According to the BBC, British spy novelist Len Deighton has died. He was 97 years old.
Perhaps his most famous work, 1962’s The Ipcress File was turned into a Bafta-winning film starring Michael Caine,
The story involved Cold War brainwashing and the development and testing of atomic weapons. Unlike James Bond, however, Deighton’s secret agents were ordinary working-class people, often frustrated by the incompetence of their own side.
I particularly liked this quote of his:
“The best thing about writing books is being at a party and telling some pretty girl you write books. The worst thing about writing books is sitting at a typewriter and actually writing the book.”