The Day Of The Jackal author Frederick Forsyth dies aged 86
The Day Of The Jackal author Frederick Forsyth has died at the age of 86, after a brief illness, his literary agents said.
The best-selling author was surrounded by his family as he died at home on Monday morning, Curtis Brown added.
The former RAF pilot and investigative journalist turned novelist was known for writing thrilling crime books including The Fox, The Kill List, and The Afghan.
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 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, and instantly became a global best-selling 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.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
27 minutes ago
- The Sun
Sydney Sweeney stuns in elegant blue dress at glitzy UK premiere of her latest movie
SCREEN star Sydney Sweeney steals the show at the glitzy UK premiere of her latest movie. The Euphoria actress, 27, walked the red carpet for new thriller Echo Valley in an elegant pale blue dress alongside co-star Julianne Moore, 64. 3 3 The European premiere took place at BFI Southbank, London, yesterday. It comes as Gigi Paris — ex-girlfriend of Sydney's former co-star Glen Powell, 36 — brought 2023 cheating rumours between the pair back to life. Gigi said she took the option of saying: 'No, I'm actually not OK with this, and I'm walking away. "That's what I decided to do.' Sydney is one of the most in-demand women in Hollywood, after TV show Euphoria — for which she is currently filming a third series — put her name in lights six years ago. Now, she is also taking the leading role in a new biographical film about US female boxer Christy Martin. Director David Michod said: 'Sydney trained her butt off to play the part. "The beauty of Sydney is she turned up every day with her tail wagging, ready to go. 'No matter how tough it was, she was like a ray of sunshine.' Meanwhile Sydney has just cleaned up by turning her used bathwater into limited edition bars of soap.
The Independent
30 minutes ago
- The Independent
DragonForce and Scattered Spider: Inside the hacker groups linked to M&S cyberattack
Marks & Spencer has finally reopened its online orders, months after a cyber attack which is set to cost the British high street retailer £300 million in profits this year. This comes as a new hacking group has been connected with the incident, after it was revealed the DragonForce group sent M&S CEO Stuart Machin an email days after it faced a major cyberattack gloating about the hack and demanding ransom payment. The email, seen and reported by the BBC, said: 'We have marched the ways from China all the way to the UK and have mercilessly raped your company and encrypted all the servers.' DragonForce aren't the only group that have been connected with the attack on the retailer, as the Scattered Spider network had previously been named as the enactors of the social engineering attack. According to Sergey Shyekevich, a researcher from cybersecurity company Checkpoint, more hacker groups are forming alliances on the dark web. 'Co-operation between two powerful groups is very interesting,' he says. 'It's one outcome we see on the dark web more and more, alliances between big groups.' Here's all we know about the two hacker groups What is DragonForce? DragonForce is a hacker organisation that offers Ransomware to cyber-criminal affiliates for a 20 per cent cut of any ransoms collected. This means that for a fee, they lease out their malware through dark web marketplaces to cyber-criminals. While the organisation originally started working in 2023, they've had a massive re-marketing of their business model in the past couple of months. 'In the last two months, they started to become very active in one of the biggest dark web forums,' says Sergey, who says they have marketed themselves as a 'Ransomware Cartel', cornering that market on the dark web in the past month. 'They started being more aggressive I think a few weeks before all the attacks in the UK,' he adds. Researchers have claimed they operate out of Malaysia, with some disputing this and saying they are located in Russia. As well as the M&S hack, DragonForce has been linked to the Co-op cyberattack. What is Scattered Spider? Scattered Spider is a community of hackers that targets huge organisations across different sectors using social engineering tactics. 'They're very good at social engineering of different types,' Sergey says, adding that in the past they have used SIM swapping and impersonated IT staff to trick people into letting them use their systems. Believed to be a community of young adults across the US and UK, the group gained notoriety for their involvement in hacking and extorting two of the largest casino and gambling companies in the United States. 'They understand human nature and how big corporations work,' says Sergey. 'They're very successful.' In 2023 they were linked to the hacking and extortion of Caesars Entertainment and MGM Resorts International, which led the former to pay a ransom of approximately £11 million ($15 million). They were able to access a significant number of driver's licence numbers and possibly even Social Security numbers of the casino customers through the ransomware demand. A 17-year-old hacker from the United Kingdom was arrested in connection with the hack and attempted ransom in July 2024. How did the cyberattack happen? M&S first disclosed they had experienced a cyberattack on 22 April, which had disrupted their online operations and even halted contactless payments. Hundreds of agency workers at the company were told not to come into work as the retailer dealt with the fallout of the cyberattack. Customer personal data – which could have included names, email addresses, postal addresses and dates of birth – was also taken by hackers in the attack. M&S revealed last month that the attack was caused by 'human error', as Mr Machin said in an annual figures report in May that the hackers gained access to the company's IT systems through a third party. He said at the time: 'We didn't leave the door open, this wasn't anything to do with under-investment. Everyone is vulnerable. For us, we were unlucky on this particular day through some human error.' Responding to attacks on the retail sector, the NCSC put out advice to the industry and responded to speculation that the Scattered Spider group had used social engineering to target IT help desks and perform password and MFA (multi-factor authentication) resets. 'Criminal activity online – including, but not limited to, ransomware and data extortion – is rampant,' their blog post wrote. 'Attacks like this are becoming more and more common. And all organisations, of all sizes, need to be prepared.' Deputy Director Paul Foster, head of the NCA's National Cyber Crime Unit, said: 'Specialist NCA cybercrime officers are working closely with law enforcement partners to investigate the recent cyber incidents affecting the retail sector. Identifying the criminals responsible and bringing them to justice is a top priority. 'We are considering the incidents individually, but have a range of hypotheses and are mindful they may be linked. 'The impact of these incidents has been significant and businesses will understandably be concerned. I'd encourage all organisations to follow advice on the NCSC's website to ensure they have effective cyber security measures in place to help prevent attacks. 'I'd also urge those that do unfortunately fall victim to an attack to engage with law enforcement as part of the reporting process. The NCA and policing will investigate covertly and discreetly, as well as support the recovery of systems and data.' How much money has M&S lost? The fallout from the cyberattack saw the company lose £650 million of value in a matter of days. M&S said it expected to take an estimated £300 million hit to profits this year, as they predicted disruption to its online business to last into July. What has M&S said in response? As M&S reopened its online operations, they put out a statement which said: 'You can now place online orders with standard delivery to England, Scotland and Wales. Delivery to Northern Ireland will resume in the coming weeks. 'We will resume click and collect, next-day delivery, nominated-day delivery and international ordering in the coming weeks.'
The Sun
37 minutes ago
- The Sun
Sharon Osbourne AXES rock band from husband Ozzy's huge farewell gig and takes furious swipe
SHARON Osbourne has claimed she's axed a rock band from husband Ozzy's epic final farewell concerts. Rocker Ozzy will be taking to the stage alongside his legendary band Black Sabbath one last time for the Back to the Beginning concerts at Birmingham 's Villa Park. 4 But there already appears to be some backstage drama with Sharon claiming to have axed one band from the line-up after a furious bust-up with their manager. In an interview with Metal Hammer, Sharon claims she had the unnamed group removed from the jam-packed supporting line-up for the gig which includes bands such as Metallica and Slayer. Sharon took aim at the unidentified music manager and told the publication: 'I had a huge, huge to-do with a manager over this celebration for Ozzy and Sabbath. "And it was probably the worst way I've felt in years. "I don't care what this person says about me, thinks about it, because he doesn't know me. "He's now going around making up bulls*** lies because I threw his band off the bill. "I don't care what people say. Because do you know what? I don't love them." Sharon then added: "I care about people who love me, what they say about me. "You can't care what an industry says, because you don't love them, so how can it hurt you? It doesn't.' Although Sharon did not names, some fans speculated that she could have been referring to rock band, Tool. Black Sabbath play 'Paranoid' before bowing out of music for good The band were originally lined up to play but soon disappeared from the official announcement. Despite this, it has been confirmed the band will still be playing at the event and as such casting doubt on such speculation. Elsewhere, Sharon spoke to the publication about the perception that people are often scared of her. The former The X Factor star said: 'Yeah, I think that a lot of people are [scared of me]. Because the thing is, I'll tell on you. "Things that you've done, things that I know about you, if you rattle my cage, I will tell. I don't give a s***. "You look at the billionaires in the world today, how dangerous they all are because they're all power hungry. "And I've never wanted that. "But if you f*** with me, I'll tell on you.' 4
