Editing The IPCRESS File (section)

==Novel==
Deighton's [[Harry Palmer#Novels|protagonist]] is unnamed, and this is maintained through all the sequels. Early in the novel we learn that he worked for [[Military Intelligence]] for three years before joining his present agency – WOOC(P) – as a civilian employee. WOOC(P) is described as "one of the smallest and most important of the Intelligence Units". It is never stated exactly what the initials stand for, although his previous boss refers to it as "Provisional".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Deighton |first=Len |title=The IPCRESS File |publisher=Penguin |year=1962 |pages=5}}</ref>

We also learn in passing that he is from [[Burnley]], Lancashire, and that he was born in 1922 or 1923.<ref>{{cite book | last = Deighton | first = Len | title = The IPCRESS File | publisher = Ballantine | year = 1982 | page = 25 | isbn = 0-345-30453-5 | quote = For example; take the time my picture appeared in ''The Burnley Daily Gazette'' in July 1939, when I won the fifth form mathematics prize.}}</ref>

WOOC(P) is a small department and the unnamed protagonist has a great deal of autonomy.  He is resourceful and prepared for any eventuality, keeping an "escape package" containing money, a false passport and other documents circulating in the mail; he picks up the package from an [[accommodation address]] at a seedy London shop, and re-mails it to that address in a fresh envelope. He is also a gourmet who enjoys good food. Cooking features frequently in both the film and the novel; Deighton himself is an accomplished cook.

In common with several of his other early novels, the chapter headings have a "feature". In ''The IPCRESS File'' these take the form of each chapter being headed with a quote from a horoscope, which relates to the action in the chapter, though vaguely, as in most horoscopes.

The front cover, by Deighton's friend [[Raymond Hawkey]], has been described as "the template for the covers of all subsequent [[airport novel]]s".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Dyckhoff |first1=Tom |title=They've got it covered |work=Guardian web edition |publication-date=15 September 2001 |url=http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/history/story/0,6000,552107,00.html |access-date=6 December 2007 | location=London | date=15 September 2001}}</ref>