Simon Majaro at the Coffee Cup, where he bumped into John le Carré

WHO is Mr Poliakoff? This is a question that the diners of a famous Hampstead restaurant asked themselves on a regular basis.

The answer can be found in a new novel by author Professor Simon Majaro – a first-time novelist aged 93, who has been inspired to pen his first work of fiction after becoming intrigued by a man who would quietly eat lunch three times a week at one of Simon’s favoured lunchtime spots.

No one knows his name or what he does – and for Simon, this intriguing character who stood out among the café gossips for his reticence, was the perfect subject matter.

The result is a wonderful novella that takes the reader from the crisp white tablecloths of one of those easily-recognisable Italian diners to the post-war chaos in Eastern Europe, the persecution of Jewish communities in the USSR, and the moral choices many faced living in a police state.

Simon has a few favoured haunts in NW3 – Review met him at the Coffee Cup in Hampstead High Street, and he was treated with the friendly and respectful warmth a welcome regular commands from waiting staff – and agreed to not share which restaurant it is Simon begins his story in.

“There was always this man there,” he recalls.

“He would eat three times a week, week after week, month after month, year after year and nobody knew anything about him.”

For regulars, this was a strange set of affairs as Hampstead’s lunchtime dining scene is known for its gossip, for its well-connected neighbourhood feel, and the fact that it has a culture that partly stems from the influx of refugees from central Europe between the wars. Places like Cosmos in Swiss Cottage would sound like Prague or Vienna. It’s an atmosphere Simon knows well, and therefore able to capture in his time.

“I was fascinated by this mystery,” he admits. “I challenged the head waiter – a man who knows everything you could possibly know about the clientele he looks after – to have found out more abut the mystery diner by Christmas.”

Christmas came and went – and no one was any the wiser about the man’s back story, despite subtle questioning by staff.

“Was he married? Where did he live? What did he do for a living?” – these questions went round and round each time I saw him,” says Simon.

John le Carré

“Eventually, I did find out his real name, which is not Poliakoff, but very little else.”

Aged between 50 and 65, the mystery man would wear the same outfit – though occasionally and tantalisingly for those observing, he would sport a different tie. This break from his usual norms would be noted and questions raised as to whether it meant anything.

“Curious onlookers would celebrate, as if it added another layer of evidence to analyse,” adds Simon.

One day, as Simon settled down to eat lunch, a gentleman, also dining alone, struck up a conversation.

“He was one of these sociable individuals. We exchanged the usual pleasantries – did we both come here often, who we were, and what we did.

“He asked me all sorts of questions, and once I’d answered, I said: ‘Now it is my turn.’

“His name was David Cornwall, he lived in Hampstead and wrote books for a living.”

It took a while for Simon to realise who his illustrious companion was.

“‘What type of books?’ I asked: and he replied, ‘oh, spies, espionage, geo-political thrillers, that kind of thing,’” recalls Simon.

“I said: ‘oh, that sounds like an interesting collection, are they published under your name?’ ‘No,’ he replied, ‘I write under the name John le Carré.’”

The meeting with the world-famous spy writer was the beginning of a long, lunch-based friendship – and one where they revealed to each other their intrigue about the mysterious lone diner.

“I told David I was going to invent the man’s story,” says Simon. “He gave me a piece of advice: you must know how to start the story – and you must know how to end it.”

It was all Simon needed.

“I set off. Who was he and what has he done?”

Simon’s life has taken him from Israel, where his father was a celebrated doctor whose work ignored any ethnic, religious or national divides, has practised and taught law, built copies of Stradivarius violins and established the Cavatina Trust, which brings chamber music to schools.

In his nine decades, he has met people from all walks of life – and has poured this experience into the story. An Israeli agent called Dov, who works to bring Jewish people out of the USSR, features and is believable. No wonder – he is based on a Mossad agent Simon had met. Other elements draw on detailed historical research. This included studying the Soviet gulag system, and the Finnish policy towards emigres fleeing Russia.

“I drew on many true stories I had heard and experiences I have had,” he adds.

Lockdown and the immediate aftermath gave Simon the time to write.

“I said: ‘Simon, do not waste this time,’” he says.

“I sketched out the book. I started my research – I could now write a PhD on gulags, and how to escape from them – and I found once I got into the spirit of writing, I could not stop.

“I was thinking about it all the time – what happens next?

“When I jotted down the ending, it gave me a wonderful sense of relief.”

And Hampstead cafés provide rich grounds for character studies.

“One of the beautiful things about the area is the café culture,” he adds.

“It has always had that cosmopolitan feel. Every second person speaks another language.

“You have everybody under the sun here. It is wonderful – you can feel it when ver you pull a chair up to a table.”

• Who Is Mr Poliakoff? By Simon Majaro Published by SJM Books, available from Amazon