Cuba: Discovering Our Man in Havana, Havana, Cuba

‘Our Man in Havana’, Graham Greene’s classic “entertainment” poking fun at the British secret service abroad was published just before the Revolution changed Cuba forever. When I visited the Havana I was fascinated to find a city that lives up to its nostalgic reputation but demands to be engaged with in the present.

I climbed out of the airport taxi and carried my bag past the huge cannons upended into the pavement and through the plaza beside the Convento de San Francisco de Asis. I looked around for a street sign that might help me find my accommodation. Lamparilla. There was no sign of any vacuum cleaner shop down the quiet, sunny street but I’d not been in Havana five minutes before being transported into the world of Graham Greene.

Our Man in Havana was published over 50 years ago. By the end of the month in which it came out, Fidel Castro and his forces had entered Havana and a very different period in the country’s history began.

Walking down Lamparilla, I was half listening for the wolf whistles accompanying Milly as she returned from school down Avenida de Belgica. And looking out for Captain Segura’s bright red 1950s American classic car. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).