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

The novels of Len Deighton
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]

Miscellaneous works of Len Deighton
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

Non-fiction works of Len Deighton
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

  1. ^ The ten books are:
    The prequel, published in 1987, is Winter.[4]
  2. ^ First edition came with a wallet of fictional secret documents[10]
  3. ^ Private printed edition of 150 copies is the first true edition; the public edition came in 1968, published through Michael Joseph. Deighton was also a co-producer of the film version of the novel.[11][10]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Len Deighton". Contemporary Authors. Gale. Archived from the original on 15 April 2016. Retrieved 25 March 2016. (subscription required)
  2. ^ Jackson & Gwilliam 1999, p. 4.
  3. ^ a b Reilly 1980, p. 449.
  4. ^ a b Jackson & Gwilliam 1999, pp. 6–8.
  5. ^ Jackson & Gwilliam 1999, pp. 6, 11, 14.
  6. ^ Jackson & Gwilliam 1999, pp. 10–12.
  7. ^ a b Burton 2016, p. 121.
  8. ^ a b Jackson & Gwilliam 1999, pp. 16–17.
  9. ^ a b Brown 1987, p. 12.
  10. ^ a b Jackson & Gwilliam 1999, p. 16.
  11. ^ "Only When I Larf". American Film Institute. Archived from the original on 14 August 2016. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
  12. ^ "The Ipcress File (1965)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 27 April 2016. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
  13. ^ "Funeral in Berlin (1966)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 27 April 2016. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
  14. ^ "Billion Dollar Brain (1967)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 27 April 2016. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
  15. ^ "Spy Story (1976)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 27 April 2016. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
  16. ^ "Game, Set and Match (1988)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 27 April 2016. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
  17. ^ Jackson & Gwilliam 1999, p. 17.
  18. ^ Milward-Oliver 1987, pp. 27–29.
  19. ^ "Long Past Glory (1963)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 27 April 2016. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
  20. ^ Stummer, Robin (14 December 2014). "Len Deighton's Observer cookstrips, Michael Caine and the 1960s". The Observer. Archived from the original on 14 June 2016. Retrieved 24 May 2016.
  21. ^ Walsh, John (17 June 2009). "A taste of the action: Len Deighton's cult Sixties' cookbook is back". The Independent. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 24 May 2016.
  22. ^ "Oh! What a Lovely War". American Film Institute. Archived from the original on 14 August 2016. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
  23. ^ "The Verdict of us All". Kirkus Reviews. 20 May 2010. Archived from the original on 16 April 2016. Retrieved 29 March 2016.

Sources

  • Brown, Geoffrey (February 1987). "The Thrillers and Spy Novels of Len Deighton". The Book and Magazine Collector. Diamond Publishing Group (35).
  • Burton, Alan (2016). Historical Dictionary of British Spy Fiction. London: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-4422-5587-6.
  • Jackson, Crispin; Gwilliam, Graham (March 1999). "Len Deighton: The Master Thriller Writer Turns Seventy". The Book and Magazine Collector. Diamond Publishing Group (180).
  • Milward-Oliver, Edward (1987). The Len Deighton Companion. London: Grafton. ISBN 978-0-586-07000-0.
  • Reilly, John M (1980). Twentieth Century Crime & Mystery Writers. London: Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-349-81366-7.

External links

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