- Len Deighton
Leonard Cyril Deighton (born
February 18 ,1929 ,Marylebone ,London ) is a Britishhistorian ,cookery expert andnovelist , perhaps most famous for his spy novel "The IPCRESS File ", which was made into a famous film starringMichael Caine .Early years
Deighton was born in
Marylebone , London, in 1929. His father was achauffeur and mechanic, and his mother was a cook. At the time they lived in amews near Baker Street.cite web | last = Scott | first = Robert Dawson | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Len Deighton: The spy and I | work = | publisher =The Independent | date = Wednesday, 4 January 2006 | url = http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/len-deighton-the-spy-and-i-521520.html | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2008-06-19]Deighton's interest in spy stories may have been partially inspired by the arrest of
Anna Wolkoff , which he witnessed as an 11-year-old boy. Wolkoff was a British citizen of Russian descent who was a Nazi spy. She was detained onMay 20 ,1940 , and charged with violating theOfficial Secrets Act for attempting to pass secret documents to the Nazis.Career
After leaving school, Deighton worked as a railway clerk before performing his
National Service , which he spent as a photograper for theRoyal Air Force 'sSpecial Investigation Branch . After discharge from the RAF, he studied atSt Martin's School of Art inLondon in 1949, and in 1952 won ascholarship to theRoyal College of Art , graduating in 1955.cite web | last = Scott | first = Robert Dawson | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = A class act, not a class warrior | work = | publisher =The Times | date = January 7, 2006 | url = http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article785371.ece | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2008-06-19] While he was at the RCA he became a "lifelong friend" [cite web
last=Dempsey
first=Mike
title=Immaculate conception
work=Design Week
publication-date=2001-12-14
url=http://www.mad.co.uk/Main/News/Disciplines/Design/Articles/e9b9bcb0f6fc43b58a0252154c35e868/Immaculate-conception.html
accessdate=2007-12-06 ] of fellow designerRaymond Hawkey , who later designed covers for his early books. Deighton then worked as an airline steward withBOAC . Before he began his writing career he worked as an illustrator inNew York and, in 1960, as an art director in aLondon advertising agency . He is credited with creating the first British cover for Kerouac's "On the Road ". He has since used his drawing skills to illustrate a number of his ownmilitary history books.Following the success of his first novels, Deighton became
The Observer 's cookery writer and produced illustrated cookbooks. He also wrote travel guides and became travel editor of "Playboy ", before becoming a film producer. After producing a film adaption of his 1968 novel "Only When I Larf ", Deighton and photographerBrian Duffy bought the film rights toJoan Littlewood 's "Oh! What a Lovely War ". However, he had his name removed from the credits of the film as producer, a move which he later described as "stupid and infantile". This was his last involvement with films.Deighton left Britain in 1969 and has not since returned, apart from some personal visits and a very few media appearances, his last one since 1985 being a 2006 interview which formed part of a "Len Deighton Night" on
BBC Four . He now resides in southern California.Works
Novels
Several of his novels have been adapted as
film s. His first four novels featured an anonymous anti-hero, named "Harry Palmer " in the films, and portrayed byMichael Caine . The first trilogy of his "Bernard Samson " novel series was made into a 12-parttelevision series byGranada Television in 1988, shown only once, and withdrawn on instructions from Mr Deighton.Fact|date=November 2007 He wrote thescreenplay and was an uncredited producer [cite web
title=Oh! What a lovely war (1969) - Full cast and crew
work=IMDB
url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064754/fullcredits#cast
accessdate=2006-12-08 ] for the 1969 film of the play "Oh! What a Lovely War ". His 1970World War II historical novel "Bomber" about anRAF Bomber Command raid overGermany often is considered his masterpiece.He reportedly began an unfinished
Vietnam novel, a portion of which appeared as the story "First Base" in his short story collectionDeclarations of War .Cookery books
Deighton also published a series of cookery books and wrote and drew a weekly strip cartoon-style illustrated cooking guide in
London 's "The Observer " newspaper – "Len Deighton's Cookstrip". At least one of the strips is pinned up in Deighton's spy hero's kitchen in the 1965 film of his novel "The IPCRESS File ". [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059319/trivia]To exploit the success of Deighton's first four "Unnamed Hero" novels, he wrote "Len Deighton's London Dossier" (1967), a guide book to
Swinging Sixties London with a "secret agent" theme — contributions from other writers are described as "surveillance reports".History books
Deighton's 1977 "The
Battle of Britain " was said byAlbert Speer (once Hitler's Minister of Armaments) to be "an excellent, most thorough examination. I read page after page with fascination". The piece was furnished with a comment byA.J.P. Taylor simply saying: "Brilliant analysis...".Bibliography
External links
* [http://www.deightondossier.net/ The Deighton Dossier - new comprehensive, unofficial fan-site]
* [http://www-staff.mcs.uts.edu.au/~tomlin/LD/ Unofficial Len Deighton website]
* [http://www.algonet.se/~kallman/books/deighton.htm More information on LD]
* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,923-1971829,00.html 2006 interview #1]
* [http://arts.independent.co.uk/books/features/article336345.ece 2006 interview #2]
* [http://www.liontv.co.uk/_scotland/productions/documentaries/truth_len.html "The Truth About Len Deighton" documentary]
* [http://www.art.co.uk/asp/sp-asp/_/pd--12329991/sp--A/On_The_Road_by_Jack_Kerouac.htm Cover of "On The Road" illustrated by Len Deighton]References
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