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Frederick Forsyth, Day of the Jackal author and former MI6 agent, dies aged 86

Frederick Forsyth, Day of the Jackal author and former MI6 agent, dies aged 86

Irish Times5 hours ago

Frederick Forsyth, the author who turned his adventures as a journalist and work with MI6 into bestselling thrillers, has died after a brief illness aged 86.
Forsyth brought a reporter's eye to his fiction, transforming the thriller genre with a series of novels including The Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File and The Dogs of War.
Combining meticulous research with firecracker plots, he published more than 25 books that sold over 75 million copies around the world.
Born in Ashford, Kent in 1938, Forsyth flew fighter jets during his national service, before going to Paris to work for Reuters as a journalist.
READ MORE
After spending time in East Germany, he moved to the BBC and in 1967 he was sent to Nigeria to cover the Biafran war.
Despairing of the BBC's reluctance to challenge the British government's support of the Nigerian regime, Forsyth quit and returned to Biafra as a freelance reporter in 1968.
There he helped to break the story of the famine which shocked the world, and began working for MI6.
Although Forsyth always denied he was a spy, in his
2015 autobiography, The Outsider,
the author admitted he was an intelligence 'asset' for more than 20 years.
'There was nothing weird about it,' he told a Guardian Live audience. 'It was the cold war. An awful lot of the strength of British intelligence came from the number of volunteers. A businessman might be going to a trade fair in a difficult-to-enter city and he'd be approached, quite gently, with a courteous, 'If you would be so kind as to accept an envelope under your hotel door and bring it home …' so that was what I did. I ran errands.'
Forsyth returned to the UK as the war came to an end in December 1969, finding himself with 'no job, no prospects, no flat, no car, no savings'.
Desperate to make money, he 'hit on the most no-hope-in-hell way of making some: write a novel. I just sat down and wrote about the invisible assassin with no name. I knew my material; I had walked every inch of it.'
The Day of the Jackal returned to Forsyth's days in Paris, following an investigation to foil an assassin's plot to kill De Gaulle. Packed full of operational details and putting fictional characters cheek by jowl with public figures, the novel brought a new realism to the thriller genre. It rapidly became a word-of-mouth hit and a global bestseller, with a film adaptation released two years later.
Over the next five decades the bestsellers continued, with plots including nuclear weapons, the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, the cocaine trade and Islamic terrorism. An outspoken critic of Tony Blair, Forsyth was a staunch supporter of Brexit, becoming a patron of Brexit campaign group Better Off Out, and wrote of his scepticism of climate change in his Daily Express column.
Forsyth was never romantic about the art of fiction, repeatedly announcing his retirement and complaining that he had to force himself to write. 'I am slightly mercenary,' he said. 'I write for money.'
Forsyth moved to Enniskerry, Co Wicklow, in 1975 and lived in Ireland for a number of years, availing of the tax exemption introduced by former taoiseach Charles Haughey.
The writer
said Haughey offered to make him a Senator
if he agreed to stay in Ireland. Forsyth said his wife grew worried about their family's safety during the Troubles and decided she wanted to move back to the United Kingdom.
Forsyth went to the taoiseach and said, 'look, I'm sorry, but we wish to leave and go back'.
The writer said Haughey tried to persuade him to stay in Ireland.
'He even offered me a senatorship,' Forsyth told the Sean O'Rourke show on RTÉ 1. 'He said, 'I can't offer you citizenship because your grandfather came from Youghal so you're entitled to citizenship but I can offer you a senatorship will you stay?''

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Frederick Forsyth, Day of the Jackal author and former MI6 agent, dies aged 86
Frederick Forsyth, Day of the Jackal author and former MI6 agent, dies aged 86

Irish Times

time5 hours ago

  • Irish Times

Frederick Forsyth, Day of the Jackal author and former MI6 agent, dies aged 86

Frederick Forsyth, the author who turned his adventures as a journalist and work with MI6 into bestselling thrillers, has died after a brief illness aged 86. Forsyth brought a reporter's eye to his fiction, transforming the thriller genre with a series of novels including The Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File and The Dogs of War. Combining meticulous research with firecracker plots, he published more than 25 books that sold over 75 million copies around the world. Born in Ashford, Kent in 1938, Forsyth flew fighter jets during his national service, before going to Paris to work for Reuters as a journalist. READ MORE After spending time in East Germany, he moved to the BBC and in 1967 he was sent to Nigeria to cover the Biafran war. Despairing of the BBC's reluctance to challenge the British government's support of the Nigerian regime, Forsyth quit and returned to Biafra as a freelance reporter in 1968. There he helped to break the story of the famine which shocked the world, and began working for MI6. Although Forsyth always denied he was a spy, in his 2015 autobiography, The Outsider, the author admitted he was an intelligence 'asset' for more than 20 years. 'There was nothing weird about it,' he told a Guardian Live audience. 'It was the cold war. An awful lot of the strength of British intelligence came from the number of volunteers. A businessman might be going to a trade fair in a difficult-to-enter city and he'd be approached, quite gently, with a courteous, 'If you would be so kind as to accept an envelope under your hotel door and bring it home …' so that was what I did. I ran errands.' Forsyth returned to the UK as the war came to an end in December 1969, finding himself with 'no job, no prospects, no flat, no car, no savings'. Desperate to make money, he 'hit on the most no-hope-in-hell way of making some: write a novel. I just sat down and wrote about the invisible assassin with no name. I knew my material; I had walked every inch of it.' The Day of the Jackal returned to Forsyth's days in Paris, following an investigation to foil an assassin's plot to kill De Gaulle. Packed full of operational details and putting fictional characters cheek by jowl with public figures, the novel brought a new realism to the thriller genre. It rapidly became a word-of-mouth hit and a global bestseller, with a film adaptation released two years later. Over the next five decades the bestsellers continued, with plots including nuclear weapons, the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, the cocaine trade and Islamic terrorism. An outspoken critic of Tony Blair, Forsyth was a staunch supporter of Brexit, becoming a patron of Brexit campaign group Better Off Out, and wrote of his scepticism of climate change in his Daily Express column. Forsyth was never romantic about the art of fiction, repeatedly announcing his retirement and complaining that he had to force himself to write. 'I am slightly mercenary,' he said. 'I write for money.' Forsyth moved to Enniskerry, Co Wicklow, in 1975 and lived in Ireland for a number of years, availing of the tax exemption introduced by former taoiseach Charles Haughey. The writer said Haughey offered to make him a Senator if he agreed to stay in Ireland. Forsyth said his wife grew worried about their family's safety during the Troubles and decided she wanted to move back to the United Kingdom. Forsyth went to the taoiseach and said, 'look, I'm sorry, but we wish to leave and go back'. The writer said Haughey tried to persuade him to stay in Ireland. 'He even offered me a senatorship,' Forsyth told the Sean O'Rourke show on RTÉ 1. 'He said, 'I can't offer you citizenship because your grandfather came from Youghal so you're entitled to citizenship but I can offer you a senatorship will you stay?''

British author Frederick Forsyth dies aged 86
British author Frederick Forsyth dies aged 86

RTÉ News​

time5 hours ago

  • RTÉ News​

British author Frederick Forsyth dies aged 86

Frederick Forsyth, the author of The Day of The Jackal, has died at the age of 86 after a brief illness, his literary agents Curtis Brown said. The best-selling author was surrounded by his family as he died at home this morning, Curtis Brown added. The British novelist is best known for writing thrillers like The Dogs of War, The Fox, The Kill List and The Afghan among others. A former correspondent for Reuters and the BBC, and an informant for Britain's MI6 foreign spy agency, Mr Forsyth made his name by using his experiences as a reporter in Paris to pen the story of a failed assassination plot on Charles de Gaulle depicted in the 1971 novel The Day of The Jackal. His agent Jonathan Lloyd said "We mourn the passing of one of the world's greatest thriller writers. "Only a few weeks ago I sat with him as we watched a new and moving documentary of his life - In My Own Words, to be released later this year on BBC One - and was reminded of an extraordinary life, well lived." Mr Lloyd said Mr Forsyth has served as "one of the youngest ever RAF pilots", adding that he then turned to journalism where he used "his gift for languages in German, French and Russian to become a foreign correspondent in Biafra". "Appalled at what he saw and using his experience during a stint as a secret service agent, he wrote his first and perhaps most famous novel, The Day of the Jackal (1972), and instantly became a global bestselling author," he said. Mr Lloyd said the late author wrote "more than 25 books, many of which were made into films, that have sold over 75 million copies". "He will be greatly missed by his family, his friends, all of us at Curtis Brown and of course his millions of fans around the world - though his books will of course live on forever," he added.

Families deported to Nigeria could have left voluntarily, says Minister
Families deported to Nigeria could have left voluntarily, says Minister

Irish Times

timea day ago

  • Irish Times

Families deported to Nigeria could have left voluntarily, says Minister

Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan has defended the State's handling of the deportation of 35 people to Nigeria on Wednesday, saying those removed had previously been asked to leave voluntarily. Speaking on Sunday on RTÉ Radio 1's This Week programme, the Minister said: 'Each person who was on the aeroplane that went back to Nigeria had their own individual narratives of persecution assessed by the International Protection Office , and on appeal, and subsequently they got a deportation order that wasn't responded to. 'They were requested to leave voluntarily and that didn't happen.' The Garda National Immigration Bureau carried out the operation, which involved 21 men, nine women and five children, who were deported on a chartered flight from Dublin Airport to Lagos, Nigeria on Wednesday night. The children involved were deported as part of family groups. READ MORE Friends of the families deported, who were living with them at an International Protection Accommodation Services (Ipas) centre in west Dublin, described the scenes last week as upsetting and 'traumatising'. Farhiya Ali, a mother living with her four children in the centre, said: 'The kids were coming down for breakfast when these five men wearing cargo pants, big jackets arrived. 'They came into the third floor, stood in front of the bedroom door, took the three kids back in and told them to pack up. We heard them say: 'You are going to be deported.' As soon as the other children heard then they were all crying. It was such a horrific scene.' Three siblings from one family were among those deported. They had lived at their accommodation since January 2022 with their mother and father. [ Families facing deportation are 'at serious risk of destitution', warns refugee council Opens in new window ] Asked about the criticism from families at the Ipas centre about the manner of the deportation of children, Mr O'Callaghan said: 'This is not a pleasant part of my job. I don't relish doing this, but it has to be done. If we have an immigration system or an asylum system that doesn't have a consequence for people who are ruled not to be entitled to stay here then the system becomes meaningless.' Asked whether he would put Nigeria on Ireland's safe list of countries, Mr O'Callaghan said: 'There's a difference here between putting a country on the safe list for the purposes of international protection under the [International Protection] Act, and determining whether or not to send somebody back to a country from whence they came.' [ Ministers accused of giving 'half the picture' on refugees as more than 40% get positive decisions Opens in new window ] Applicants from designated safe countries of origin receive their interview date on the day they apply for international protection, reducing their waiting time for an interview. 'There's faster time frames for Nigeria at present anyway because of the heightened number of people from Nigeria claiming asylum in Ireland,' said the Minister. 'It doesn't mean if you're not on the safe list of countries from international protection, we can't send you back to the country where you came from.'

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