Geoffrey Jenkins

Infobox Writer
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birthdate = June 16 1920
birthplace = Pretoria, South Africa
deathdate = November 7 2001
deathplace = Durban, South Africa
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nationality = South African
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genre = Thrillers
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spouse = Eve Palmer
children = David Jenkins
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Geoffrey Jenkins (June 16 1920 Pretoria, South Africa - November 7 2001) was a South African novelist.

Early life

When Jenkins was 17 he wrote and had published "A Century of History" which received a special eulogy from General Jan Smuts at the centenary of Potchefstroom.

He subsequently won the Lord Kemsley Commonwealth Journalistic Scholarship, which took him to Fleet Street, where he spend World War II as a war correspondent. While working for the Sunday Times he became friends with author Ian Fleming, the creator of the British secret agent James Bond. Fleming later praised Jenkins' writing, saying "Geoffrey Jenkins has the supreme gift of originality.... "A Twist of Sand" is a literate, imaginative first novel in the tradition of high and original adventure'".

After the war Jenkins settled in Rhodesia, where he met his wife, author Eve Palmer. He was the editor of the newspaper "The Umtali Advertiser" and eventually took up a position with "The Star" newspaper in Johannesburg.

Writing

It was while working for "The Star" that he wrote his first novel, A Twist of Sand (1959), which was subsequently translated into 23 languages and became a motion picture in 1968 starring Richard Johnson and Honor Blackman. He kept his newspaper job until he had published his third novel.

Connection with James Bond

After Ian Fleming's death it was reported that Glidrose Productions commissioned Jenkins to write a James Bond novel in 1966. Jenkins claimed that he and Fleming together developed a diamond-smuggling storyline in 1957, which he finished for Glidrose entitled "Per Fine Ounce", but it was rejected. A manuscript copy is rumoured to exist in the Ian Fleming Publications (formerly Glidrose) archives, but there is no evidence for this.

Jenkins' 1966 novel "Hunter-Killer" was a sequel to "A Twist of Sand". It opens with the protagonist, Geoffrey Peace RN, faking his own death and funeral at sea, only to clamber aboard a submarine. It is strikingly similar to the pre-titles sequence of the James Bond film "You Only Live Twice", which was released in 1967. No such scene took place in Ian Fleming's novel.

Books

* "A Twist of Sand" (1959)/1968 film
* "The Watering Place of Good Peace" (1960; revised 1974)
* "A Grue of Ice" (1962)
* "The River of Diamonds" (1964)/1990 film
* "Hunter Killer" (1966)
* "Scend of the Sea" (1971)
* "A Cleft of Stars" (1973)
* "A Bridge of Magpies" (1974)
* "South Trap" (1979)
* "A Ravel of Waters" (1981)
* "The Unripe Gold" (1983)
* "Fireprint" (1984)
* "In Harm's Way" (1986)/1989 film titled "Dirty Games"
* "Hold Down a Shadow" (1989)
* "A Hive of Dead Men" (1991)
* "A Daystar of Fear" (1993)

References

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*Andy Lane and Paul Simpson: "The Bond Files" (ISBN 0-7535-0490-1)

External links

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* [http://www.geoffrey-jenkins.co.za/ Geoffrey Jenkins official website]