Len Deighton (born 18 February 1929) is an English author known for his novels, works of military history, screenplays and cookery writing. He has 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 has 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]
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 |
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 Story (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] |
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] |