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Frederick McCarthy Forsyth was an English novelist and journalist. He was best known for thrillers such as The Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File, The Fourth Protocol, The Dogs of War, The Devil's Alternative, The Fist of God, Icon, The Veteran, Avenger, The Afghan, The Cobra and The Kill List.
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culture · English novelist (1938–2025) · novelist · aircraft pilot · correspondent · spy · screenwriter · journalist · writer · Foreign correspondent · also Frederick Forsyth, Forsyth
Born 25 August 1938 · Died 9 June 2025 · Q249197
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“it is 55, 60 years later. There have been memoirs written, highly secret minutes have been published. There’s no East Germany, no Stasi, no KGB, no Soviet Union, so where’s the harm?”
“Send us the pages and we will vet them, and if they are too sensitive, we will ask you not to continue.”
“You’re far too old, these places are bloody dangerous and you don’t run as avidly, as nimbly as you used to.”
“Not really. There's a quantum leap in moral philosophy when you cross the Jordan.”
“You got it, son. People forget—the old Model-T Ford may be old, but it worked. It got you there. It carried you from A to B. And it hardly ever broke down.”
“Uh-unh. Islam has nothing to do with it. Saddam doesn't care a fig for the hadith, the codified teachings of the Prophet. He prays on camera when it suits him. No, you have to go back to Nineveh and Assyria. He doesn't mind how many have to die, so long as he thinks he can win.”
The Guardian: ‘He changed the rules for all of us who came after’: Lee Child remembers Frederick Forsyth
The Guardian: Frederick Forsyth interview: ‘I’ve always been a loner’ – archive, 1973
The Guardian: Frederick Forsyth obituary
The Guardian: Frederick Forsyth, Day of the Jackal author and former MI6 agent, dies aged 86
Died 2025-06-09.
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The Guardian: The Fox by Frederick Forsyth – digested read
The Guardian: Frederick Forsyth to stop writing thrillers
The Guardian: Frederick Forsyth with Mark Lawson - Guardian Live event
Said he was giving up writing thrillers because his wife had told him he was too old to travel to dangerous places
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Forsyth was featured as a character in Reg, a one-off BBC real-life drama about Reg Keys' campaign
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The Guardian: Frederick Forsyth: what we learnt from his Live event
The Guardian: Outsider: My Life in Intrigue by Frederick Forsyth review – anecdotal vignettes
The Guardian: The Outsider: My Life in Intrigue by Frederick Forsyth – digested read
The Guardian: Frederick Forsyth: I was an MI6 agent
The Guardian: A book for the beach: The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth
Awarded Cartier Diamond Dagger (2012).
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The Guardian: Frederick Forsyth wins Diamond Dagger lifetime achievement award
The Guardian: Digested read: The Cobra by Frederick Forsyth
Features some of the characters previously featured in Avenger, and has as its subject an attempt to destroy the world trade in cocaine
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Criticised "gay-bashers in the churches" in The Guardian newspaper
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Was awarded the One of Us Award from the Conservative Way Forward group for his services to the Conservative movement in Britain
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The Veteran, another collection of short stories, was published, followed by Avenger, published in September 2003, about a Canadian billionaire who hires a Vietnam veteran to bring his grandson's killer to the United Sta
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Awarded Commander of the Order of the British Empire (1996).
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Published Icon, about the rise of fascists to power in post-Soviet Russia
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Forsyth published The Fist of God, a novel which concerns the first Gulf War, Project Babylon and competition between intelligence agencies
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With The Negotiator, in which the United States President's son is kidnapped and one man's job is to negotiate his release
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And involves renegade elements within the Soviet Union attempting to plant an atomic bomb near a U
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Awarded Grand Prix de Littérature Policière (1983).
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No Comebacks, a collection of ten short stories, was published
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Awarded Best Crime Novel in Swedish Translation for The Day of the Jackal (1972).
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Awarded Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel for The Day of the Jackal (1972).
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The book became an international bestseller and gained its author the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel in 1972
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And in 1965 the BBC, for which he served as an assistant diplomatic correspondent
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Before serving as an assistant diplomatic correspondent in 1965 for the BBC
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Born 1938-08-25.
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Uh-unh. Islam has nothing to do with it. Saddam doesn't care a fig for the hadith, the codified teachings of the Prophet. He prays on camera when it suits him. No, you have to go back to Nineveh and Assyria. He doesn't mind how many have to die, so long as he thinks he can win.
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