Len Deighton obituary: From cookery cartoonist to master spy writer
The British author Len Deighton, best known for his spy novels, has died at the age of 97.
His most famous work, 1962's The Ipcress File, was adapted into a Bafta-winning film starring Michael Caine and was remade as an ITV series featuring Joe Cole, known for Peaky Blinders, four years ago.
The story dealt with Cold War themes such as brainwashing and the development and testing of atomic weapons. Unlike the glamorous James Bond, Deighton's secret agents were portrayed as ordinary working-class individuals, often frustrated by the inefficiencies of their own agencies.
In addition to spy fiction, Deighton authored several historical books about the Second World War and contributed as a cookery writer, helping to introduce French cuisine to the UK.
A skilled illustrator, he created over 200 book covers, including the first UK edition of Jack Kerouac's On The Road.
His death was confirmed to the BBC by his literary agent.
Leonard Cyril Deighton was born in Marylebone, London, on 18 February 1929. He was born in the sick bay of a workhouse because the local hospital was full.
His parents worked for a wealthy family; his mother was a cook and his father a chauffeur.
In 1940, Deighton witnessed the arrest of his mother’s employer, Anna Wolkoff, by British Security Services, accused of being a Nazi spy during the war.
"It was a major factor in my decision to write a spy story at my first attempt at fiction," the author later recalled.
He disliked school, and his frustrated father told him he would stop punishing him for poor reports if he applied himself to reading. Despite this, young Len played truant but often spent entire days at the local library reading.
"A terrible kind of sedentary childhood I had, when I think about it," he said.
Deighton completed his National Service in the RAF, where he acquired spy-related skills such as photography, flying, and scuba diving, before briefly working as a railway clerk and air steward.
Food cartoonist
After working as a press photographer, he studied at the Royal College of Art and began a successful career as a book illustrator.
A food enthusiast, he wrote and illustrated a cartoon cookery strip for the Daily Express, which moved to The Observer in 1962.
These strips were later compiled into the Len Deighton Action Cookbook, accompanied by Ou Est le Garlic (Where is the Garlic), targeting young Londoners living away from home for the first time.
While on holiday, Deighton began a story about a secret agent that eventually became The IPCRESS File, though he had no initial plans for publication.
The release of the first Bond film, Dr No, sparked interest in the spy genre, and a literary agent sold Deighton's story to a publisher.
"It might have sunk without a ripple," Deighton later recalled, "but it did very well, because the critics used me as a blunt instrument to beat Ian Fleming over the head."
A working class hero
Soon after, Bond film producer Harry Saltzman purchased the film rights to The IPCRESS File, propelling Deighton to fame.
The protagonist in the book was unnamed, but for the film, he was named Harry Palmer and portrayed by Michael Caine.
This character was the antithesis of James Bond. Instead of exotic locations, The Ipcress File was set in the grey, grimy backstreets of 1960s London. The filmmakers notably avoided using Deighton's capital letters.
Unlike Bond, Harry Palmer was working class, a choice influenced by Deighton's experience on an advertising agency board where everyone else had attended Eton.
Palmer often dealt with mundane issues like getting his expenses approved by an incompetent bureaucracy rather than engaging in romantic escapades.
Deighton insisted his character was not an anti-hero and avoided excessive violence in his books, in contrast to Fleming.
"When I started writing I had rules," he said. "One was that violence must not solve the problem, and I cannot have the hero overcome violence with a counterweight of violence."
Deighton was actively involved in the film's production and developed a close friendship with Michael Caine.
In a notable scene where Caine's character makes omelettes, it is Deighton's hands breaking the eggs, as the actor had difficulty mastering the technique.
Literary success
The character Harry Palmer appeared in four additional novels: Horse Under Water, Funeral in Berlin, Billion Dollar Brain, and An Expensive Way to Die.
Funeral in Berlin, which remained on the New York Times bestseller list for six months, and Billion Dollar Brain were also adapted into films starring Michael Caine.
An Expensive Way to Die was serialized in Playboy, for which Deighton had become a travel writer.
His success made him a part of the vibrant 1960s arts scene, and his culinary skills often led him to host dinner parties for celebrities.
In 1969, he co-produced and wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of the satirical musical Oh! What a Lovely War, persuading actor Richard Attenborough to make his directorial debut.
However, an attempt to convince Paul McCartney to take a lead role during a curry at Deighton's house was unsuccessful.
Ultimately dissatisfied with the film, Deighton requested his name be removed from the credits, a decision he later described as childish.
He did endear himself to the film crew by successfully hot-wiring several cars parked on a street that needed to be cleared for filming.
In 1969, Deighton wrote Bomber, a story about an RAF raid over Germany, often regarded as one of the great anti-war novels.
Jaded and cynical
Bomber presents the raid through the perspectives of protagonists on both sides, including RAF bomber crews, German fighter pilots, and the civilians caught in the conflict.
Published just 25 years after the events, the book sparked controversy for highlighting the suffering of German civilians.
Author Kingsley Amis listed it among the 99 greatest novels since 1939, and the BBC later broadcast a real-time radio dramatization on Radio 4 to mark the 50th anniversary of World War II's end.
Deighton continued writing about the 20th century's deadliest conflict.
In 1977, he published Fighter, a non-fiction account of the Battle of Britain, which Hitler’s former armaments minister Albert Speer described as "excellent."
In 1978, SS-GB imagined an alternate history where Germany won the Battle of Britain, predating Robert Harris's similar concept by 20 years.
During the 1980s, Deighton introduced Bernard Samson in Berlin Game. Like his earlier spy characters, Samson is jaded and cynical, with a healthy disregard for his superiors.
Berlin Game was the first of three Samson trilogies published between 1983 and 1996.
Granada Television produced a lavish 12-part adaptation titled Game, Set and Match, but it was poorly received, and Deighton did not allow it to be rebroadcast.
A mug's game
After completing Faith, Hope and Charity in 1996, Deighton took a year off and never resumed writing.
In a 2006 BBC Radio 4 interview, he told Patrick Humphries that he had concluded writing was "a mug's game" and that he did not miss it.
He moved to Ireland with his second wife, Ysabele, and their two sons. Later, they divided their time between homes in Portugal and Guernsey. Deighton confirmed his retirement in 2016.
During these years, his spy novels faded from public attention, unlike Fleming's James Bond, which benefited from an ongoing film franchise.
Interest revived in 2017 when the BBC aired a dramatization of SS-GB, nearly 40 years after the novel's publication.
In 2022, The IPCRESS File was remade for ITV, starring Joe Cole, Lucy Boynton, and Tom Hollander.
Deighton rarely gave interviews and never considered himself a natural writer.
"The best thing about writing books," he said on BBC's Desert Island Discs, "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."
Occasionally, he acknowledged the advantages of being an author.
"When you make a book," he once said, "it's like making a hand grenade. It's a dull process but when you throw it the person at the other end gets the effect."
