BAFTA-winning author, Len Deighton, has died, aged 97. Famed for penning 39 spy novels, the “remarkable writer” was credited with ‘changing the nature of British spy fiction.’
Deighton found fame with his first book, The Ipcress File in 1962 which was turned into a BAFTA-award winning film starring Michael Caine. In March 2022, the thriller was given a new lease of life by ITV in which Peaky Blinders’ Joe Cole played the unnamed spy.
Deighton is often compared to John le Carré — whose debut novel The Spy Who Came in from the Cold was published one year after Len’s. A media historian said both authors “changed the nature of British spy fiction” as they brought a “more insolent, disillusioned and cynical style to the espionage story”.
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Hulton Archive)
Paying tribute to Deighton, one fan wrote on X: “An inspiration in my youth – a remarkable writer.” Meanwhile, another shared: “Loved his spy novels. Such a sad loss.”
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The writer, who was married twice, first to illustrator Shirley Thompson and then to Ysabele, had two sons.
Deighton was born in a London workhouse in 1929. His father was a chauffer to the keeper of prints and drawings at the British Museum and his mother was a hotel cook.
In 1940, when the author was 11, he witnessed something which no doubt had a huge effect on his career. Deighton saw one of his neighbours in Gloucester arrested for spying.
It later emerged at her trial that she was a German spy having an affair with a cipher clerk working at the American Embassy in a plot, which could be straight out of the one of the star’s best-thrilling sellers.
During a holiday to France, Deighton penned The Ipcress File which was an instant commercial and critical success.
He went on to write several spy novels centred around an unnamed cynical protagonist, who was in stark contrast to was a contrast to the Ian Fleming’s slick James Bond who hit the shelves shortly before.
Alongside writing spy novels, Deighton enjoyed writing cookery books especially ones on French cooking.
The author and his wife split their time between Portugal and Guernsey, with the star preferring to stay out of the spotlight.
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