logo
The Day of the Jackal author Frederick Forsyth dies aged 86

The Day of the Jackal author Frederick Forsyth dies aged 86

The best-selling author was known for a number of crime thrillers, including The Day of the Jackal, which was recently adapted into a Sky TV series.
He was described as "one of the world's greatest thriller writers", in a tribute.
He was surrounded by his family as he died at home on Monday morning.
A statement by Jonathan Lloyd, Forsyth's agent, 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 BBC1 – and was reminded of an extraordinary life, well lived.
'After serving as one of the youngest ever RAF pilots, he turned to journalism, using 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 went on to write 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.'
Forsyth was born in Kent, and was best known for various crime thriller novels, such as The Day of the Jackal and The Odessa File.
He has sold millions of copies of his books and was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1997 New Year Honours list for services to literature.
Recommended reading:
Liam Gallagher apologises to fans after 'big announcement' this morning
Richard Madeley presents Good Morning Britain in cast after 'double fracture'
Gogglebox fans 'so sorry' as Channel 4 stars announce 'heartbreaking' death
Forsyth has been married twice, first to former model Carole Cunningham between 1973 and 1988, and then to Sandy Molloy since 1994 until her death in 1994.
Forsyth previously resided in a manor house in Hertfordshire before moving to Buckinghamshire in 2010.
He is survived by two sons, Stuart and Shane, whom he had with Cunningham.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

The fragility of the modern city reflects humanity's vulnerability
The fragility of the modern city reflects humanity's vulnerability

Spectator

time2 hours ago

  • Spectator

The fragility of the modern city reflects humanity's vulnerability

As I reached the final pages of the German writer Gregor Hens's essayistic travelogue The City and the World, news of the blackout across Spain and Portugal snatched my attention. Madrid and Lisbon were at a standstill. Images of gridlocked round-abouts and commuters rushing out of pitch-dark subway tunnels plunged me into a fatalistic mood. When will it happen here? Hens, I realised, had nailed an important point: the 'stunning complexity' of modern cities makes them fragile. The metropolis, he writes, has become so intricate, its limits so stretched, that in it, 'we are always living on the verge of catastrophe'. A seasoned globetrotter who spent his formative years 'guzzling jet fuel with abandon', Hens has lived in cities around the world, from Berlin (his current home) to Los Angeles. He has visited a host of other far-flung locations, from Shanghai and Shenzhen to Las Vegas. Each place a person visits, Hens suggests, becomes plotted in the 'galactic city' of their mind, a network 'whose intricately folded map actually offers the most surprising connections'. This is urban wandering on a rather different scale to that of Charles Baudelaire, whose 1863 essay 'The Artist, Man of the World' paved the way for a host of successive writers, most notably Walter Benjamin, to delight in roaming a single city on foot. Hens takes stock of our modern technologically dictated movements within and across cities, investigating how these places have come to sprawl far beyond the possible step-count of even the most determined walker. His understanding of the word 'city' encompasses entities that aren't cities in the obvious sense: libraries, viruses, cemeteries and the brain. These each have 'cityness', apparently, because they are networks. Hens is careful to acknowledge that this insight owes something to the work of writers like Rebecca Solnit ('a city is built to resemble a conscious mind… a network') and Michel Foucault ('our experience of the world is… that of a network'). His critique is bricolage-style: he makes incisive links between ideas, even if not quite delivering a decisive overriding argument of his own. This suits his subject. Cities are, he argues, constituted of 'the rubble of history', so are 'no longer spatially and temporally comprehensible' as a whole. Messiness is, for Hens, what makes cities interesting. He sees Los Angeles, in its orderly layout, as an outlier, envying 'anyone who manages to get lost' in it. The greatest cities, it seems, allow room for the inhabitant or visitor to forge their own geography, one which overlaps with but doesn't quite match what's on Google Maps. Our encounters, Hens suggests, are many-layered and varied. Some cities, like New York, are so ingrained in the public imagination that 'we first know [them] from our dreams'. Others, like Chongqing or Wuhan, are 'generic cities' that 'arouse no longings' for Hens. Mostly, though, we can know a city only 'in an excerpted form': outside of the webs we weave between bars and offices, homes and parks, much remains terra incognita. This is Hens's second book to be published in English and in it he has doubled down on a tested formula. In his 2015 memoir Nicotine (also elegantly translated by Jen Calleja), he surveyed his life as a smoker, using stories of memorable cigarettes like signposts in the mazy network of his experience. In The City and the World, the mechanism is essentially the same, but this time cities are the cigarettes. It works and it doesn't. On one level, the book satisfyingly blends memoir with literary criticism, travelogue and social commentary to create an experimental text reminiscent of other Fitzcarraldo Editions favourites such as Brian Dillon's Essayism. At the same time this fragmentary approach, which jumps back and forth between different cities and does away with chapters, doesn't feel quite as fresh as it did in Nicotine. That book's central subject was precise and sexy enough to carry the reader through its more meandering passages. The concept of the city isn't as tight – especially not once houses and children's playgrounds are included in Hens's definition. Yet his tentacular style makes sense as a response to the overstimulating, frenetic character of modern cities. How we think and live is mapped on to the metropolis. If the city is fragile, then we are too.

Brooklyn Beckham locked in trademark war with Becks just weeks after family feud is laid bare
Brooklyn Beckham locked in trademark war with Becks just weeks after family feud is laid bare

Scottish Sun

time7 hours ago

  • Scottish Sun

Brooklyn Beckham locked in trademark war with Becks just weeks after family feud is laid bare

BROOKYLN Beckham has another row brewing with a Becks — but this time it's not his famous father. The eldest son of David and Victoria wants to expand his hot sauce brand so applied to trademark 'Becks Buns' in the US. Advertisement 5 Brooklyn Beckham (pictured with wife Nicola Peltz) is facing a trademark battle over the name of his hot sauce Credit: Getty 5 Brooklyn is currently locked in a feud with his famous family Credit: instagram 5 Brooklyn snubbed his dad's 50th birthday celebrations Credit: Getty But the company that makes Beck's beer is set to challenge it. It comes after the Beckham family feud was blown open last month when Brooklyn, 26, missed all of David's 50th birthday celebrations. A source said: 'It's one thing after another for Brooklyn. "First his row with his dad blows up — and now he's got another Beck's looking like it's going to become a bit of a headache.' Advertisement Brooklyn applied in January to use the name 'Becks Buns' within his Buster Hot Sauce Inc company. However, the beer's German parent firm Brauerei Beck & Co has opposed it and been granted an extension until next month to file documents. The company is part of alcohol giant AB InBev, which produces one in four lagers sold worldwide, including Stella Artois and Budweiser as well as Beck's. Brooklyn launched his first hot sauce, Cloud 23, last year and said: 'It's been a passion project of mine for the last 2½ years, something I've literally put everything into. I've never worked so hard on anything in my life.' Advertisement His parents attended the launch event in LA. However, insiders said their relationship has 'never been more fractured'. Those close to Brooklyn — who is married to US actress Nicola Peltz, 30 — insist he made a private attempt to meet his dad ahead of his 50th. But that was vehemently denied by sources close to the former England captain. Advertisement It was also claimed Nicola, who has been accused of 'controlling' her husband, had hired a PR guru. Those close to her believe she is being 'unfairly blamed' for the issues. KICK? NO HE'LL EDIT FOOTIE icon David Beckham is to guest edit Country Life mag in October. Editor-in-chief Mark Hedges said: 'David told me he reads every issue from cover to cover.' David, who lives in a £12million manor in Oxfordshire, said: 'I am really looking forward to working with the team to produce an issue that will celebrate the countryside.' Mr Hedges said the October edition will feature David's 'favourite view and his best-loved recipe'. 5 Brauerei Beck & Co, who make Beck's beer, are set to challenge the trademark Credit: Alamy 5 David Beckham is set to guest edit Country Life mag in October Credit: Getty Advertisement Unlock even more award-winning articles as The Sun launches brand new membership programme - Sun Club.

Sir Andy Murray tells Grand Slams to ‘do better' as Coco Gauff reveals real size of French Open trophy she gets to keep
Sir Andy Murray tells Grand Slams to ‘do better' as Coco Gauff reveals real size of French Open trophy she gets to keep

Scottish Sun

time9 hours ago

  • Scottish Sun

Sir Andy Murray tells Grand Slams to ‘do better' as Coco Gauff reveals real size of French Open trophy she gets to keep

Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) SIR ANDY MURRAY sent a message to tennis chiefs to do better after Coco Gauff revealed how much smaller her actual French Open trophy really is. Gauff, 21, won Roland-Garros on Saturday by beating Aryna Sabalenka 6-7 6-2 6-4 in Paris to become the first American to win the crown since Serena Williams 10 years ago. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 5 Sir Andy Murray sent a message to tennis chiefs after Coco Gauff's French Open triumph 5 Gauff won Roland-Garros after beating Aryna Sabalaneka in a historic victory 5 Gauff then revealed how much smaller her actual trophy is 5 Murray urged tennis chiefs to do better after watching Gauff's video 5 Gauff's trophy is just a bit bigger than a small Perrier bottle The World's No2 passionately celebrated with the esteemed honour in front of the French crowd after winning her 10th career title, but that wasn't the trophy she was going home with. The tennis star posted a video of herself in her private jet revealing her actual trophy... and how much smaller it really is. Gauff said on TikTok while gesturing to a picture of her posing with the larger replica: 'This is the trophy that you guys see, the one that we take pictures with, do press with and all that. 'But, actually, we don't get to take this home. This stays with the tournament." Gauff then showed the much smaller trophy and added: 'This is the one we take home. It's like a mini replica of the trophy,. It's… Really small.' The Florida native then left fans aghast when she placed the trophy next to a tiny Perrier bottle, which was just a bit smaller than the esteemed title. Gauff continued: 'That's how small it is. But, you know, it's the memories that matter the most.' That left Murray, 38, shocked as he took to social media to address the situation. CASINO SPECIAL - BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITS The former World's No1 shared a clip of late night talkshow host Jimmy Fallon praising Gauff on his Instagram story. Murray added the following post: "Surely the tennis majors can do a better job with the replica trophies!? They are tiny." Aryna Sabalenka shows her disappointment after defeat to Coco Gauff The British legend knows all there is about the French Open trophy as he won it himself back in 2016.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store