Editing Len Deighton (section)

==Biography==
===Early life and early career: 1929–1961===
Leonard Cyril Deighton was born in [[Marylebone]], London, on 18 February 1929.{{sfn|"Len Deighton". ''Contemporary Authors''}}{{sfn|Dawson Scott|2006b}} His birth was in the infirmary of a [[workhouse]] as the local hospital was full.{{sfn|Masters|1985|p=21}} His father was the chauffeur and mechanic for [[Campbell Dodgson]], the [[List of keepers of the British Museum#Keepers of Prints and Drawings|Keeper of Prints and Drawings]] at the [[British Museum]]; Deighton's mother was a part-time cook. At the time the family lived in [[Gloucester Place Mews]] near [[Baker Street]].{{sfn|"The Deighton File". 26 May 2009|loc=Event occurs at 4:20–4:50}}{{sfn|Dawson Scott|2006a|p=43}} In 1940, during the [[Second World War]], the eleven-year-old Deighton witnessed the arrest of [[Anna Wolkoff]], a British subject of Russian descent for whom his mother cooked; Wolkoff was detained as a [[Nazi Germany|Nazi]] spy and charged with stealing correspondence between [[Winston Churchill]] and [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]].{{sfn|Masters|1987|p=257}}{{efn|In November 1940 Wolkoff was found guilty of breaching the [[Official Secrets Act 1911]] and sentenced to ten years in prison.{{sfn|"Secrets Case Ended". ''The Times''}}}} Deighton said that observing her arrest was "a major factor in my decision to write a spy story at my first attempt at fiction".{{sfn|Campbell|1992|p=101}}

Deighton was educated at [[St Marylebone Grammar School|St Marylebone Grammar]] and [[William Ellis School|William Ellis]] schools, but was moved to an emergency school for part of the Second World War.{{sfn|Buckton|2012|p=55}}{{sfn|"Len Deighton". ''The Guardian''}}{{efn|Emergency schools were those set up during the Second World War to cope with the influx of [[Evacuations of civilians in Britain during World War II|children evacuated out of cities]], and the conscription of teachers into the armed forces.{{sfn|Gosden|2013|pp=17–18, 36}}}} After leaving school Deighton worked as a railway clerk{{sfn|Masters|1987|p=258}} before being [[Conscription in the United Kingdom|conscripted]] for [[national service]] at the age of 17, which he completed with the [[Royal Air Force]] (RAF). While in the RAF he was trained as a photographer, often recording crime scenes with the [[Special Investigation Branch]] (SIB) of the military police as part of his duties.{{sfn|Buckton|2012|p=55}}{{sfn|Masters|1987|p=258}} During his work with the SIB he learned to fly and became an experienced [[scuba diver]].{{sfn|Macdonald|1992|p=35}}

After two-and-a-half years with the RAF, Deighton received a [[Demobilisation of the British Armed Forces after the Second World War|demobilisation grant]], enabling him to study at [[Saint Martin's School of Art]] where he won a scholarship to the [[Royal College of Art]]; he graduated from the college in 1955.{{sfn|Dawson Scott|2006b}}{{sfn|Milward-Oliver|1987|p=11}} While studying he held a temporary job in 1951 as a [[pastry chef]] at the [[Royal Festival Hall]].{{sfn|Macdonald|1992|p=35}} He worked as a [[flight attendant]] for [[British Overseas Airways Corporation]] (BOAC) between 1956 and 1957 before becoming a professional illustrator. Much of his work as an illustrator was in advertising—he worked for agencies in New York and London—but he also illustrated magazines and over 200 book covers, including for the first UK edition of [[Jack Kerouac]]'s 1957 work ''[[On the Road]]''.{{sfn|Dawson Scott|2006a|p=43}}{{sfn|Buckton|2012|p=55}}{{sfn|Brown|1987|p=12}}

===Writing career: 1961–===
[[File:Boeuf Bourguignon Cookstrip.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|alt=Five-step drawing of the process for cooking beef bourguignon|[[Cookstrip]] for [[boeuf bourguignon]]]]
While he was working at the Royal Festival Hall, Deighton would make sketches to remember some of the steps he took preparing dishes. He developed the idea into the concept of the "[[cookstrip]]", a full recipe within a cartoon-style illustration.{{sfn|Walsh|2009}}{{efn|Several of the strips are pinned up in the background of the film set of Harry Palmer's kitchen in ''[[The Ipcress File (film)|The Ipcress File]]''.{{sfn|Stummer|2014}}}} Following the publication of one of Deighton's cookstrips in the ''[[Daily Express]]'' in 1961, ''[[The Observer]]'' commissioned him to provide a weekly series for its own magazine, which he did between March 1962 and August 1966.{{sfn|Milward-Oliver|1987|p=98}} He later explained:

<blockquote>I was buying expensive cookbooks. I'm very messy, and didn't want to take them into the kitchen. So I wrote out the recipes on paper, and it was easier for me to draw three eggs than write 'three eggs'. So I drew three eggs, then put in an arrow. For me it was a natural way to work.{{sfn|Stummer|2014}}</blockquote>

In 1962 Deighton's first novel, ''[[The IPCRESS File]]'', was published; it had been written in 1960 while he was staying in the [[Dordogne]], south west France.{{sfn|Masters|1987|p=258}} The book was soon a commercial success and was a best-seller in the UK, France and the US, selling more than 2.5&nbsp;million copies in three years.{{sfn|Kerridge|2017|p=55}}{{sfn|Krueger|2014|p=102}}{{sfn|Macdonald|1992|p=40}} The story—written as a [[first-person narrative]]—introduced a [[working-class]] protagonist, cynical and tough.{{sfn|"Len Deighton". ''Contemporary Authors''}} Deighton did not want to invent a name for the character and later explained "Some people felt that a contrivance, but I kept putting off inventing a name for him until I got to the end of the book and realised I could finish the book without giving him a name".{{sfn|''Desert Island Discs'', 19 June 1976|loc=Event occurs at 12:00–12:30}}{{efn|The character appears in several of Deighton's works:
* ''[[The IPCRESS File]]'' (1962)
* ''[[Horse Under Water]]'' (1963)
* ''[[Funeral in Berlin]]'' (1964)
* ''[[Billion-Dollar Brain]]'' (1966)
* ''[[An Expensive Place to Die]]'' (1967)
* ''[[Spy Story (novel)|Spy Story]]'' (1972)
* ''[[Yesterday's Spy]]'' (1975)
* ''[[Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Spy]]'' (1976){{sfn|"Len Deighton". ''Contemporary Authors''}} }}

In 2017 Deighton described how he did not consider the character an [[anti-hero]], but "a romantic, incorruptible figure in the mould of [[Philip Marlowe]]".{{sfn|Kerridge|2017|p=55}} Deighton described the inspiration of using a working-class spy among the [[Oxbridge]]-educated members of [[the Establishment]] as coming from his time at the advertising agency, when he was the only member of the company's board not to have been educated at [[Eton College|Eton]]. He said "''The IPCRESS File'' is about spies on the surface, but it's also really about a [[grammar school]] boy among [[Public school (United Kingdom)|public school]] boys and the difficulties he faces."{{sfn|Kerridge|2019|p=44}}{{efn|The British [[grammar school]] is a state-funded institution which can select its own pupils based on academic ability. There are no fees for attending. A [[Public school (United Kingdom)|public school]] is a fee-paying institution, associated with the [[ruling class]] and upper echelons of banking, business and industry.{{sfn|Sampson|1982|p=124}}{{sfn|"Types of school". UK Government}}}}

Deighton published two further novels with his unnamed protagonist—''[[Horse Under Water]]'' (1963) and ''[[Funeral in Berlin]]'' (1964). ''Funeral in Berlin'' stayed on [[The New York Times Best Seller list|''The New York Times'' best-seller list]] for twenty weeks and sold over forty thousand copies in hardback in 1965.{{sfn|Brown|1987|p=12}}{{sfn|Macdonald|1992|p=41}} He published two cookbooks in 1965, ''[[Len Deighton's Action Cook Book]]'' (a collection of his cookstrips from ''The Observer'') and {{lang|fr|Où est le garlic}} (Where is the garlic), a collection of [[French cuisine|French recipes]].{{sfn|Brown|1987|p=12}}{{sfn|Jackson|Gwilliam|1999|pp=16–17}}{{efn|Deighton has written five cookery books:{{sfn|Milward-Oliver|1987|p=98}}
* ''Len Deighton's Action Cook Book'' (1965) {{oclc|30271545}}
* {{lang|fr|Où est le garlic}} (Where is the garlic; 1965) {{oclc|1112522953}}
* ''Basic French Cooking'' (1979) {{oclc|473056466}}
* ''ABC of French Food'' (1989) {{oclc|1145799233}}
* ''Basic French Cookery Course'' (1990) {{oclc|803775071}}
In January 2015 Deighton created twelve new cookstrips which were printed monthly in the ''Observer Food Magazine''.{{sfn|Stummer|2014}}}} They also sold well, making Deighton a best-selling author in two genres.{{sfn|Stummer|2014}} Two further novels in the spy series followed—''[[Billion-Dollar Brain]]'' (1966) and ''[[An Expensive Place to Die]]'' (1967)—after which he published his first historical non-fiction work, ''The Assassination of President Kennedy'' (1967), co-written with Michael Rand and [[Howard Loxton]].{{sfn|Jackson|Gwilliam|1999|pp=16–17}} During 1967 he also edited and contributed to ''[[Len Deighton's London Dossier]]'', a work that described itself as "a real London guidebook".{{sfn|"Libel Damages For 'Doss-House'". ''The Times''}} The book suggested the [[Rowton Houses]] owned by Rowton Hotels Ltd were [[doss-house]]s for the homeless.{{efn|A "doss-house" ("flophouse" in American English) is a cheap lodging hostel where the homeless or those on very low incomes can stay overnight.{{sfn|"In England Now". ''The Lancet''|p=1352}}{{sfn|Rose|1988|p=59}}}} He and the publishers [[Jonathan Cape]] were sued for [[libel]]; they apologised, withdrew the suggestions made in the book by amending the claim in unsold editions and paid substantial [[damages]].{{sfn|"Libel Damages For 'Doss-House'". ''The Times''}}

In September 1967 he wrote an article in ''[[The Sunday Times Magazine]]'' about [[Operation Snowdrop]], an [[Special Air Service|SAS]] attack on [[Benghazi]] during the Second World War. Deighton wrote that the raid "suffered a lack of security" because [[David Stirling]], the leader of the raid, "had insisted upon talking about the raid during two social gatherings at the British Embassy in Cairo although warned not to do so". Stirling sued Deighton and Times Newspapers for libel the following year as the implication was that his indiscretion had endangered the lives of his men. Stirling explained in court that one of the social gatherings was a dinner with [[Winston Churchill]], Field Marshal [[Jan Smuts]], General Sir [[Alan Brooke]], General Sir [[Claude Auchinleck]] and General [[Harold Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis|Harold Alexander]]; the second occasion was a private conversation with Churchill. Deighton and Times Newspapers apologised, published a correction and paid damages.{{sfn|"Libel Damages For 'Operation Snowdrop' Leader". ''The Times''}}

During the mid-1960s Deighton wrote for ''[[Playboy]]'' as a travel correspondent, and he provided a piece on the boom in [[spy fiction]]; ''An Expensive Place to Die'' was serialised in the magazine in 1967.{{sfn|Deighton|1966|p=103}}{{sfn|Hines|2018|pp=160–161}} In 1968 Deighton was the [[Film producer|producer]] of the film ''[[Only When I Larf (film)|Only When I Larf]]'', which was based on his [[Only When I Larf|novel of the same name]].{{sfn|"Only When I Larf (1968)". British Film Institute}} He was the writer and co-producer of ''[[Oh! What a Lovely War]]'' in 1969, but did not enjoy the process of making films, and had his name removed from the [[Motion picture credits|film's credits]].{{sfn|Dawson Scott|2006a|p=43}}{{sfn|Kerridge|2009|p=10}} In 1970 Deighton wrote ''[[Bomber (novel)|Bomber]]'', a fictional account of an [[RAF Bomber Command]] raid that goes wrong.{{sfn|Brown|1987|p=12}} To produce the novel he used an [[IBM MT/ST]], and it is possible that this was the first novel to be written using a [[word processor]].{{sfn|''The Daily News of Los Angeles''. 17 January 2020}}{{sfn|Kirschenbaum|2013|p=1}} Deighton was interviewed on ''[[Desert Island Discs]]'' in June 1976 by [[Roy Plomley]].{{sfn|"BBC Radio 4 - Desert Island Discs, Len Deighton". BBC}}{{efn|Deighton's choices on ''Desert Island Discs'' were [[Ludwig van Beethoven]], "[[Für Elise]]"; [[Louis Armstrong]] & His All-Stars, "[[Stars Fell on Alabama]]"; [[Johnny Cash]], "There Ain't No Easy Run"; [[Gwendoline Brogden]], "[[I'll Make a Man of You]]"; [[Maurice Ravel]], ''[[La valse]]''; [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]], "[[Piano Concerto No. 11 (Mozart)|Piano Concerto No. 11]]"; and [[Neil Diamond]], "[[Cracklin' Rosie]]". His book choice was ''The Art of Modern French Cooking''; his luxury choice was a [[darkroom]].{{sfn|"BBC Radio 4 - Desert Island Discs, Len Deighton". BBC}}}}

Deighton wrote ''[[Fighter: The True Story of the Battle of Britain]]'', published in 1977, after being advised to do so by the historian [[A.&nbsp;J.&nbsp;P. Taylor]].{{sfn|Kerridge|2017|p=55}}{{sfn|Buckton|2012|p=67}} The book was well received by readers and reviewers, although the inclusion of interviews with German participants led to criticism from some.{{sfn|Kerridge|2017|p=55}} Taylor wrote the introduction for the book, describing it as a "brilliant analysis";{{sfn|Taylor|1994|p=xxvi}} [[Albert Speer]], once the [[Reich Ministry of Armaments and War Production|Minister of Armaments]] for [[Adolf Hitler]], thought it "an excellent, most thorough examination".{{sfn|"Books". ''The Bookseller''}}

''Fighter'' was followed in 1978 by another novel, ''[[SS-GB]]'', the idea for which came from [[Ray Hawkey]], Deighton's friend from art school and the designer of the covers of several of his books. While the two were discussing what would have happened if the Germans had won the Second World War, Hawkey asked Deighton if he thought there could be an [[alternative history]] novel.{{sfn|Milward-Oliver|1987|p=98}}{{sfn|Deighton|2017}} ''[[Blitzkrieg: From the Rise of Hitler to the Fall of Dunkirk|Blitzkrieg]]'', Deighton's 1979 history of the rise of the Nazis and the [[fall of France]], has a foreword written by General [[Walther Nehring]], Chief of Staff to General [[Heinz Guderian]].{{sfn|Deighton|1982|loc=Title page}} As at 2023 his last history book is ''[[Blood, Tears and Folly: An Objective Look at World War II]]'' (1993), which examined the events of the war up until 1942.{{sfn|Jackson|Gwilliam|1999|p=15}} Reviewing for ''[[The Times]]'', Henry Stanhope considers the work "extremely readable", although he questions the structure of the book which focuses on different theatres of war, rather than using a purely chronological history. This approach, Stanhope considers, "presents a less complete picture to the reader".{{sfn|Stanhope|1993|p=39}} The historian [[Allan R. Millett]] considers that the book would have been improved by wider research into the Russian, Japanese and American aspects of the war.{{sfn|Millett|1995|p=1807}}

Beginning in 1983 Deighton wrote three connected trilogies: ''[[Berlin Game]]'' (1983), ''[[Mexico Set]]'' (1984) and ''[[London Match]]'' (1985); ''[[Spy Hook]]'' (1988), ''[[Spy Line]]'' (1989) and ''[[Spy Sinker]]'' (1990); and ''[[Faith (novel)|Faith]]'' (1994), ''[[Hope (Deighton novel)|Hope]]'' (1995) and ''[[Charity (novel)|Charity]]'' (1996). ''[[Winter (Deighton novel)|Winter]]'', a companion novel dealing with the lives of a German family from 1899 to 1945, which also provides an historical background to several of the characters from the trilogies, was published in 1987. The trilogies are centred on [[Bernard Samson]], a tough, cynical and disrespectful [[MI6]] intelligence officer.{{sfn|"Len Deighton". ''Contemporary Authors''}}{{sfn|Woods|2008|p=118}}

===Personal life===
Deighton married the illustrator Shirley Thompson in 1960;{{sfn|"Len Deighton". ''Contemporary Authors''}} the couple were divorced in 1976, having not lived together for over five years.{{sfn|Bird|1976|p=39}} He left Britain in 1969, and has lived abroad since, including in Ireland, Austria, France, the US and Portugal.{{sfn|Dawson Scott|2006b}}{{sfn|Bateman|1997}} He lived for a while in [[Blackrock, County Louth]],{{sfn|Egan|2018}} where he married Ysabele {{nee|de Ranitz}} in February 1980, the daughter of a Dutch diplomat.{{sfn|Bateman|1997}}{{sfn|"Len Deighton". Adrian Flowers}} The couple have two sons.{{sfn|Stummer|2014}}

Deighton does not like giving interviews, and these have been rare throughout his life; he also avoids appearing at [[literary festival]]s.{{sfn|Didcock|2009|p=17}}{{sfn|"The Deighton File". 26 May 2009|loc=Event occurs at 1:15–2:05}} He says that he does not enjoy being a writer and that "The best thing about writing books is being at a party and telling some pretty girl you write books, the worst thing is sitting at a typewriter and actually writing the book."{{sfn|Kerridge|2019|p=44}} After completing ''Faith'', ''Hope'' and ''Charity'' in 1996, he decided to take a year off writing; at the end of the period, he decided that writing was "a [[wikt:mug's game|mug's game]]" that he did not miss and did not have to do.{{sfn|"The Deighton File". 26 May 2009|loc=Event occurs at 3:45–4:05}} By 2016 Deighton had retired from writing.{{sfn|Kerridge|2016|p=29}}{{sfn|Landin|2022}}