Frederick Forsyth's memoir 'The Outsider - My Life in Intrigue' reads like one of his novels. The former RAF pilot, spy, journalist is a handful with his quick thinking feet and an irrepressible urge to court danger. No wonder his books are so interesting - the man is more than interesting. Sample this from the preface to the book.
“At seventy-six, I think I also remain part-journalist, retaining the two other qualities reporter must have: insatiable curiosity and a gritty scepticism. Show me a journo who does not care to discover the reason why, and who believes what he is told and I will show you a bad one.
Forsyth was born to a normal middle-class family in 1938 and where they lived was close to the coast. It was the days of the second world war and the Germans were making headway for England just across the shore from France which they had already occupied and if I remember right, he was given away to an aunt for a while for safekeeping. Young Freddie watched American tanks roll into their front yard, tasted American bubble gum, wanted to become an RAF pilot and fly a Spitfire. His father sent him to live with families in France and then Germany in some sort of an exchange program and Freddie picked up those languages and culture which would come in handy later. An interesting hitchhiking trip with his friend across Europe and another to Spain to study grows the boy into a man. Women (once the mistress of a high ranking German defence official which he found out later and ran for his life), wine, bullfighting etc. Well, he was that kind of a boy at eighteen.
Freddie got into the RAF thanks to an interesting turn of events orchestrated by his father and became a pretty young pilot. After that stint, he began a career in journalism and moved to East Berlin, Germany with Reuters. It was a dangerous assignment and he was always on watch with bugs etc but Freddie was more than equal to the task. Plus a one night stand with a beautiful Stasi officer. Then a stint with the BBC where he joined as a foreign correspondent and reported about wars in Africa. Freddie being Freddie there will no lack of action - he is always going into that part of the action where you don't want to go. What he finds out is that the BBC is not covering what he feels is a genocide. He is pulled out and well, he resigns and becomes a freelance journalist and goes back to Africa to cover the wars between the many tribes in Nigeria. The deaths and starvation of children - one moment when a small girl comes to him with her younger brother both malnourished and begging for food and he has nothing to give - breaks his heart. To Freddie, the war was probably what he felt most strongly about and the politics that governed it.
Back in England and broke he decided on the unlikely course of action to make money - write a novel. He sits down and writes 'The Day of the Jackal' in 35 days, about a familiar setting where the OAS is trying to assassinate Charles de Gaulle, the French President. Only Freddie introduces a hired assassin, the Jackal. The manuscript does the usual rounds and rejections and it is only another stroke of extraordinary action by the man that gets a publisher interested. He meets Harold Harris, a publisher in a party, shamelessly hounds him in his office, gives him the synopsis and hooks Harris who offers him a 500 pound advance and a three-book deal with a 6000-pound account for expenses. Freddie has no ideas for the next two books but he sits and comes up with the idea for 'The Odessa File' and another on his African experiences 'The Dogs of War'. The rest is history as 'The Day of the Jackal' becomes a sensational hit and is made into a movie again thanks to the producer finding the book at his bedside on a leisurely weekend and deciding to produce it by Monday!
'The Odessa File' helps the Allies nab the Nazi butcher hiding in South America and 'The Dogs of War' becomes a handbook on war in Africa and how to deal with those local governments. Freddie marries, goes on a world tour, broke by fifty after being cheated by his broker, divorces his first wife, writes more books and makes his money again, marries again and lives happily ever after. Of course, he cannot sit quietly so when he is seventy-odd he goes sky diving and once even flies a Spitfire, his childhood dream.
It is a fascinating and intense action story, told in a racy, humorous and light manner. Action is the watchword here and Forsyth's life has been in danger so many times but he escaped thanks to his quick thinking and fast action. He is a stickler for research and set his stories mostly around his experiences. Fantastic reading. Thanks Vinod bhai for lending another one of your gems.
“At seventy-six, I think I also remain part-journalist, retaining the two other qualities reporter must have: insatiable curiosity and a gritty scepticism. Show me a journo who does not care to discover the reason why, and who believes what he is told and I will show you a bad one.
A journalist should never join
the Establishment, no matter how tempting the blandishments. It is our job to
hold power to account, not join it. In a world that increasingly obsesses over
the gods of power, money and fame, a journalist and a writer must remain
detached, like a bird on a rail, watching, noting, probing, commenting but
never joining. In short, an outsider.”
Forsyth was born to a normal middle-class family in 1938 and where they lived was close to the coast. It was the days of the second world war and the Germans were making headway for England just across the shore from France which they had already occupied and if I remember right, he was given away to an aunt for a while for safekeeping. Young Freddie watched American tanks roll into their front yard, tasted American bubble gum, wanted to become an RAF pilot and fly a Spitfire. His father sent him to live with families in France and then Germany in some sort of an exchange program and Freddie picked up those languages and culture which would come in handy later. An interesting hitchhiking trip with his friend across Europe and another to Spain to study grows the boy into a man. Women (once the mistress of a high ranking German defence official which he found out later and ran for his life), wine, bullfighting etc. Well, he was that kind of a boy at eighteen.
Freddie got into the RAF thanks to an interesting turn of events orchestrated by his father and became a pretty young pilot. After that stint, he began a career in journalism and moved to East Berlin, Germany with Reuters. It was a dangerous assignment and he was always on watch with bugs etc but Freddie was more than equal to the task. Plus a one night stand with a beautiful Stasi officer. Then a stint with the BBC where he joined as a foreign correspondent and reported about wars in Africa. Freddie being Freddie there will no lack of action - he is always going into that part of the action where you don't want to go. What he finds out is that the BBC is not covering what he feels is a genocide. He is pulled out and well, he resigns and becomes a freelance journalist and goes back to Africa to cover the wars between the many tribes in Nigeria. The deaths and starvation of children - one moment when a small girl comes to him with her younger brother both malnourished and begging for food and he has nothing to give - breaks his heart. To Freddie, the war was probably what he felt most strongly about and the politics that governed it.
Back in England and broke he decided on the unlikely course of action to make money - write a novel. He sits down and writes 'The Day of the Jackal' in 35 days, about a familiar setting where the OAS is trying to assassinate Charles de Gaulle, the French President. Only Freddie introduces a hired assassin, the Jackal. The manuscript does the usual rounds and rejections and it is only another stroke of extraordinary action by the man that gets a publisher interested. He meets Harold Harris, a publisher in a party, shamelessly hounds him in his office, gives him the synopsis and hooks Harris who offers him a 500 pound advance and a three-book deal with a 6000-pound account for expenses. Freddie has no ideas for the next two books but he sits and comes up with the idea for 'The Odessa File' and another on his African experiences 'The Dogs of War'. The rest is history as 'The Day of the Jackal' becomes a sensational hit and is made into a movie again thanks to the producer finding the book at his bedside on a leisurely weekend and deciding to produce it by Monday!
'The Odessa File' helps the Allies nab the Nazi butcher hiding in South America and 'The Dogs of War' becomes a handbook on war in Africa and how to deal with those local governments. Freddie marries, goes on a world tour, broke by fifty after being cheated by his broker, divorces his first wife, writes more books and makes his money again, marries again and lives happily ever after. Of course, he cannot sit quietly so when he is seventy-odd he goes sky diving and once even flies a Spitfire, his childhood dream.
It is a fascinating and intense action story, told in a racy, humorous and light manner. Action is the watchword here and Forsyth's life has been in danger so many times but he escaped thanks to his quick thinking and fast action. He is a stickler for research and set his stories mostly around his experiences. Fantastic reading. Thanks Vinod bhai for lending another one of your gems.
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