Frederick Forsyth The author of “The Day of the Jackal, Mrs Thatcher and ex-MI5 officer Peter Wright
The author of “The Day of the Jackal”, “The Odessa File” and “The Dogs of War” died on June 9th
He sat down at his old typewriter in his bedsit and (aspiring novelists may want to skip this bit) in just 35 days produced “The Day of the Jackal” (1971).
The book was an unlikely success because the central question of any thriller—will the villain succeed?—had already been answered.
De Gaulle had died of natural causes the year before the book’s publication; readers knew the assassin failed before they read the first word.
The book’s thrill lay not in the “whether” but the “how”. Still in print—and still a great read—54 years later, it has sold over 10m copies.
Mr Forsyth—who died on June 9th, aged 86—would go on to write another 22 books that sold more than 65m copies.
His novels were neither as haunted and gloomy as John le Carré’s nor as two-dimensional as Ian Fleming’s, but, like them, he was a novelist of the cold war.
And, like le Carré, he was also a participant.
Frederick Forsyth död – blev 86 år
I sin självbiografi avslöjade Forsyth 2015 att han i mer än två decennier av sitt liv hade samröre med den brittiska underrättelsetjänsten MI6.
https://www.svd.se/a/VzJ06r/forfattaren-frederick-forsyth-dod
A former spy's memoir in the 1980s left then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher "shattered", according to newly released files.
Spycatcher, by ex-MI5 officer Peter Wright, made explosive claims about UK espionage operations. The government tried to stop its publication.
The files show the extent of the panic over the memoir's threatened release.
"The consequences of publication would be enormous," Thatcher scribbled on a briefing note by her cabinet secretary.
The former prime minister's files on international bestseller Spycatcher have been hotly awaited - they were due to be released 10 years ago, but were judged too sensitive by the National Archives, in Kew, south-west London, at the time.
Some papers have been retained.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-67835095
Peter Wright (MI5 officer)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Wright_(MI5_officer)
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