme, was the smile of a man who had been interrogated by the British secret services and dealt with a Soviet minder for years, and who knew he had nothing to fear from a roomful of journalists.