I want to know more about Frederick Forsyth.?

Question

British fiction writer

Answer 1

Frederick Forsyth, CBE (born August 25, 1938) is an English author and occasional political commentator. He is best known for thrillers such as The Day of the Jackal, The Dogs of War, The Odessa File, The Fist of God, Icon, The Veteran, Avenger (book) and recently The Afghan.

Born in Ashford, Kent, Forsyth was educated at Tonbridge School. He later attended University of Granada in Spain. At the age of 19, he became one of the youngest pilots ever in the Royal Air Force, where he served until 1958.

He then became a reporter, and spent three and a half years working at a small newspaper before joining Reuters in 1961. In 1965, he joined the BBC and was assistant diplomatic correspondent. From July to September 1967, he covered the Biafran War between Biafra and Nigeria.

In 1968, he left the BBC amid allegations that his reporting of the Biafran War was biased towards the Biafran cause, and that he had falsified elements of his reports, and returned to Biafra as a freelancer. In 1969, he wrote a book about the Biafran War called The Biafra Story.

Forsyth decided to write a novel using similar research techniques to those used in journalism. His first full length novel, The Day of the Jackal, was published in 1971 and became an international bestseller, and was later made into a movie with the same name. It also earned him the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel. In this book, the Organisation armée secrète hires an assassin to kill Charles de Gaulle.

His second novel, The Odessa File, was published in 1972 and is about a reporter attempting to track down a network of ex-Nazi SS men in modern Germany. Later this too was made into a movie with the same name but there were substantial adaptations. For example, the black Jaguar auto with yellow streaks depicted in the story, itself a thrill designed to engross the reader, was replaced by a Mercedes-Benz.

In 1974, he wrote The Dogs of War (novel), in which a mining executive hires a group of mercenaries to overthrow the government of an African country so that he can install a puppet regime that will allow him cheap access to its substantial mineral wealth. Following this came The Devil's Alternative in 1979, which was set in 1982 Russia. In this book, the Soviet Union faces a disastrous grain harvest and Ukrainian freedom fighters. In the end, a Norwegian oil tanker built in Japan, a Russian airliner hijacked to West Berlin and countless governments find themselves involved.

In 1982, No Comebacks, a collection of ten short stories, was published. Some of these stories had been written earlier. One of them, 'There Are No Snakes In Ireland', won Forsyth a second Edgar Allan Poe Award, this time for best short story. The Fourth Protocol was published in 1984 and involves renegade elements within the Soviet Union attempting to plant a nuclear bomb near an American airbase in the UK, intending to influence the upcoming British elections and lead to the election of an anti-NATO, anti-American, and anti-nuclear Labour government. The Fourth Protocol was later filmed, starring Pierce Brosnan and Michael Caine, in 1987, with all the political content removed, which took a lot away from the original story.

Forsyth's tenth release came in 1989, when he wrote The Negotiator, in which the President's son is kidnapped and one man's job is to negotiate his release.

Two years later, in 1991, The Deceiver was published. It includes four separate short stories reviewing character Agent Sam McCready's career.

In 1994, Forsyth published The Fist of God, about the first Gulf War. Next, in 1996, he published Icon, about the rise of fascists to power in post-Soviet Russia.

In 1999, Forsyth published The Phantom of Manhattan, a sequel to The Phantom of the Opera. It was intended as a departure from his usual genre; Forsythe's explanation was that "I had done mercenaries, assassins, Nazis, murders, terrorists, special forces soldiers, fighter pilots, you name it, and I got to think, could I actually write about the human heart?"[1] However, it did not achieve the same success as his other novels, and he subsequently returned to modern-day thrillers.

In 2001, The Veteran, another collection of short stories, was published followed by the Avenger, published in September 2003, about a Canadian billionaire who hires a Vietnam veteran to bring his grandson's killer to the US. His latest book is the The Afghan published in August 2006.

Forsyth eschews psychological complexity in favour of meticulous plotting, based on detailed factual research. His books are full of information about the technical details of such subjects as money laundering, gun running and identity theft. His novels read like investigative journalism in fictional guise. His moral vision is a harsh one: the world is made up of predators and prey, and only the strong survive. The novels he wrote in the 1970s are often regarded as his best work.

His research has caused headaches for governments. In The Day of the Jackal, he describes how the would-be assassin is able to get a new passport. He visits a church, and looks for a tombstone of someone who was born nearly the same time he was, but died in infancy. He then obtains a birth certificate, which enables him to obtain a passport in that person's name - effectively stealing an identity. In the story, the government didn't cross check passport requests with the death registry. Unfortunately, this was actually government practice at the time, and Forsyth revealed this in his writings. In The Deceiver, he describes how a British agent bugs the coffin of a dead IRA member. The microphone records the conversation of senior IRA members, who are using the funeral as a chance for a conference about terrorist activities. Journalists pressed the British government to ask if this had ever been done, and the British government was forced to admit that indeed it had.

Forsyth is a Eurosceptic Conservative. In 2003, he was awarded the One of Us Award from the Conservative Way Forward group for his services to the Conservative movement in Britain. He is also a patron of the Young Britons' Foundation. In 2005, he came out in opposition to Kenneth Clarke's candidacy for the leadership of The Conservative Party, calling Mr. Clarke's record in government "unrivaled; a record of failure which at every level has never been matched". Instead, he endorsed and donated money to David Davis's campaign.

He is an occasional radio broadcaster on political issues, and has also written for newspapers throughout his career, including, at present (in 2005), a weekly page in the International Express.

Intriguingly, Forsyth's novels have had echoes in reality in recent years. In 2004, a group of British-led alleged mercenaries were arrested in Zimbabwe allegedly en route to Equatorial Guinea, where it was believed they intended to assist the country's opposition in overthrowing the government. In exchange for this assistance, the leaders of the group were allegedly offered lucrative mineral concessions in Equatorial Guinea. Media commentators immediately drew comparisons with the plot of Forsyth's novel The Dogs of War, which had been written more than 30 years before, and also involved a coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea. One of those convicted of involvement in the coup was an ex-SAS officer, Simon Mann. Mann is a former associate of Lt. Col. Tim Spicer, the chief executive of the British "Private Security Company" Aegis, and for this reason the British government had sought advice from Spicer when they first received intelligence that a coup was being planned.

Spicer, in turn, has an interesting connection with Forsyth, in that the author is reportedly one of a small number of people who own shares in Spicer's company. Aegis, which some argue would more accurately be described as a "mercenary" group than a "Private Security Company", has itself been no stranger to controversy. In 2004, the US government awarded it a $296 million contract for providing "armed security" in Iraq. In December 2005, it was alleged that Aegis employees had videoed themselves firing on civilians while driving down a road near Baghdad.

In August 2006, Forsyth appeared on the ITV gameshow Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? to raise funds for charity .

Answer 2

Frederick Forsyth was born in Ashford, Kent on 25 August 1938, the son of a store owner.

At 19, Forsyth became the youngest pilot in the Royal Air Force, however he switched to journalism and in 1958, Forsyth was a reporter for the Eastern Daily Press.

The sixties saw Frederick Forsyth working for Reuters and the BBC in Paris, East and West Germany and Czechoslovakia. He also reported from the Nigeria-Biafran conflict as a freelancer.

Frederick Forsyth then switched to writing exceptional thrillers, which were impressively researched. Two of his earliest books were also two of his best: 'The Day of the Jackal' and the 'The Odessa File'.

Other bestsellers followed, including 'The Dogs of War' and 'The Fourth Protocol'.

Having been a tax exile in Ireland, in 1980 Frederick Forsyth sold his house in County Wicklow, because of kidnap fears and returned to England.

In 1990, Frederick Forsyth had decided to retire, but after being ripped-off by dodgy financial advisor, Roger Levitt, he started to write again.

Dubbed right-wing and often heard being critical of the level of Britain's involvement in 'Europe', Forsyth has strong views on a variety of subjects. He wrote in the Wall Street Journal, for example:

"In Europe the "privacy" laws are so draconian that the press is a virtual poodle. It is dangerous to investigate anything. Result? Institutionalized corruption among the mandarins. In Britain it's the opposite - an open season for anyone the tabloids decide to destroy.

"This appalls many here, but deeply flawed persons in, or aiming for, extremely high office should cause justifiable concern, and journalists have some role in informing the public."

He revealed a slightly different slant on this after a former Foreign Secretary was revealed to have been having an affair:

"If a man cannot keep an affair secret," Forsyth asked, "what is he doing in charge of the Intelligence Service?"

Frederick Forsyth joined the call for Tony Blair's impeachment over Iraq, and in the run up to the 2005 general election, Forsyth lent his support to Reg Keys who was standing against Tony Blair in the Prime Minister's Sedgefield constituency.

Answer 3

Frederick Forsyth, CBE (born August 25, 1938) is an English author and occasional political commentator. He is best known for thrillers such as The Day of the Jackal, The Dogs of War, The Odessa File, The Fist of God, Icon, The Veteran, Avenger (book) and recently The Afghan.

Answer 4

Kudos to Derrick_L for his in-depth info on Forsyth. Just one titbit to add:

Intriguingly, Forsyth's novels have had echoes in reality in recent years. In 2004, a group of British-led alleged mercenaries were arrested in Zimbabwe allegedly en route to Equatorial Guinea, where it was believed they intended to assist the country's opposition in overthrowing the government. In exchange for this assistance, the leaders of the group were allegedly offered lucrative mineral concessions in Equatorial Guinea. Media commentators immediately drew comparisons with the plot of Forsyth's novel The Dogs of War, which had been written more than 30 years before, and also involved a coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea. One of those convicted of involvement in the coup was an ex-SAS officer, Simon Mann. Mann is a former associate of Lt. Col. Tim Spicer, the chief executive of the British "Private Security Company" Aegis, and for this reason the British government had sought advice from Spicer when they first received intelligence that a coup was being planned.

Spicer, in turn, has an interesting connection with Forsyth, in that the author is reportedly one of a small number of people who own shares in Spicer's company. Aegis, which some argue would more accurately be described as a "mercenary" group than a "Private Security Company", has itself been no stranger to controversy. In 2004, the US government awarded it a $296 million contract for providing "armed security" in Iraq. In December 2005, it was alleged that Aegis employees had videoed themselves firing on civilians while driving down a road near Baghdad.

It was believed that Forsyth had paid mercenaries, over 30 years ago, in Equitorial Guinea so that he could "research" materials for "The Dogs of War." It was never proven, or brought to trial, but Forsyth likes to keep this mysterious persona about himself.

Answer 5

I love Forsyth's "The Day of the Jackal"

Answer 6

I suggest you Google research before coming to Answers. You'll learn more - including how to research - and it will save others doing it for you and cluttering up Answers. Although, of course, I'd then miss the fun of seeing what questions people ask! Good luck

Answer 7

gerald seymour

Answer 8

www.oxforduk.com