Len Deighton (born 18 February 1929) is an English author known for his novels, works of military history, screenplays and cookery writing. He had a varied career, including as a pastry cook, waiter, co-editor of a magazine, teacher and air steward before writing his first novel in 1962: The IPCRESS File.[1][2] He continued to produce what his biographer John Reilly considers "stylish, witty, well-crafted novels" in spy fiction,[3] including three trilogies and a prequel featuring Bernard Samson.[4][a]
Deighton authored two television scripts, the first of which was Long Past Glory in 1963; he also wrote a film script, Oh! What a Lovely War (1969). His long-held interest in cooking—his mother had been a professional chef and instilled a love for cuisine in her son—led to an illustrated cookery column in the Sunday newspaper, The Observer, for two years. The work was collected into two later books, Len Deighton's Action Cook Book and Où est le garlic (both 1965); he subsequently wrote several other cookery books.[5] Deighton has produced several other works of non-fiction, including a study of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, a history of the airship, Second World War military history and a short e-book about James Bond.[6][7]
Novels
| Title[1][8][9] | Year of first publication | First edition publisher (All London) |
|---|---|---|
| The IPCRESS File | 1962 | Hodder & Stoughton |
| Horse Under Water | 1963 | Jonathan Cape |
| Funeral in Berlin | 1964 | Jonathan Cape |
| Billion-Dollar Brain | 1966 | Jonathan Cape |
| An Expensive Place to Die[b] | 1967 | Jonathan Cape |
| Only When I Larf | 1967 | Privately printed[c] |
| Bomber | 1970 | Jonathan Cape |
| Close-Up | 1972 | Jonathan Cape |
| Spy Story | 1974 | Jonathan Cape |
| Yesterday's Spy | 1975 | Jonathan Cape |
| Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Spy | 1976 | Jonathan Cape |
| SS-GB | 1978 | Jonathan Cape |
| XPD | 1981 | Hutchinson |
| Goodbye, Mickey Mouse | 1982 | Hutchinson |
| Berlin Game | 1983 | Hutchinson |
| Mexico Set | 1984 | Hutchinson |
| London Match | 1985 | Hutchinson |
| Winter | 1987 | Hutchinson |
| Spy Hook | 1988 | Hutchinson |
| Spy Line | 1989 | Hutchinson |
| Spy Sinker | 1990 | Hutchinson |
| MAMista | 1991 | Random House |
| City of Gold | 1991 | Random House |
| Violent Ward | 1993 | HarperCollins |
| Faith | 1994 | HarperCollins |
| Hope | 1995 | HarperCollins |
| Charity | 1996 | HarperCollins |
Miscellaneous
Several of Deighton's works have been adapted for screen: the films The Ipcress File (1965),[12] Funeral in Berlin (1966),[13] Billion Dollar Brain (1967)[14] and Spy Film (1976).[15] In 1988 Granada Television produced the miniseries Game, Set and Match based on his trilogy of the same name.[16]
| Title[17][18] | Year of first publication | First edition publisher (London, unless otherwise stated) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Long Past Glory | 1963 | – | Television script[19] |
| Len Deighton's Cookstrips | 1963 –1965 | The Observer | Weekly cookery strip[20][21] |
| Drinkmanship | 1964 | Haymarket Press | As editor |
| Oh! What a Lovely War | 1969 | – | Film script; Deighton requested that he not be given screen credit for his work.[22] |
| Declarations of War | 1971 | Jonathan Cape | Short stories |
| How to be a Pregnant Father | 1977 | Macmillan Publishers | Book by Peter Mayle; Deighton provided the chapter "The Pregnant Father's Cookbook" |
| It Must Have Been Two Other Fellows | 1977 | – | Television script[3] |
| Tactical Genius in Battle | 1979 | Phaidon Press | Book by Simon Goodenough; Deighton acted as editor and provided the introduction |
| The Adventure of the Priory School | 1985 | Santa Teresa Press, Santa Barbara, CA | Introduction only; original work by Arthur Conan Doyle. This edition was published for copyright purposes; limited to 25 copies |
| Pests | 1994 | Chris Martin, Mansfield Woodhouse, Notts | A limited edition of 226 copies |
| Sherlock Holmes and the Titanic Swindle | 2006 | Crippen & Landru, Norfolk, VA | A short story included in The Detection Club anthology The Verdict of Us All, edited by Peter Lovesey[23] |
Non-fiction
| Title[1][8][9] | Year of first publication | First edition publisher (London, unless otherwise stated) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Len Deighton's Action Cook Book | 1965 | Jonathan Cape | |
| Où est le garlic | 1965 | Penguin Books | |
| The Assassination of President Kennedy | 1967 | Jonathan Cape | Co-written with M Rand and H Lockston |
| Len Deighton's London Dossier | 1967 | Jonathan Cape | |
| Continental Dossier | 1968 | Michael Joseph | |
| Fighter: The True Story of the Battle of Britain | 1977 | Jonathan Cape | |
| Airshipwreck | 1978 | Jonathan Cape | with Arnold Schwartzman |
| Blitzkrieg: From the Rise of Hitler to the Fall of Dunkirk | 1979 | Jonathan Cape | |
| Basic French Cooking | 1979 | Jonathan Cape | |
| Battle of Britain | 1980 | Jonathan Cape | |
| The Orient Flight | 1980 | Germany Philatelic Society, Chesterfield, MO | As "Cyril Deighton"; with Fred Blau |
| The Egypt Flight | 1981 | Germany Philatelic Society, Chesterfield, MO | As "Cyril Deighton"; with Fred Blau |
| ABC of French Food | 1989 | Century | |
| Basic French Cookery Course | 1990 | Century | |
| Blood, Tears and Folly | 1993 | Jonathan Cape | |
| James Bond: My Long and Eventful Search for His Father | 2012 | Amazon Kindle | In e-book format only[7] |
Notes and references
Notes
References
Sources
External links
