Len Deighton

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Leonard Cyril Deighton (born 18 February 1929) is a British writer.

Deighton is one of the top three spy novelists of his day (along with Ian Fleming and John le Carré).

In addition, he is a well-known military historian, cookery reporter, and graphic designer.

The IPCRESS File (1962), his first book, became a best-seller and defied the genre of thriller writing.

"The spy poet of the spy tale," the Sunday Times dubbed him "the spy of the spy tale."

In 1960s films starring Michael Caine, Deighton's first protagonist, a nameless spy christened Harry Palmer in the films, was made popular worldwide.

Personal life

In 1960, Deighton married illustrator Shirley Thompson, but the pair were divorced in 1976 after not being together for more than five years. He left the United Kingdom in 1969 and has lived in Ireland, Austria, France, the United States, and Portugal. He lived in Blackrock, County Louth, where he married Ysabele, the daughter of a Dutch diplomat.

Deighton does not like giving interviews, and they have been unusual in his life; he also avoids attending literary festivals. He says he does not like being a writer and that "the best thing about writing books is being at a party and telling some pretty girl you write books." He decided to write for a year after completing the Faith, Hope and Charity trilogy; at the end of the year, he realized that writing was "a mug's game" and did not have to do;

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Early life and early career: 1929–1961

Deighton was born in Marylebone, London, on February 18th, 1929. Campbell Dodgson, the Keeper of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum, was his chauffeur and mechanic; Deighton's mother was a part-time cook. The family lived in Gloucester Place Mews near Baker Street at the time. Anna Wolkoff, a British subject of Russian descent for whom his mother cooked, was arrested in 1940 and charged with stealing correspondence between Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Deighton later reported that seeing her detention "was a key contributing factor in my decision to write a spy story on my first attempt at fiction."

Deighton was educated at St Marylebone Grammar School, but he was moved to an emergency school during the Second World War. Deighton served as a railway clerk before being called into national service, which he completed with the Royal Air Force at the age of 17. He was trained as a photographer, and he was frequently photographing crime scenes as part of his jobs.

After two and a half years with the Royal College of Art, Deighton was awarded a demobilization grant, allowing him to study at the Saint Martin's School of Art, where he obtained a scholarship to the Royal College of Art. He served as a flight attendant for British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) from 1956 to 1962 before becoming a professional illustrator. The bulk of his illustration work as an illustrator was in advertising; he worked with New York and London, but he also illustrated books and over 200 book covers, including the first UK version of Jack Kerouac's 1957 work On the Road.

Following the unveiling of a cartoon cookery illustration in the Daily Express in 1961, Deighton was hired by The Observer to produce a "Cookstrip" for the paper's magazine, which he did from March 1962 to August 1966. When he was attending art school and working as a porter in the Royal Festival Hall's restaurant, where he had occasionally assisted the chefs in preparing dishes, Deighton had come up with the theory. He made sketches to recall some of the steps he took.

He later explained:

The IPCRESS File, Deighton's first book, was released in 1962; it had been published in 1960 while he was staying in the Dordogne; the book was soon a commercial success. The story told a working-class protagonist, who was called "Harry" once, although the actor claims he doesn't recall using the word; in the 1965 film version, he was given the name Harry Palmer.

The role, according to Deighton, is not regarded as an anti-hero but rather as "a romantic, incorruptible figure in the mould of Philip Marlowe." Deighton referred to the possibility of using a working-class spy among the Oxbridge-educated members of the Establishment as coming from his time at the London advertising company, when he was the only member of the company's board not to have been educated at Eton. "The IPCRESS File is about spies on the surface, but it's also about a grammar school boy in public school boys and the challenges he faces."

In 1965, Len Deighton's Action Cook Book (a collection of his cookstrips from The Observer) and Où est le garlic, a collection of French recipes, followed two more books with his "Harry" story; both Hope Under Water (1963) and Funeral in Berlin (1964). Two more books in the spy series were then released, including Billion-Dollar Brain (1966) and An Expensive Place to Die (1967), which culminated in his first historical non-fiction book, The Assassination of President Kennedy (1967), co-written with M. Rand and H. Lockston. In September, he wrote an article in The Sunday Times Magazine about Operation Snowdrop, an SAS attack on Benghazi during the Second World War. David Stirling, the raid's leader, received a hefty libel award for his work the year after. Deighton served as a travel reporter for Playboy during the 1960s and wrote an article about the rise of spy fiction; An Exciting Place to Die appeared in the magazine in 1967.

Deighton, a 1968 filmmaker, was the director of Only When I Larf, which was based on his own book.

He was the writer and co-producer of Oh!

What a Lovely War in 1969, but he did not like the process of making films and had his name stripped from the film's credits.

Bomber, a fictional account of an RAF Bomber Command mission that goes wrong, was written by Deighton in 1970. He wrote the novel using an IBM MT/ST, and it's likely that this was the first novel to be published using a word processor. Fighter: The True Story of the Battle of Britain, Deighton's next non-fictional book, was published in 1977. In 1978, SS-GB, Ray Hawkey's cousin from art school and the illustrator of several of his books' covers, was followed. Hawkey asked Deighton if they had won the Second World War if they had, while the Germans had won the Second World War, if they had not.

Deighton's three trilogies include Berlin Game (1983), Mexico Set (1984), and London Match (1985); Spy Hook (1989) and Spy Sinker (1990); and Hope (1995) and Charity (1996). In 1987, Winter, a companion book relating to the lives of a German family from 1899 to 1945, was released in a bilingual version that also provides historical context to several of the characters from the trilogies. Bernard Samson, a tough, cynical, and disrespectful MI6 intelligence agent, is central to the trilogies.

In 1960, Deighton married illustrator Shirley Thompson, but the couple were divorced in 1976 after not being together for more than five years. He left the United Kingdom in 1969 and has lived in Ireland, Austria, France, the United States, and Portugal. He lived in Blackrock, County Louth, where he married Ysabele, the daughter of a Dutch diplomat.

Deighton does not like giving interviews, and they have been extremely rare in his life; he also avoids attending literary festivals. He claims that he does not like being a writer and that "the best part of writing books is being at a party and informing some pretty girl that you write books." The hardest part of writing a book is sitting at a typewriter and actually writing the text." He decided to write for a year after finishing the Faith, Hope, and Charity trilogy; at the end of the year, he discovered that writing was "a mug's game" and didn't have to do;

Publishing career: 1961–

Following the publication of a cartoon cookery illustration in the Daily Express in 1961, Deighton was asked by The Observer to produce a "Cookstrip" for the newspaper's newspaper, which he did between 1965 and 1966. When he was attending art school and serving as a porter in the Royal Festival Hall's restaurant, where he had occasionally assisted the chefs in preparing dishes, Deighton came up with the theory. He made sketches to recall some of the steps he took.

He later explained:

The IPCRESS File, Deighton's first book, was published in 1962; it had been published in 1960 while he was staying in the Dordogne; the book was immediately a commercial success. In the 1965 film version, the protagonist, who was both cynical and tough, was introduced; the protagonist isn't sure he used the term "Harry" once more; the protagonist says he does not recall if he used that word; rather, he was given the name Harry Palmer.

The deceptionon sees the role not as an anti-hero but rather as "a romantic, incorruptible figure in the mould of Philip Marlowe." Deighton referred to the inspiration for using a working-class spy among the Oxbridge-educated members of the company as coming from his time at the London advertising company, when he was the only member of the board not to have been educated at Eton. "The IPCRESS File is about spies on the surface, but it's also about a grammar school boy in public school boys and the challenges he faces," he said.

In 1965, Len Deighton's Action Cook Book (a collection of his cookstrips from The Observer) and Où est le garlic, a series of French recipes, followed two more books with his "Harry" character—Horse Under Water (1963) and Funeral in Berlin (1964)—Deighton published two cookbooks, including two in Paris. Two more novels in the spy series were published afterward: Billion-Dollar Brain (1966) and An Exotic Place to Die (1967), both co-written with M. Rand and H. Lockston, which was the first book to be published in the United States. He wrote an article about Operation Snowdrop, a SAS assault on Benghazi during the Second World War, in September of this year. David Stirling, the raid's leader, was given a significant libel award from the newspaper the following year. Deighton worked for Playboy as a travel reporter, and he wrote an article on spy fiction's burgeoning; An Exciting Place to Die was serialized in the magazine in 1967.

Deighton, a 1968 film based on his novel of the same name, was the producer of the film Only When I Larf.

He was the writer and co-producer of Oh!

What a Lovely War in 1969, but I did not like film making and had his name erased from the film's credits.

Bomber, a fictional representation of an RAF Bomber Command mission that goes wrong, was written by Deighton in 1970. He created the book using an IBM MT/ST, and it's likely that this was the first book to be published using a word processor. Fighter: The True Story of the Battle of Britain, Deighton's next non-fictional book, was published in 1977. This was followed by another book, SS-GB, which originated from Ray Hawkey, Deighton's colleague from art school, and the author of many of his books' covers. Hawkey asked Deighton if there was a different history book while the two were debating what might have been if the Germans had won the Second World War.

Deighton, 1983-1983) and London Match (1984): Spy Hook (1984), Spy Hook (1989), Hope (1995) and Charity (1996). Winter, a companion book describing a German family's lives from 1899 to 1945, but also gives a historical context to several of the characters from the trilogies, was released in 1987. Bernard Samson, a stern, cynical, and disrespectful MI6 intelligence officer, is central to the trilogies.

Shirley Thompson, a 1960 illustrator, married Deighton in 1960, but the couple were divorced in 1976 after not being together for more than five years. He left the United Kingdom in 1969 and has lived in Ireland, Austria, France, the United States, and Portugal. He lived in Blackrock, County Louth, where he married Ysabele, the daughter of a Dutch diplomat.

Deighton does not like giving interviews, and they have been rare in his life; he also avoids attending literary festivals. He says he does not like writing books and that "the best part of writing books is being at a party and telling some pretty girl that you write books." He took a year off writing after completing the Faith, Hope, and Charity trilogy; at the end of the cycle, he decided that writing was "a mug's game" that he did not miss and did not have to do;

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