The Deighton Dossier

Competition - win a copy of a spy thriller classic - Tightrope

2013-05-22T13:53:00.003-07:00

Fancy a chance to win a copy of a somewhat forgotten but now revived espionage thriller? If so, read on.

Resurrecting out-of-print classics of British thriller and espionage fiction is the job of Mike Ripley, author and series editor behind Ostara Publishing's "Top Notch Thrillers" series of paperbacks. Each title is selected not just for its plot or sense of adventure but the for distinctiveness and sheer quality of its writing. Mike's kindly donated some books to the Deighton Dossier and it's my pleasure to give away a brand new copy free.

Supporting the dissemination of good thriller and espionage writing should be one of the goals of any member of the C.O.B.R.A.S. community, and I'm pleased to do so again, having last year held a similar competition where the prize was The Pass Beyond Kashmir by Berkley Mather.

This time, the competition gives Deighton Dossier readers a copy of Tightrope, by Anthony Melville-Ross.

It's got the lot. Bombs. Action. Agents. Conspiracies. Terrorists. The plot concerns a global plot holding the UK to ransom, with the "Department" of agent Al Trelawney under attack. The enemy turns out to be The Standard Bearer, a shadowy global organisation with bases all around the world. With the spies seemingly being spied on, smoking out the truth behind their agenda proves a tough ask for agent Trelawney. This being a rip-roaring thriller, the way he gets to grips with the threat and seeks its cause will keep the readers page-turning all evening. It's an easy read - the text flows well, the narrative is easy on the ear all the time and the plot is sufficient convoluted and twisted to keep the reader guessing throughout each chapter. Just over 200 pages, so definitely a weekend reader rather than a lifestyle choice.

Melville-Ross, who died in 1993, wrote only six novels. These he published between 1978 and 1985, drew on his experiences as a sub- mariner in the Second World War, in which he was awarded the DSC. He was, as many good espionage writers seem to be, also a Cold Warrior and former Secret Service officer. So, he wrote about what he knew! He's been compared Alastair Maclean and Desmond Bagley in style!

To win this copy - which I will make open to readers in Europe and North America only (to keep postage costs within reason), answer this question:

Name the famous French tightrope walker who crossed Niagara Falls many times in the 19th century

Closing date for entries: 15 June 2013
Entries via email: deightondossier [at] me [dot] com

Editor's decision is final. No correspondence will be entered into. Winner notified by email.

From the bookshelf to the newsstand - the serialisation of Billion Dollar Brain

2013-05-20T13:05:00.001-07:00

The serialisation of blockbuster books in daily and Sunday newspapers is a long-standing phenomenon in the publishing world. When Len Deighton's Billion Dollar Brain was published in 1966, it followed in the footsteps of The Ipcress File in being serialised in the Evening Standard in compressed versions over a series of weeks post publication in 1962.

Thanks - again - to regular blog correspondent "Pilgrim" from Iceland, who's been busy scouting through the archives of the Daily Express - I've reproduced below the first two pages of the ten-part compressed serialisation of Billion Dollar Brain in that paper, which started on 28 March 1966. Seeing the text of the book laid out in the traditional newspaper eight column format is certainly unfamiliar; it did mean that the book could be serialised (in an edited form) over a fortnight. Edward Milward-Oliver informs me that preceding this serialisation, there was an interview with Len by Peter Grosvenor, as a sort of curtain-raiser!

There are two fascinating aspects to this archived story: the excellent line illustrations of artist Richard Rosser and designer Robb (clearly inspired by the original cover), and the quote from Len, referencing his focus on detail in his research in his notebook which, subsequently, was reproduced in miniature form for a publicity push at publishers by the author and which can be seen here on the main Deighton Dossier website.

"Pilgrim" has shared numerous fascinating articles from newspaper archives with me, and I'll reproduce them up here as an when I can. Enjoy.

[Corrected thanks to information from Edward Milward-Oliver].

____________________

The Deighton File - friend and biographer Edward Milward-Oliver on Len ...

2013-04-19T09:51:00.002-07:00

Due for an update

Edward Milward-Oliver, author of the very useful and fact-filled Deighton Companion and the Annotated Bibliography, has been speaking to Jeremy Duns, spy novelist, on his friendship with Len Deighton and his work on a new biography of the writer, whom he's know for many years.

Edward shares some interesting new stories and there's a fun picture of Len in France from the 1960s on the site, from the time when he was writing The Ipcress File. Edward also makes some interesting observations about the author and his impact on book titles (the use of "The...." becoming a fashionable way to title a book in the sixties and beyond).

Worth a read.

Harry Styles or Harry's Styles? .....

2013-04-13T07:36:00.000-07:00

No, this website has not suddenly gone all 'One Direction'. This is a short post about an interesting contemporary cultural reference to Len Deighton's 'Harry Palmer' character (the unnamed spy in his first five books).

Shortlist magazine - the free sheet in London and other major cities which looks at style, consumer goods, entertainment and music - last week rand an interesting feature on the influence of 'mod' culture on the UK, forty years after its hey-day in the late sixties. Cue obvious reference to the 'Modfather' Paul Weller, parkas, Vespas and Mary Quant.

Tucked away on the third page is a reference to 'Harry's style' - Michael Caine's characterisation of Len's spy character is regarded as an icon of Mod-style. Take a look at the article below:

Spot the spelling mistake.

Bernard Samson back on TV - immediate questions this raises .....

2013-04-12T09:55:00.001-07:00

Is this the face of Bernard Samson?

The good news of Clerkenwell Films' plans for an 18-part TV mini-series of the nine-volume Bernard Samson story means that, 25 years or more after Granada TV's excellent (but never repeated) Game, Set and Match, this greatest of Len's characters will be back in action.

In 1988, the 13-part Game, Set and Match was broadcast only once on ITV and removed from our screens, Len having withdrawn his rights to commercial distribution due to his dissatisfaction with the casting. It's never been on commercial DVD (only bootlegs available) and as a result, Bernard Samson has not had the same exposure as a character in British spy fiction as perhaps the depth of his story deserved. The planned TV series may change that.

The news yesterday is exciting if you're a fan of the original stories (and the TV series), but it also brings to mind a number of challenges and questions, the answers to which will shape the end result. Such as:

Who will play Bernard Samson? It was the (mis)casting of Ian Holm as Bernard Samson in the 1988 series which contributed to Len Deighton's decision to withdraw broadcast rights. The story pivots around Bernard, so the casting has to be right. Which British actor has the capacity to bring to life the character of a spy who discovers that all those he trusts have lied and betrayed him in some way?
How much more significant does Fiona's story become with all volumes being covered? Spy Sinker, the sixth book, replayed the story of the first five novels from Fiona Samson's perspective and reveals a number of truths about her decision to take on the task of deep-lying agent in Berlin, her relationship with her husband and her family relationships which arguably prepared her for the loneliness of being alone in the heart of the enemy.
Can the producers successfully recapture the grimy reality of Cold War Berlin? Most of the iconic sites one associates with Cold War Berlin - not least, the anti-fascist protection barrier or Berlin Wall as its was better known, are gone. CGI is clearly the way forward, but a good production designer will be needed to imagine what Leuschner's was like, the cells in the Normannenstrasse or the Kosinski estate in Poland, which has an important function in the latter part of the triple trilogy.
Dicky Cruyer's character is a crucial counterfoil and need to be done right. As the reader works through the nine books, the initial perception of Cruyer's character changes and one understands just how crucial his role in on Bernard's career and subsequent downfall and re-emergence, and just how much Bernard's critical opinion of his skills is off target.
The story is told largely from Samson's perspective. How will the screen writer and director address that point. We know, when the novels are read (particularly Spy Sinker), that Bernard is not always a reliable witness and analysis of what is going on around him - one of the factors in deciding to build a plot around his naiveté - so how much of the narrative will be driven by his perspective, and how much will the other characters be centre stage. Is this really the story of Fiona Samson, rather than Bernard?
How much of the back story will be foregrounded? In the last novel, Charity, the reader is exposed through Silas Gaunt to the full picture of the Machiavellian scheme dreamt up by Gaunt and the DG for which Fiona was the key and Samson the patsy she duped. How much of this plot developed will be revealed in sequence? Or, how much of the story which explains why field agent Bernard is stuck in a desk role (which the 1988 TV series covered extensively at the start of the story)
What gets left out? Even with 18 one-hour (45 mins effectively) episodes, there's still not enough time to cover all nine novels. The ITV adaptation took 13 episodes to cover just Berlin Game, Mexico Set, London Match! So, how does the screenwriter compress this multi-layered story? Will he downplay much of the Kosinski narrative in Poland? Will they pass over Spy Sinker and the hidden realities revealed in that book? Will the Prettymans be relegated to brief walk-on parts?
What is the core theme which the screenwriter will hook the story upon? Is it personal or matrimonial betrayal? The ruthlessness of London Central? The deceit at the heart of London Central? The love between Bernard and Fiona which shapes both character's responses to the actions played upon them? The ending of the Cold War?
Does the Cold War (which ended nearly 24 years ago) still have resonance for the general reader? Is the spy novel now all about the Internet, shadow cells, al Qaeda and North Korea? Will the average TV viewer remember the Cold War and its impact on the western world? Or does it really matter - is it actually the stories and the characters that will grab people's attention?

Any blog readers with their own responses to these questions, or their own ideas about how the new series could do the books justice, are welcome - encouraged, even - to share their views in the comments page.

Bernard Samson to reach the TV screen (again) ...

2013-04-11T08:57:00.002-07:00

Soon, in celluloid (or rather, MP4)

Confirmed in today's Bookseller the news I mentioned below but had to keep stumm about: the Deighton Dossier can confirm that over 25 years after the first portrayal of Len Deighton's spy creation Bernard Samson on ITV, he is making it back onto TV ... this time, however, across all nine books in the trip trilogy.

Here is the news release from Clerkenwell Films, reproduced in full:

Oscar-winner Simon Beaufoy to bring Deighton to the screen.

Clerkenwell Films today announced that they are developing an 18 part series based on Len Deighton's classic Cold War novels featuring the iconic spy Bernard Samson. With over 40 million book sales, Len Deighton's Bernard Samson novels are regarded as his masterwork and one of the greatest spy stories of all time. Covering a vast array of international locations from London to Berlin to Mexico City and California, the series follows the exploits of Bernard Samson, an ex MI6 field agent who is drawn back into active duty in a quest to uncover the truth about his wife's defection to the KGB.

Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire, The Full Monty, 127 Hours) says:

'Deighton's masterful series of novels draws the hidden political map of the late twentieth century. It is all here: murders, honey-traps and spy swaps, the double-dealing and manoeuvring of nations jousting for position at the height of the Cold War, with Bernard Samson, the Bond with brains, giving it an almost Chandleresque sense of cool. The novels have at their heart a love story of Shakespearian proportions, taking in passion, betrayal, loyalty and the lengths we will go for the love of country and the love of one another.'

Len Deighton says:

'Writing it took well over ten years of my life, and it was my hope and firm belief that some day a film company would want to bring the entire series of books to the screen. Now it has happened. The impressive resources of Clerkenwell Films - and notably the talents of Simon Beaufoy - have embarked on this exciting project. I thank everyone concerned for this happy outcome, and I am confident that Bernard, and his associates, will make many new friends'.

Murray Ferguson, Chief Executive of Clerkenwell Films says:

' With the increasing international appetite for compelling and intelligent long form serial drama, the time is ripe to bring these wonderful novels to the screen, and television is absolutely the best place to do it. With Len Deighton and Simon Beaufoy we are working with two giants in their field. Set in London, Berlin, America and around the world we will be casting from the premier league of international talent.'

Notes to Editors:

Len Deighton

The best-selling author achieved worldwide fame with his spy novels Funeral in Berlin and The Ipcress File, made into an iconic movie starring Michael Caine. Deighton's first Bernard Samson novels, Berlin Game, Mexico Set and London Match, cemented his position as one of the world's leading spy and thriller writers, and has been described by the Sunday Times as 'the poet of the spy story'.

Simon Beaufoy

Simon Beaufoy is one of the world's leading screenwriters, best known for writing the film Slumdog Millionaire which won him an Oscar, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA award. Also Oscar nominated for The Full Monty, Simon's other credits include 127 Hours and Salmon Fishing in the Yemen.

Clerkenwell Films

Clerkenwell Films is a multi-award winning production company. Formed in 1998 the company has gone on to establish itself as one of the leading producers in the UK, creating high quality, popular drama for both UK and international audiences. Among its credits are award-winning, critically acclaimed shows such as MISFITS, AFTERLIFE and PERSUASION.

Lot's to discuss. Starting gun fired ..... now!

News on the horizon ....

2013-04-05T08:20:00.004-07:00

The horizon, earlier today

Can't say much yet, but there's a likelihood (I hope) of some interesting news at some point very soon.

That is all.

Keep checking back.

New shots of Samson's Berlin ....

2013-04-01T05:49:00.002-07:00

Up on the main Deighton Dossier website I've added a new gallery page showing more of the locations in Berlin which feature heavily in the books and in the Thames TV adaptation.

I've reproduced three of the shots below. Berlin really is one of the key characters in the nine-volume series; though the city has changed dramatically from the time the books were written, the key locations which anchor the narrative are still visible:

The Soviet Army HQ at Karlshorst, source of the leaked intercept which is at the heart of the deception in the Game, Set and Match series of novels

The Müggelheimerdamm, where Werner exfiltrates agent Dr Walter von Munte

Location of the hostage transfer of Werner Volkmann and Erich Stinnes at the end of London Match

An Icelandic curiosity ....

2013-04-01T05:38:00.000-07:00

Thanks to regular correspondent 'Pilgrim', I've come across a very unusual item: a profile of Len Deighton from one of Iceland's news magazines. It doesn't add much new in terms of telling's Len's story or understanding his stories; it's interesting simply from the point of view of emphasising how much impact Len's work had, particularly in the sixties, and the extent of that impact which went as far as this small island in the north Atlantic.

The article is from Alþýðublaðið [Icelandic readers might like to advise of the phonetic spelling!] of 5 March 1996, and seems to have been prompted by the release of The Ipcress File in Icelandic cinemas and the imminent publication of further books from the popular 'Harry Palmer' series:

Test your Icelandic language skills!

It's interesting too for the publicity picture, which I've not seen before - clearly, Len's PR team were aiming to project a clear image of him as spywriter and commentator on the Cold War, as he's dressed rather like a Stasi agent!

Pilgrim's helpfully provided a [rough] translation of the article below. Any Icelandic readers who wish to provide further comment to improve on this are welcome to do so!

Translation:

On the way to fame - rich writer of spy stories, and cookbook writer in leisure

John Le Carré came "in from the cold", and we had the tenacious life of James Bond, but this whimsical Englishman, who drinks little, likes to create food and gets dizzy if he goes up high buildings, is Len Deighton, 38 years old. He has followed his famous counterpart John Le Carré's "in from the cold" with four spy stories, which are more entertaining that the stories from Le Carré and Ian Fleming.

Secret dossier

Secret Dossier (The Ipcress File) has already been filmed and many will have probably seen it: it was shown at the University Cinema recently. The film was the first book in this series, and was the first book by Len Deighton. The latest of these books is "Billion Dollar Brain". And there will be more. Len Deighton has said that he has no interest in writing serious novels: "I feel that spy stories are quite hard enough to deal with", he says. It takes him a year to write each book and six to eight months for each draft. The books have made him a multi-millionaire. He has a house in Portugal, where he cooks a lot (…. “if I get hungry”, he says), but he goes there very rarely.

Spying

Len Deighton has worked as a railroad clerk in Chiswick, a chef at the Royal Festival Hall; he has been a factory manager in Aldgate and a waiter in Piccadilly. His books are not just popular because they are about a spy, but because the spies are very normal people. This new English writer has a regular article in the English sunday newspaper The Observer. He has published two cookbooks and the main character in The Ipcress File is as equally as impressed by food as the author himself.

James Bond

Len Deighton is interested in military history and has travelled throughout most of the world, but admits that he has a tendency to exaggerate his accomplishments. He has a difficult temperament, often difficult to control, but has a good sense of humour, which is evident in his stories - "Do you think I'm a James Bond?" Deighton's anonymous spy says in one of his books.

In one of his later books he cites the phrase, which Khruschev said to Dulles, "We ought to get together and only have to pay our spies once". The spy who receives payment from both parties and never trusts anyone, can often be found in Deighton’s books. The author has gained knowledge from his time with the RAF and is knowledgeable about aircraft, weapons and food. He occasionally smokes French Gauloise cigarettes, likes music and a good lunch.

So he isn't the one we know in the "secret dossier", under the name Harry Palmer. But one thing is for sure: he is the author of books on their way to fame.

More on the Deighton Word Processor story ...

2013-03-17T04:31:00.000-07:00

Obsolete technology?

Friend and Deighton biographer Edward Milward-Oliver points readers in the direction of another article in today's Observer newspaper, by James Bridle, entitled 'The Power of the Pen'. It picks up on the interested generated by the Slate article on Len Deighton's pioneering use of the word processor, and includes a quote from science fiction writer William Gibson on the power a computer gives the author to develop his or her story.

Clearly, this subject's generated a lot of interest from writers and readers alike. If I see more pick up of it in the media and online I'll post the links for readers here.

Further update: the curator of e-manuscripts at the British Library has also referenced this earlier article, and added his own spin, including some interesting new photographs.

Harry Palmer turns 80 ....

2013-03-16T08:33:00.001-07:00

UK screen giant Michael Caine has just turned eighty years old, and there has been a significant amount of coverage in the UK's - in the world's media - recognising his contribution to film over the last five decades.

I enjoyed particularly this article in the Daily Telegraph, which looks at his successful roles - and those which didn't work so well! Reading it you realise quite what a back catalogue of roles the man has, in some really iconic films spreading from the sixties right up through the present decade, with his role in Batman.

The Ipcress File is properly acknowledged as one of his successes, and his capability to embody a character perfectly is reflected by the journalist:

"Caine’s laconic spy Harry Palmer spends the opening two minutes of The Ipcress File (1965) brewing a hot cup of Java from espresso beans freshly ground on camera? Either way, after the film was released, the popularity of real coffee in Britain went through the roof, roughly in line with Caine’s career."

Happy Birthday, Sir Harry .... sorry, Sir Michael!

When the home computer took up most of your home: Deighton and the Word Processor ...

2013-03-04T14:06:00.000-08:00

This is just one part of it ...

Len Deighton's book Bomber, as well as being cited as one of the best 100 books of the 20th Century by Anthony Burgess, was also, interestingly, the first book to be written on a word processor. We're so used nowadays to the Internet, and writing blogs, and printing out documents on Word and editing them on our mobile phones that we forget that things, for writers, were a whole lot different back in the late sixties and early seventies.

Correspondence with Deighton biographer and friend Edward Milward-Oliver this week pointed me in the direction of an excellent - specialised - article in Slate, the online magazine. This piece, by Matthew Kirschenbaum, is entitled 'The Book Writing Machine', and explains the little-known - and much contested - story of the first book to be written fully on a word processor.

Edward informs me that Kirschenbaum, an English professor writing a literary history of word processing, has been contributing to a debate within literary circles over the last few years about who did write the first book on a word processor. Early candidates included Stephen King and crime writer Stuart Woods. Thanks to a note from Edward, Kirschenbaum was put onto the fact of Len's lead in this area from the late sixties, and the result is his article (and presumably, forthcoming book!)

Len has always been a technophile and was writing in the sixties at a time when the computer was entering the office workplace and government, and creating new opportunities - and challenges - for organisations, including the security services. Computers would become an integral part of the Cold War challenge of outwitting the enemy and cracking codes in minutes that might previously have taken a code-breaker hours or even days. Len, of course, introduced the computer theme into his first series of novels. Billion-Dollar Brain features a mainframe computer that manages a series of free agents under cover in the Baltic states, working to bring down the communist state. The front cover design by Raymond Hawkey also feature one of the first Honeywell computers in the UK.

His interest in using technology to develop his writing efficiency is well establish in Kirschbaum's article, which relays - through a new interview with Len - some fascinating anecdotes about the physical reality of owning a word processor in the late sixties. Today, one is not required to remove the front window from one's flat to get an iPhone home!

Kirschbaum tells how Len was what one would nowadays call an 'early adopter'. The new IBM MTST word processor he leased in 1968 - the first owned by a private individual in the UK, arguably played a big part in helping him write his most critically-acclaimed book. The author writes:

'In the States, the MTST retailed for $10,000; Deighton leased his as a hedge against its eventual obsolescence. Because he had opted for the most expensive of the four models, it had an additional tape storage reel (much like the dual floppy disk drives that would begin accompanying personal computers a decade or so later). The operator could retain two different bodies of text at the ready “on-line,” and even blend them with one another in the course of producing finished pages—what we would today call a mail merge. For a project such as Bomber, which involved continuous cross-referencing between the different narrative episodes, this was to prove a particular advantage. Ms. Handley [Ed.- Deighton's personal assistant] was also able to take advantage of a feature that allowed special magnetic marker codes to be recorded on the tape, thus enabling near-instant access to any passage so flagged; this was crucial to ensuring consistency in the technical portions of the manuscript.

“One might almost think the word processor (as it was eventually named) was built to my requirements,” Deighton told me.'

This is not the first time that Len has shared his experiences with the early word processors, which helped to automate and speed up his already legendary approach to note taking and research. In the 1980s he wrote the forward to The Writer and the Word Processor, an instructional guide from 1984 designed for the home user, at a time when home PCs were starting to enter the living room. In his foreword, Len quoted a lunch comment from his friend, author and critic Harry Keating:

"It used to be that when writers go together, they talked about money; now they talk only about word processors"

It's a world away from how things are now, when any author has at their hand instantly the tools not only to write but the publish and broadcast their work to the whole word. And not a plug or a 5 inch floppy disk in sight.

Len Deighton turns 84 ...

2013-02-18T00:01:00.000-08:00

Today is Len Deighton's 84th birthday; he was born in London on 18 February 1929

On behalf of the Deighton Dossier blog and website and its readers, as well as his many thousands of admirers and readers around the globe, a hearty 'Happy Birthday' goes out to Len.

It's thanks to his writing and second-to-none research that readers can enjoy so many cracking stories over the decades in which he introduced to the world of spy fiction such time-honoured characters as the 'unnamed spy' who later became Harry Palmer and my particular favourite, Bernard Samson.

Which are the 'great' British films?.....

2013-02-05T04:40:00.001-08:00

What's the best film of all time? Everyone will have a different perspective, but any list of top films is always a good excuse for a debate on which is the best and when the golden period of movies was.

Barry Norman, film critic, has identified his top 50 British films of all time in today's Telegraph, and I'm pleased that The Ipcress File has made it into his list (which isn't ordered, but just a collection of the best 50 in his opinion). It, along with the Saltzman-produced Bond films of the mid-sixties, helped generate a great wave of classic home-spun cinema for a decade or more.

The Ipcress File it is not the only spy film in his list (he includes Skyfall, which is one of the few modern films Norman has listed, along with The Third Man). But the recent Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy - which I thought was excellent - didn't make it, nor did The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. Interestingly, Norman's left the last place, number 50, up to his readers to determine.

Any film list is always going to be contentious. What do you think has been missed out from the list? What espionage greats aren't in the list but should be? What doesn't justify it's place on the list?

Discuss!

Bomber goes techno ....

2013-01-24T09:42:00.001-08:00

Len Deighton's 1971 war thriller Bomber is emerging as one of the reguarly discussed 'unfilmed books'. This blog covered the news that there is a legitimate effort to put into production a film of the book, although this trail has gone rather cold. In addition, various web wanderings have turned up treatments of the book by individuals who are inspired by the film and want to interpret it creatively.

One such is Simon Heartfield. He has written an album of ambient/techno music inspired by the film, "Schrage Musik"is the result - it is the name given to the weapon used by German night fighters to attack RAF bombers, and is featured in the book. Simon takes up the story on his own blog:

"The album has a bit of a back story. The first piece of music I wrote called Schrage Musik; it was the opening track on his Venom and Eternity album in 2010. It was inspired by the 1994 BBC Radio production of the legendary Len Deighton's novel Bomber published in 1970, which told the story in real-time of an RAF Lancaster bomber crew and the inhabitants of the fictional German village of Altgarten, which is accidentally mistaken for the real target.

Shortly after it was released I was contacted by the author of the Len Deighton Companion, Edward Milward-Oliver who was writing a piece about the novel as it was being considered for the Lost Man Booker prize.

More intriguing than this was the news that finance was being sought for a film version of Bomber and Edward kindly passed on my details and my track to the producers with the hope that I might possibly be involved in some way. Interestingly, according to Edward, Len Deighton had said that he envisaged that a big screen version might have an electronic based soundtrack as the novel deals with the technology that is used by both the RAF and the Luftwaffe air defence system. Although the plans for a film version have not come to fruition I felt that I would still like to do something so I produced a soundtrack comprised of nine pieces inspired by the novel and radio version (which has not music of its own) which was released in 2011."

Also produced was an imagined film title sequence complete with cast and credits which can be seen online. Indeed, I had already stumbled upon Simon's soundtrack and opening titles sequence before.

The full album is available as a free download via Bandcamp from Monday 21st January.

Another side of Len Deighton ...

2013-01-20T08:39:00.002-08:00

"Another Campari, darling?"

His backside, that is.

Not backside, but his back ... side!

What am I talking about? I’ve recently got hold of an extremely rate copy of Town magazine from Christmas 1965 – forty-eight years old but in fantastic condition. The front cover is a photo by James Mortimer that straightaway makes a serious statement about the style and verve of the swinging sixties.

The stunningly beautiful, winking woman is model Patti Boyd, later to become the wife of ex-Beatle George Harrison and blue guitarist Eric Clapton.

She is the woman who was subsequently purported to be the the inspiration for George Harrison's 'Something', 'I need you' and 'Isn't it a pity', plus Clapton's 'Layla' and 'Wonderful Tonight'. She was clearly in the sixties the ultimate hip 'It Girl' and lucky was the man who go to spend a morning in her arms.

The lucky man? Well, that’s Len Deighton of course, hence why it's on this blog. The image it conjures up gives a clue to the way in which men's expectations were changing: a pretty ‘bird’, sexually liberated, up front, enjoying drink-fuelled partying fun, with a handsome man on her arm, who clearly thinks he's struck lucky.

It's perhaps the ultimate fantasy for Town’s male readers of the to subscribe to, as the staid, buttoned-up 'fifties gave way to the 'sixties and men had to learn how to deal with greater personal independence and wealth.

Why is this picture interesting? Well, for a start, it’s the reverse image of the cover of Drinks-man-ship, edited by Len and produced by the same team working on Town magazine, which came out at the same time (in time for Christmas).

"Absolutely - make mind a double!"

An early example of integrated product marketing and advertising. Indeed, at the back of the magazine is an advert (right) in the form of an invitation to join the fun and purchase a copy of the book.

The book, now reasonably collectable, is a bawdy, alcohol-soaked paean to every manifestation of booze in all its forms, with contributions from some of London’s finest writers and reconteurs of the time.

However, it’s also interesting because it demonstrates Len’s status – three years after publication of The Ipcress File – as a writer and … well, nowadays one would refer to him as a “celebrity”.

One would think that a clinch with one of the most beautiful women in London would stay long in the memory.

But Len Deighton today has little recollection of this shoot: he was at the time, he recalls, very busy (with what he doesn't recall) and he remembers a car coming to collect him, going to a studio somewhere where some pictures were taken with the "delightful" Patti Boyd before he was whisked away.

Not a bad way to spend a morning!

[Thanks to blog reader Nick Flindall for his detective work on identifying Patti Boyd]

Thrilling history in Westminster ...

2013-01-03T04:25:00.001-08:00

Andrew Williams, Mike Ripley, Robert Ryan

Friend of this blog, crime writer and editor of the Shotsmag journal 'Getting Away with Murder', author Mike Ripley, has informed me about an interesting session in London later this month of interesst anyone interested in historical crime and thriller fiction.

Right now I'm two chapters into the new novel Dominion, by C J Sanson. It's a thriller which takes place in a UK which made an armistice with Nazi Germany in 1940 and part of which - the Isle of Wight - is occupied by the Wehrmacht. It follows in the footsteps of such other 'alternative history' books at, of course, Len Deighton's SS-GB and Fatherland by Anthony Harris.

There is a big market for historical fiction covering all periods - Hilary Mantel recently won the Booker Prize for Bring up the bodies - and on the back of this renewed interest Mike and two other fellow authors are organising a talk in London to get their take on historical crime and thriller fiction.

Historically Criminal! sees Andrew Williams, Mike Ripley and Robert Ryan meet to talk about their take on historical crime and thriller fiction. All three are prolific established authors - below are the covers of their recent works:

Robert Ryan has been a lecturer and a journalist and has written more than fifteen books to date. In Dead Man’s Land, Dr Watson must identify a treacherous killer striking in the trenches of the First World War.

Andrew Williams directed and wrote television documentaries for twenty years before becoming an author. His first two books were short-listed for a number of awards. His latest novel, The Poison Tide centres around the life of a British spy in the First World War.

Mike Ripley is the award winning author of the Angel series of comedy thrillers and has been described as “England's funniest crime writer”. He was a scriptwriter on the BBC series Lovejoy and as a critic has reviewed over 1,000 crime novels in the last 22 years.

Mike Ripley will be chairing a hugely entertaining panel as they discuss why are so many really good thrillers are opting for historical settings these days with Andrew Williams and Robert Ryan explaining their decision to go "Historically Criminal".

Details of the event:
When: Monday 18th February 2013, 1800h*
Where: Victoria Library, Buckingham Palace Road

Update
This event took place in front of a small but enthusiastic audience. Interesting discussion about the benefits that historical fiction provides to the author, but also the challenges they face, particularly with readers who are sticklers for historical accuracy.

New Year wishes to all readers of this blog

2012-12-31T02:52:00.004-08:00

May I wish all visitors to the Deighton Dossier blog - and the main website - a Happy New Year for 2013 and to thank you for visiting the site and for sharing your comments on a great number of the posts I've put up over the past twelve months.

Espionage fiction has been in rude health in 2012 - not least with James Bond's Skyfall proving to be box office catnip - and there's every reason to think that in 2013 we'll continue to see varied output from established authors and from writers new on the scene. If I can cover just a fraction of that good news on here, then I'll be happy.

We ended 2012 of course with Len publishing his first substantial book for many a year (see post below), giving for the first time in explicit detail his take on the origins of Bond. I know from previous conversations with Len that there are other written works on the stocks so to speak - a history of the fountain pen, and a history of the aero-engine - and it would be nice if these came to print in 2013.

As for more fiction? Well, who knows! Len's enjoying retirement and, with his 84th birthday in February and having produced over 100 books in a career that's delivered multiple international top sellers, he's perfectly entitled to have hung up his word processor for good when it comes to fiction. And after all, where does one go after the triple trilogy of the Samson series, the historical meisterwerk of Bomber or the tremendous historical re-appraising of Blood, Tears and Folly?

But ..... in the words of the title of the re-make of Thunderball to which Len contributed an early screenplay .... Never Say Never Again?

Deighton e-book published: a new take on James Bond

2012-12-20T09:37:00.000-08:00

'Harry Palmer's creator & the father of James Bond

It's been seventeen years since Len Deighton last published a complete book: Charity, the last of the Samson triple trilogy. Readers interested in Len's writing style and knack for storytelling have had to make do with numerous forewords, a short story and a number of magazine articles.

Now, at the tail-end of 2012, he's back, back, back. To a degree.

Len returns to the world of the published author with a new electronic book, produced as a 'Kindle Single'. Sadly, it's not a new Samson novel or historical narrative (fingers remain crossed in that regard.) But it is a fascinating tale of how one of cinema's iconic figures came to be.

In a year that has seen the 50th anniversary of Ian Fleming's James Bond and the release of Skyfall to universal acclaim, Len has chosen to give his perspective - at some length, for the first time - on the origins of this most famous of screen characters and make a further contribution to the Bond mythos.

James Bond: my long and eventful search for his father, reads like a long article that one might read in The Sunday Times Magazine or an essay in The Literary Review. Published solely online - a first for Len - this 10,000-word book is available on Amazon priced £1.53.

You can find the book here.

As someone who was acquainted with Ian Fleming and Kevin McClory, the film producer who is one of the important figures in the development of the Bond mythos through his work on early drafts of From Russia With Love and subsequently on Never Say Never Again (the Thunderball remake), Len provides an unrivalled insider's view of the development of Bond as the character moved from page to screen.

Len was an insider and witness to much of what went on as the character made this transition to cinema. It is his attention to detail, and his capacity to recall in detail many of the meetings and anecdotes which, story by story, gives this book a ring of authenticity. It is also interesting to read again about the connections between the development of James Bond and the simultaneous development of Len's 'unnamed spy' character, subsequently of course Harry Palmer.

We read in the book about Len's first encounter with Ian Fleiming in said White Tower restaurant in Soho, a restaurant that "catered to soft-spoken, dark-suited tycoons, film people, politicians and advertising executives with fat expense accounts. It said a lot about Ian that he preferred such formality." It was over this lunch conversation that Fleming revealed his admiration for the agents he controlled from behind his desk in Naval Intelligence during the war; men like Merlin Minshall who were at the sharp end of the intelligence fight against the Nazis and had the colourful tales to relate.

Bond was, Deighton writes, "[Fleming's] screwball alter ego. Writing provided a chance to depict the forbidden dreams of this outwardly cool, but morose and moody Royal Naval officer."

The book goes on to recount the efforts to get Bond onto the big screen, and it is here that the story becomes interesting as it looks at the myriad elements behind Bond's creation - on screen and on the page - which have kept writers, fans and fiction historians entertained and intrigued.

The book provides an extensive re-telling of the whole story which has been document elsewhere by other authors and Bond fans in great detail, and also been the subject of extensive legal arguments over the decades. While some of the stories are familiar from previous articles, much of it seems new and refreshingly honest.

In a year in which Bond has shown himself to be the 'King Of All Cinema', Deighton maps out in compelling detail - such as his hint at the origin of the 007 moniker, and fascinating perspectives from Bond ground-zero, the bumpy road by which Bond moved from page to screen.

The last paragraph, in particular, is a real peach!

Let's hope too that, if this e-book proves a success, Len may be prompted to write more and take advantage of the world of e-publishing to reach out to his global fanbase.

Gun. Jumped.

2012-12-19T02:01:00.001-08:00

This Friday, there may be something interesting to talk about here on this blog.

However, for various reasons, I'm not in a position to share it right now.

That explains recent changes on this blog.

Snippets from a conversation ....

2012-12-09T05:07:00.001-08:00

I use an iPhone these days to record interviews

I was fortunate enough to catch up with Len over lunch at his club in South West London, the outcome of which was the third exclusive interview for the Deighton Dossier, which you can access by clicking the button above (along with the two other interviews exclusive to this site).

Over seven hours we talked about many more subjects than those which Len kindly responded to in the Q&A interview. Some of the things we discussed I'm not I'm afraid at liberty to repeat here - interesting though they undoubtedly are - but during our conversation there were a number of stories, anecdotes and facts which came up which I want to share with you here. I'm sure Len wouldn't mind me sharing a few of his interesting stories and asides from a life at the top of his profession as writer, producer and designer.

Try these for size:

Free gifts
Having discussed the new Bond film Skyfall, Len related to me the story of author John Gardner, who wrote one of the Bond sequel books after Fleming's death with permission from the latter's estate. One day, apparently, Gardner called up Len to tell him with glee:

"I've given Bond a SAAB!"

This was a crucial change in the Bond mythology of course, the move away from the Aston Martin. Gardner told Len he had received a car from the makers for this act of product placement. Product placement was of course crucial to Bonds production value. Len told me that in contrast, the only time he'd received something resulting from product placement was a Sunbeam food mixer which was given to him following publication of one of his cook strips!

This wasn't the only example of a mention in a book leading to a tremendous offer of a free car. Len retold a similar tale: Ian Fleming once wrote to the head of Ferrari asking if he was happy with the use of a Ferrari in one of the recent Bond films (Len wasn’t specific about which film he was referring to). In return, the chief of Ferrari wrote back saying thank you and advising Fleming that he had gone to the top of the list for the new Ferrari; this was a valuable offer, as there were hundreds of stars and rich people on the list already. However, Fleming had to write back indicating that he did not have sufficient funds to purchase one and reluctantly had to decline the offer!

Ian Fleming

Len also told me a story about Ian Fleming in Jamaica, just after he had completed the selling of the film rights for Doctor No. He apparently sent a telegram to his neighbour in Jamaica at the time, actor, director and theatre impresario Noel Coward, asking if he would take the lead part. He sent a telegram back which said, simply, “Dr No, No, No, No”. Classic retort!

Harry Saltzman ... canny

Film producer Harry Saltzman is one of the most fascinating people that Len has known, I think. As well as being the co-producer of the first Bond films he of course got off the ground the films of Len's first three books, christening the unnamed spy character 'Harry Palmer'. Len recounted a story of how when he was working with Saltzman on The Ipcress File in London, a young producer got in touch with him indicating he’d love to get hold of an autograph from Harry, as he was one of the people he was studying to learn about the business of film-making.

The young producer had sent Len a book in the post for Harry to sign; Len gave Harry the book and asked him to sign it. He discussed with Harry what he thought he should write. Harry said he should put “please remit 3’ and 6”!

Not getting the point of promotional gifts

During the marketing push for Billion-Dollar Brain, Len's fourth book in the unnamed spy series, his designer friend Ray Hawkey - who had created the iconic cover for Ipcress File - took some of Len's original notes from his trips to Helsinki when writing the book, and turned them into a facsimile of Len's notebook.

This note book - along with a letter from the author, tickets for the opera and left luggage tags, all of which had relevance to the story - was sent out to reviewers and dealers. It looked like a personaI letter from the authors to the booksellers, and the notebook and other items looked like the real thing. So convincing was it that some booksellers sent it back saying it was very kind of the publishers to let them look at Len’s note book, but they couldn’t see what they had to do with it!

Is that a successful marketing campaign or not? Maybe.

Dove, Ark, Noah ..... do you get it?

As a designer at the Royal College of Art in the nineteen fifties, Len was a contributing editor to Ark magazine, the in-house journal which became a showcase for modern young designers to show off their ideas. I have copies of the editions which Len contributed to and I discussed them with him, asking him in particular about the special edition he produced called, simply, 'Dove'. Why was it called Dove and what was it for?

The Dove supplement, Len told me, was his attempt to give readers of Ark something free that would fall out of the magazine, increasing the perceived value; something for nothing, a bonus, he said. This was why it was so-named: it was the ‘Dove’ that came out of the ‘Ark’. This was the first time it had occurred to me to make that connection. So simple really.

He explained that the article on page three was his attempt to create the most perfectly legible newspaper article, with proper spacing and use of three fonts. Mr Buckett, who featured on the front page, was in fact the husband of the lady who made the tea at the Art School

The area at the school where he had tea with fellow students was, he said, a location used by the SOE during the war as a starting off point for agents heading off to France. The SOE arrange with United Dairies to have one pint of milk to be delivered to each mews door, to disguise the fact that the whole building was in use!

Fascinating little anecdotes. Look forward, in future, to more interviews (I hope!)

Eight and out .....

2012-11-23T05:22:00.003-08:00

This blog is sad to report the fictional "demise" of C.O.B.R.A.S. blogger, artist and spy fiction writer Armstrong Sabian, who reported last week that his excellent website - Mister 8 - will soon be no more, as the demands of family and work life take precedence over reporting on and writing spy fiction.

This is a loss, but we wish the pseudonymous Armstrong well. His site carried many fascinating blogposts on the arcana and lost heroes of the espionage fiction world, including many articles on Len Deighton and his arguably most famous creation, Harry Palmer.

Indeed, in 2009, Armstrong started a series of posts called "The Harry Palmer Files" in which he looked at all aspects of the Harry Palmer mythology - the films, the books, the design, the music - with a fine toothed comb.

With Armstrong's permission, I have reproduced below his review of Deighton's first book, The Ipcress File. Thanks for the blogs, Armstrong, and for contributing to the C.O.B.R.A.S.!

The Ipcress File (1962) - review by Armstrong Sabian, July 14 2009

"I’m horrible at writing reviews, and I generally dislike reading them. Perhaps it is the English major in me that resents summing up works of literature and film into six paragraphs, or the ability of the reviewer to discredit and dismiss the work of a creator in a few sentences. Of critics working today, I prefer the writings of Roger Ebert, who uses the art he’s discussing as a touchstone to make art of his own. I am no Roger Ebert, however, and so instead of a by-the-books review, I want to make a series of points that I hope will start conversation amongst those of you who have read The IPCRESS File (and perhaps even those who haven’t).

For those who haven’t, please note that you should assume a general spoiler warning for the next week’s worth of posts. And, really, the book has been out for 37 years. Why haven’t you read it yet?

A brief summary: Our narrator, an anonymous agent of British intelligence organization W.O.O.C. (P) is called in to explain details of a recent affair to the Minister of Defense, and in doing so, shares the story with the reader as well. He’s leaving the intelligence wing of the war office, where he workedunder a stifling bureaucrat named Ross, for the civilian W.O.O.C. (P) where he finds himself under the command of a no-nonsense boss, Dalby. Dalby holds weekly screening sessions in which the agents under him (including the priveleged Chico and the austere Alice) view film of their quarry.

One of these quarry is codenamed Jay, an opportunist, who it turns out is trafficking scientists to the Soviet Union. The narrator is sent to buy back one such scientist, and when his efforts fail, he accompanies Dalby to Lebanon to take himi back by force. Shortly after, Dalby takes leave and puts our narrator in charge of operations. As new head of the department, he authorizes himself an attractive young assistant, Jean, and works on the missing scientists until Dalby returns with news of an American nuclear test. The narrator, Jean and Dalby head out to the Tokwe Atoll for the test, it turns out that Dalby is a traitor who frames the narrator as one, and our hero winds up in Hungary…or really London, and finds himself at the heart of a massive brainwashing conspiracy.

That’s pretty much the long and short of it.

It may come as a surprise, because, after all, I run this website, I’m often underwhelmed by the thriller novels I attempt to read, because they all read as knock-offs, formulas in which the main character can be substituted for “x.” Reading The IPCRESS File was a refreshing change from that feeling, as Deighton has constructed a highly effective novel. I believe the strength of the book lies in its narrator, who, as many have said, is the opposite of the James Bond character. He has the patina of realism, an often helpless agent choked by the bureaucracy that inevitably comes in government work. He also does not possess, as noted in the post on the Angry Young Men movement, the privilege by birth of Bond. Though we hear little of his parents (we only see mention of a letter from his aunt), we might easily assume that they were not the types to die in mountain climbing accidents in the alps. The narrator’s response to these issues is not to lash out angrily, like Jimmy Porter, but to stay cool and sardonic, working within the system to benefit himself.

The view on bureaucracy is seen best in the pairing of Ross (“…a quiet Intellect happy to work within the strict departmental limitations imposed upon him. Ross didn’t mind; hitting platform five at Waterloo with rosebud in the buttonhole and umbrella at the high port was Ross’s beginning to a day of rubber stamp and carbon paper action…”) and Dalby (I find him best described, not physically, but by this bit: “Dalby made his wishes known by peremptory unequivocal orders; all his staff preferred them to the complex polite chat of most Departments as especially did I as a refugee from the War Office.”). Though Ross wins out in the end, as it turns out that his polite, quiet rubber stampings were masking extensive machinations and schemes, the direct style of Dalby is still somewhat seen as preferred. Even after he’s revealed as a traitor, a comparison to Dalby is, “as near Alice ever came to admiration.”

Still, even in this department there’s carbon copying to be done, and what is amazing is that Deighton utilizes these scenes of the narrator in his office surrounded by paperwork to increase our understanding and appreciation of the character. While other heroes of espionage thrillers, or really, thrillers in general, set forth from the first chapter of the book, calvinistically clinging to the path that will take them to the last chapter, leads and progress come for our narrator only occasionally; the rest of his time is spent reading weekly intel round-ups, attending dreaded conferences and filing expense reports. In addition, this case is only one of many. While this book necessarily focuses on the IPCRESSfile, the narrator points out in a conversation with Ross that, “We’ve got 600 open files in my office, that’s no secret, and my only interest at the moment is making it five hundred and ninety-nine even if I don’t get the Minister’s certificate of Good Housekeeping doing it.” In the end of the novel, closing the file on Jay and the IPCRESS operation only means opening another on his superiors.

Which is not to say that the novel doesn’t contain action and adventure. It does, and the action comes in short, surprising outbursts — the raid to recapture Raven in Lebanon, the chase across the Atoll and the interrogation after, and the extended torture in the London house — where the narrator demonstrates his unease at dealing with such situations (“Dalby had gone to look at the Nash while I vomited as inconspicuously as possible”). While ostensibly the protagonist, our nameless agent narrator is most often a reactor, and not an instigator. This leads to one of the novel’s (some might say necessary) weak points, the final chapter, in which large gaps in the story are filled in via expository dialogue. It is in this final chapter, we find out that Jay’s punishment for his traitorous crimes is to head his own intelligence section, and Dalby’s recompense for playing outside of the system is death in a “car accident.”

The novel is populated by other interesting characters, each of them defined by a few rich details — Adem and his tiger-hunting uncle, Carswell and his rebellious choice to go into the statistics division, Cavendish and his book collection — some of whom we only see briefly, or in some cases (Grenade!) not at all. I was struck most by the two female characters in the novel: Jean, who was hired, essentially, to be a sexual object but proves herself to be shrewd and more than capable of working for intelligence, and Alice, the bedrock foundation of the W.O.O.C.(P) who in many ways remains the only mystery at the novel’s conclusion. Though Jean does wind up in the narrator’s bed, these female characters are more often refreshingly portrayed as indispensable equals (in everything but pay) to the hero.

All in all, this was a grand start to a series of novels, and I’m already looking forward to reading the next in Deighton’s series. The novel definitely has its rough spots, but I, for one, prefer a tasty chunky cookie to one carved by a factory cutter."

Who needs Apple Maps? Kurt Meyer's incredible Ipcress File location hunt ...

2012-11-10T08:23:00.003-08:00

Courtesy of the ever-helpful Harry Palmer website, I've come across what must be the most detailed examination ever of the film of The Ipcress File.

Someone called Kurt Meyer has taken what looks like hours of effort in researching and photographing almost every film location from the film, creating in the process a wonderful frame of reference for this classic film.

Check out the website here. It's an incredible effort.

Deighton Dossier exclusive - new Q&A by Len Deighton

2012-11-04T14:15:00.002-08:00

All gone now, of course....

After catching up recently with him in London, Len Deighton kindly agreed to do another short Q&A interview, giving fans and blog readers more news and insight on his work and his life. We’re very grateful that he’s chosen to do so, and I hope readers find the interview interesting. It’s split into two parts.

Part one covers the topic of Berlin, one of the main ‘characters’ if you like in many of Len’s novels. I’ve just returned from there and the city retains it’s special aura, and the Berliner Luft is still present.

The second part is Len answering questions submitted by readers of the blog.

Enjoy!

Part 1 - ‘Berlin’

The Deighton Dossier: One of the most memorable phrases from Berlin Game I can recall instantly is this by Bernard Samson: “Did you ever say hello to a girl you almost married long ago? Did she smile the same, captivating smile, and give your arm a hug in a gesture you’d almost forgotten? That’s how I felt about Berlin every time I came back here.”

Alongside Fiona and Gloria, one can almost regard Berlin as the third woman in Bernard’s life, so strong is the pull of the relationship (with Tante Lisl the embodiment of the city, perhaps). What were your impressions of Berlin when you visited it for the first time? How did they change over time?

Len Deighton: At a London film festival I met an East German film director and we became close friends. When I first went to Berlin I was coming from Czechoslovakia in a very old VW and my destination was the East Sector. I came to know the East (communist) sector fairly well and made friends there, before spending any time in the West.

The neighborly cohesive atmosphere in the East reminded me of that of London during the war. Additionally there were the historical associations with the streets and buildings. Although Berlin was badly damaged many old buildings remained and so did the seemingly unquenchable good humour of its inhabitants.

It took a little time to fall in love with Berlin - its a grimy town with a lot of ugly buildings and a truly fierce winter - but it took a hold on me and I have never really shaken off my affection for it.

DD: You describe the character Major Erich Stinnes, the KGB major working out of Normannenstrasse, in a fantastically three-dimensional and believable way. Was he based on anyone you met? When you were in Berlin, how did you find out about or research how the Stasi/KGB operated in order to make it so believable?

Len: Yes, he was based upon a grim-faced East German pen-pusher who had lived in Moscow where he became a 'Germany specialist'; at least, that's what I was told. He turned up rather too often among the people I knew in Berlin. I don’t think he was assigned to watching me (he would have been more friendly had that been the case), but he was a dedicated Marxist while I was a self-confessed capitalist. We didn't become friends!

DD: When you spoke to East Berliners living behind the Wall, how did they regard the Wall and the regime? Did people generally get on with their lives or – as you depict graphically in the Lubars bolt-hole of Zena from the Western side - was the Wall a permanent physical part of their daily lives which had an impact in both complicated and simple ways?

Len: Well, of course people in the Eastern Sector had to be guarded in what they said, but one soon became used to reading between the lines and, considering how spiteful the East German regime could be, many people were bravely outspoken. Some stories were simple and very human, people would simply relate happenings and leave the conclusion unspoken.

One woman explained that she had been engaged to a young man living just a block away from her, with their marriage all planned, when the Wall went up and divided them. Berliners on both side of the Wall were brave and witty and many of their droll jokes revealed hostile feelings about all the authorities, with a particular emphasis on the Russians.

DD: The escape of Herr Dr von Munte and his wife via a sealed-in chamber in a truck via Berlin’s Muggelsee; the planned extraction of Colonel Stok by Kreutzmann through a hearse in Funeral in Berlin – were they entirely your own constructions or were both based on stories you’d heard about previous attempts to cross the Wall?

Len: Yes, there were many well-authenticated stories of that sort. I never met any of the escapers but the American military were very forthcoming about them and their methods.

DD: One of the recurring locations in the Samson series of stories is Leuschners Café, near the old Anhalter Bahnhof, where Bernard and Werner meet regularly. It’s also a piece of the old Berlin from their childhood. Was it based on a real café that you visited?

A. Leuschner's was a fictional eating place created from several real ones. Those old family-owned eating places seemed to be unique to Berlin and I loved to find them. I chose that location because I have always been fascinated by Anhalter Bahnhof and what it once had been. I have tried not to bore my readers but I immensely enjoyed my digressions into Berlin history; that sort of research became my favoured pastime.

DD: Like in many of your books, food – and Berlinerisch food – features strongly in the narrative. What were your favourite Berlin delicacies?

Len: Berlin suffers cruel winters and the most delicious dishes are those based upon dumplings and pork. Not so welcome in summer, but wonderful in winter. There seems to be hundreds of different dumpling recipes and they are all delicious. For meat, the top of my list is Eisbein, a large braised pork knuckle served whole. (There are jokes about the double meanings of this name.) Hackepeter is ground raw pork, rather like steak tartare. Because German agricultural regulation is so strict, raw pork is safe to eat in Germany; I like it but I would not eat raw pork anywhere but Germany.

It wasn't difficult in those days to find family-owned cafes and restaurants where the cooking was authentic and rich with protein. Kraftbrühe mit Ei is clear beef soup with a raw egg dropped into; it was one of my regular pleasures. The little crescent-shaped cookies that Werner likes - Kipferln - are another weakness of mine; and in summer the 'red fruit' desserts can be wonderful.

Another favourite of mine is Weisswurst - a sausage made from veal and other 'white' meats. It is served with a sweet German mustard, but it is in fact a dish from Munich. Berliner Weisse mit Schuss is a pale beer with a shot of raspberry syrup. A Berliner is a doughnut (round not ring-shape) and the day after President Kennedy proclaimed 'Ich bin ein Berliner' Germany's many newspaper cartoons depicted talking doughnuts! A Berlin summertime dessert is Rote Grutze a mix of red fruits; an authentic one is superb but nowadays many are no more than jellied fruit. Last and least is currywurst a sausage liberally flavoured with curry; not recommended even to the hungry traveller.

Part 2 - questions from Deighton Dossier readers

“Craig” had a number of questions for Len:

1. What does "W.O.O.C.(P)" stand for? Did you just make up the initials without actually having a name? I always thought the "(P)" meant "Provisional", but "W.O." presumably does not mean "War Office" since Dawlish and Ross clearly belong to different organizations.

Len: I confess, I can't recall! I think it must be somewhere in a footnote in one of the Harry Palmer books but I don't know where. I think WO was War Office and P was Provisional. I adapted the name from one of the wartime sub-departments with which the War Office was larded.

2. Is the character called "Pat Armstrong" in "Spy Story" really the unnamed protagonist from the early "Secret File" novels? There seems to be evidence both for and against, but I'd like to hear Len's view. Pat seems to me to have a lot in common with "Harry Palmer", whereas the unnamed hero of "An Expensive Place to Die" seems like a very different person.

Len: I was asked to use different names for the books because of the legal implications of 'character rights'. I took advantage of this in adapting their characters and their past history. Yes, the man in Expensive Place to Die is not quite Harry Palmer. But, generally, they are the same basic character. Years later, when I started planning the Bernard Samson stories I created a completely different character. I wanted a family man with a more complex attitude to his life and his work.

3. The closest that the Secret File protagonist ever gets to having a real heart-to-heart conversation with another person is his talk with Col. Stok near the end of "Billion Dollar Brain", after the death of Harvey Newbegin. How do you see the relationship between these two? On the one hand, they are obviously antagonists, but on the other hand, they know perfectly well who each other are and what they represent, which in an odd way gives them a certainty about each other that they probably rarely find with others.

Len: Yes, it came from some valuable conversations I had with an American (an agent, maybe?) who had been arrested and had a rough time detained in the East. He made light of what he had suffered and gave me no more than an outline about what he was doing over there. But he described a Russian colonel who wanted to know all about the pay and the expenses made to American agents. 'Do you get this and do you get that? Can you charge this?' etc., etc. This Russian colonel wasn't a potential defector, but simply an envious employee from a rival organisation.

4. At the end of "Charity" we learn that Silas has been the mastermind behind everything since "Berlin Game". Did you have it planned that way from the start, and was the series always intended to be a "trilogy of trilogies" leading up to that final revelation? 

Len: I didn't line him up as a black-hearted villain; I wanted him to be a complicated personality because such people were twisted in their thoughts. I started off with a wall chart outlining a series of twelve books but never wrote the final trilogy which would have been about the fall of the Wall.

In the chart Silas was the master-mind. At the end of writing Berlin Game I wasn't sure if it would all work out as planned. I was determined not to write the Samson books one after another without a break for fear I would go stale. For that reason I broke off to write and research other books in order to clear my mind. When I got to detailed planning for the third trilogy (Faith, Hope and Charity) I decided that the fall of the Wall was such an earthquake that it would obliterate the long line and progress of the personal relationships (which to me were the most important element of the books).

So I ended with Charity. Looking back, I still feel that Charity was the right ending. What happened to all those people afterwards is something for the reader to enjoy and create on the basis of the story as written.

Jeremy Duns (author of the Paul Dark series of novels, and a fan too):

1. Were there are any real-life espionage operations during the Cold War that influenced your fiction, and if so how did he find out about them and research them?

Len: There were some amazing operations - tunnels and so on - and in Berlin they provided endless stories and rumours. But I resisted the sort of thing that movie people call 'production values' because I wanted the characters to be more important than the headline-grabbing drama that was happening around them (although in the real world, it’s is exactly the opposite!)

2. I’m very interested in your work on From Russia With Love – do you have any surviving drafts of your script and how do you regard it?

Len: I went to Istanbul with Harry Saltzman, plus the director and the art director. As with virtually all movies, the producer is the driving force who gets the idea, buys the rights, commissions the screenplay, chooses the actors and employs the director.

Harry demonstrated this creative power. We took breakfast together every day so that he could guide me and teach me how film stories worked. It was a wonderful course in movie making especially as the rest of each day was spent roaming around Istanbul with Harry plus the director and art director talking about locations and building the sets back in England.

I've always been rather careless about typescripts and notes etc. And having a restless disposition I have packed, unpacked and repacked countless times as my family and I lived in different countries, I don’t have much written stuff left.

“Giacomo” is a blog reader and asked: Did you know something about the Quentin Tarantino's proposal for an adaptation on screen of the "Game, Set, Match" trilogy? And what's your opinion about?

Len: I am always delighted to hear any proposal, but over the years I have rejected offers for filming single books from the Bernard Samson series.

Richard Corles (a wine distributor and fan) asked: What wines do you prefer to drink these days?

Len: I'm on the wagon these days!

“Daniele”, another blog reader, asked: Are you generally satisfied by the way your novels have been turned into films? What if anything would you change about them?

Len: A writer must not be too possessive about stories. You can't have your cake and eat it. If you sell the rights to someone you trust; you have to let them create their interpretation. One has to remember that, a 90-minute film can use about a quarter of the average length book i.e. 200+ pages. Film is to writing what a photo is to a painting; photos will all have a certain uniformity but paintings can be radically varied.

If you want to have a film exactly as you wrote it you must produce the film yourself and keep a tight grip on it (which is what I did a couple of times); even then you have to give everyone else a say in how it comes together.

Jeff Quest, blog reader, asked: I recently read The Ipcress File for the first time and what struck me was that the story was really about an office drone taking on more responsibilities and learning how to become a manager. The office politics aspect of it was what grounded the more fanciful elements of the book and feels valid even today. Was that portion of the book based on any of your experiences in the workplace or invented out of whole cloth like the rest of the story?

Len: Yes, many of my stories are boardroom dramas with other elements added. My experience in a small London advertising agency was a starting point, but only a starting point for the interaction. I enjoy boardroom fiction and films myself. Characterisation and dialogue are particularly interesting to me and board room dramas provide opportunities in this respect. Action scenes should be short and also support the characterisations.

End

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Mastermind encore!

2012-10-22T06:38:00.003-07:00

Having recently posted about Nick Flindall's successful efforts a few years ago on Mastermind to answer questions on the Harry Palmer novels, news comes through the Deighton Dossier Facebook page that another of Deighton's great characters is making an appearance.

This Friday's edition of Mastermind will include a contestant answering questions about the Bernard Samson novels of Len Deighton. One assumes all nine, and that's a bowl-ful of novels with a lot to remember.

No information on who the contestant is - it's not me, but this would have been my specialist subject were I to have ever gone on the show! I look forward to watching it and seeing how many questions I can answer successfully.

What's pleasing is, they link to the main Deighton Dossier website as a source of information!

Update: the questions from tonight's show are below. I'll leave the answers out for now and put them up on the main blog - see how you do! I would have got 10 out of 13.

Mastermind - transmitted 26 October 2012

Contestant: Nick Mazanowicz

Subject: The Bernard Samson novels of Len Deighton

The questions:

Bernard Samson is an intelligence officer working for the secret intelligence services on the German desk at London Central. What nickname is generally used for the service throughout the books?
Samson unintentionally helps to kills the German businessman Paul Biedermann in a police cell block at Charles de Gaulle airport. What does he give to him not knowing that it’s poisoned?
What cover does Samson use when he travels to Salzburg, an occupation that he’s briefed for by an Austrian, Otto Hoffman?
In Faith, what is the codename for the Russian colonel who says he owes Samson a favour and agrees to meet him in Magdeburg?
To which European city does Bernard Samson travel to meet Werner Volkmann for the first time since Bernard Samson’s wife has been recovered from the KGB?
In Hook, it is said that when an intelligence network is penetrated there is a danger that it will destroy itself without outside action, in effect killing itself in despair. What does Samson call this effect?
What is the name of the ambitious Controller of German Stations who later also becomes European controller?
What codename was given to the operation ordered by the Prime Minister to investigate the security of sensitive British establishments in West Germany?
When Samson is in Berlin he often stays in the hotel where his father was billeted as a Major in the intelligence corps. What’s the name of the elderly lady who owns it?
In Spy Hook Bernard Samson is left some papers by Jim Prettyman, who as apparently been murdered in Washington, although its later revealed that he’s involved in a deep cover operation. What’s the subject of the papers?
What new position does Samson have confirmed in Charity that finally allows him to put Werner Samson on a permanent contract?
His wife Fiona is at the state opera in Berlin when she meets her former lover Harry Kennedy for the first time since her apparent defection from the KGB. Which opera is being performed?
When Samson is sent a message from a non-existent uncle in Faith, which book given to him by Bret Renselaer does he use to decode it?