tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31387285023549784572024-03-05T10:22:33.059+01:00JEREMY DUNSUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger97125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138728502354978457.post-74354260817133890332013-05-13T16:23:00.001+02:002013-05-13T16:23:16.156+02:00We have moved!Please see the new website, <a href="http://www.jeremyduns.net/">www.jeremyduns.net</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138728502354978457.post-55676684703402686622013-04-19T17:26:00.001+02:002013-05-04T21:23:33.864+02:00The Deighton File: An Interview with Edward Milward-Oliver<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:HyphenationZone>21</w:HyphenationZone>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>SV</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/>
<w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
<w:Word11KerningPairs/>
<w:CachedColBalance/>
</w:Compatibility>
<w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I have a treat in store today: an interview with
Edward Milward-Oliver, author of the excellent reference book <i>The Len Deighton Companion</i> and a forthcoming
biography of Deighton. </span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBcxuDLyCq7hyphenhyphendxU9nP14I0jX-1zmsc0BsPZFnoGnjqeEK7sqaoFTPuud91Je8N8TVznfSyhGPhHZS6-lKmaIbetsopmSYNTTZZTB0RGTwMmn8CDDmoIi1AvmA_noAoSgEgrnerGqEP3pv/s1600/LenDeightonCompanion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBcxuDLyCq7hyphenhyphendxU9nP14I0jX-1zmsc0BsPZFnoGnjqeEK7sqaoFTPuud91Je8N8TVznfSyhGPhHZS6-lKmaIbetsopmSYNTTZZTB0RGTwMmn8CDDmoIi1AvmA_noAoSgEgrnerGqEP3pv/s400/LenDeightonCompanion.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">JD: Edward, thank you so much for agreeing to do this. Can I start by asking you which Len Deighton book you first read?</span> </b> </span></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;">Edward Milward-Oliver: It
was the Hawkey-jacketed Penguin edition of <i>Funeral in Berlin</i>, with the
black and white halftone of Michael Caine across the top half of the cover, and
diagonal orange and white hazard lines filling the lower half. On the rear
cover was a photo of Len looking very cool in aviator sunglasses with a
helicopter lifting off in the background and a quote from <i>LIFE</i> magazine
claiming ‘Next, big soft girls will read Len Deighton aloud in jazz workshops’.
It was the mid-1960s and I was a teenager. The whole look and feel of the book
was very sharp, modern and hardboiled, a frontline report from inside the
sodium glow of Europe’s Cold War capital.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;"> </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;"> </span></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlU3atUD1Tm1Kw-fefpJAtt9Gt0EXKExIihgYF9ggsrWf8AqR4YiIQvrvksJ_2agT4l28JTmHcyvYicQNx0_u7cIB0It4HHd4CTJ_upQ7cguIQigb7pttAHnYP5MVoukUWV-J-SN8_4vpk/s1600/FiB_Penguin_1966.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlU3atUD1Tm1Kw-fefpJAtt9Gt0EXKExIihgYF9ggsrWf8AqR4YiIQvrvksJ_2agT4l28JTmHcyvYicQNx0_u7cIB0It4HHd4CTJ_upQ7cguIQigb7pttAHnYP5MVoukUWV-J-SN8_4vpk/s400/FiB_Penguin_1966.jpeg" width="245" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;">A decade later I met Len. We
were introduced by a mutual friend, the Italian restaurateur and illustrator
Enzo Apicella, at his Meridiana restaurant in London’s Fulham Road. We stayed
in touch and in the early 1980s when I was living in Bonn, then capital of West
Germany, we’d meet up in Berlin, where he was researching <i>Game Set &
Match</i>. </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /><br />I’d read all his books by that
time. Having started my working life in publishing, I retained an interest in
the publication data, so I wrote a slim bibliography, really intended to
satisfy a few readers and modest collectors like myself. Then each time we met,
Len told me more stories – he loves to impart knowledge, stir up discussion –
and I felt that unless someone wrote them down, they’d be forgotten. So that
led to <i>The Len Deighton Companion</i> which I wrote in Germany before I
moved to Hong Kong, and I was surprised and delighted when it sold so well in
hardcover and then paperback<span style="font-size: large;">.</span> </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;">What were you doing in Hong
Kong?</span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /><br />Before living in Germany I
worked for several years with David Hemmings and retained a strong interest in
film and TV. I moved to Hong Kong in the mid-1980s as part of a start-up with
ambitions to launch the first private satellite system in South-East Asia. Our
main interest was in the TV programming opportunities. We secured an option on
a refurbished C-band satellite and a deal for an orbital relaunch on NASA’s
Space Shuttle. The relaunch was cancelled following the 1986 Challenger
disaster and China stepped in and offered the services of its Long March
rocket. That was April 1990 and marked not only China’s first commercial space
launch but also the first time in history a satellite was returned to orbit.
Today AsiaSat is a public company and serves the communications needs of over
two-thirds of the world’s population.</span></span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;">You stayed in touch with Len
through this time?</span></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;"><br />Intermittently – one forgets
that as recently as the early 1990s, distance created practical hurdles; there
was no internet to speak of, no email. I lived in the region for nearly 15 years and was very focussed on its media opportunities. I helped found what
became Asia Business News in Singapore, today known as CNBC Asia. It was the
region’s first satellite-TV business channel, delivering local, regional and
global business news to viewers across the Asia Pacific. After I sold my
interest in that I was drawn to the emerging internet-driven economy; this was
about 1994. We built several companies and I served as an exec in a couple of
publicly listed corporations involved in digital media, first in Hong Kong, and
then Tokyo. Summarising it like this makes it sound like one easy ride, but as
every founder will tell you, creating any business is a long hard slog and an
emotional rollercoaster. But I remain powerfully attached to Hong Kong and the
region.</span></span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;">When did you start on the
biography?</span></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;"><br />In 2005 Lion Television and
Len invited me to act as the adviser on the documentary <a href="http://www.liontv.com/Scotland/Productions/The-Truth-About-Len-Deighton"><i>The Truth About Len Deighton</i></a>, which was broadcast by the BBC in 2006. Len and I got to see a lot
more of each other, and of course by then the ubiquity of email meant one was
only a keystroke away. As a result of working on that programme, I was keen to
explore the whole IPCRESS phenomenon: the book, the movie, the iconography, the
early 60s context. I’ve always felt that <i>The IPCRESS File</i> is where the
Cold War meets the Royal College of Art. Alongside some of the pop art of that
era, it elevated spies, nucl<span style="font-size: large;">ear paranoia<span style="font-size: large;"> and </span></span>the commonplace in daily life<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>to <span style="font-size: large;">the</span> level of fine art. One might go so far as to describe <i>The
IPCRESS File</i> as a work of pop art itself. W<span style="font-size: large;">rapped in </span>its ground-breaking monochrome Ray
Hawkey jacket, it should have a place in art galleries alongside the works of
Peter Blake, Richard Hamilton and Colin Self!</span></span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;">As a footnote for ipcress<span style="font-size: large;">philes</span>, it’s
fascinating to see how Deighton’s fictional acronym has gained widespread
use, cheekily adopted for a high-profile clinical trial at the University of
Bristol (</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:HyphenationZone>21</w:HyphenationZone>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>SV</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/>
<w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
<w:Word11KerningPairs/>
<w:CachedColBalance/>
</w:Compatibility>
<w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;">“</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;">Internet PsyChotherapy for dePRESSion</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;">”</span>), as a product name
for High Grade Internet Protocol Cryptographic equipment used by the
Government, an IT programme, a Tokyo fashion shop, a record label, a London DJ,
and even a pedigree of golden retriever! </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;"><br />Anyway, once I got seriously
into the research I quickly recognised that a history of <i>The IPCRESS File</i>
couldn’t be isolated from the story of its author.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA8Har8ZDawLg6ypUv_5ZNChyphenhyphenwBIoOHhQ_UCAwFL574QTbQnmW-e7B-yLs3q5oyxG1fz17AKK319Rf3raKvZfRizfpQdV8YmjsQD_iGk1R-1f7Z4BBPXysKU3s2I3EH2hX-P4ZW-cGAqf3/s1600/LenDeighton_Dordogne_1961.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA8Har8ZDawLg6ypUv_5ZNChyphenhyphenwBIoOHhQ_UCAwFL574QTbQnmW-e7B-yLs3q5oyxG1fz17AKK319Rf3raKvZfRizfpQdV8YmjsQD_iGk1R-1f7Z4BBPXysKU3s2I3EH2hX-P4ZW-cGAqf3/s400/LenDeighton_Dordogne_1961.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:HyphenationZone>21</w:HyphenationZone>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>SV</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/>
<w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
<w:Word11KerningPairs/>
<w:CachedColBalance/>
</w:Compatibility>
<w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: left;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">This
previously unpublished photograph shows Len Deighton (right) in 1961 with the
French couple who owned the isolated cottage he rented in the Dordogne where he
completed The IPCRESS File.<i> © Len Deighton. No reproduction without
permission. Sourced by Edward Milward-Oliver.</i></span><br />
<br /></div>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="267">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0cm;
mso-para-margin-right:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0cm;
line-height:115%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]--></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;">When will the biography be
published?</span></b></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;"></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;">It’s a work-in-progress, with
no set publication date. I’m squeezing it in while developing a digital project
called AMICI (ami-chi), which is an online cultural network that will enable
millions of people to pursue their cultural passions while benefitting the arts
organisations they love and support. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 150%;"></span></span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;">Simultaneously with the
biography, I’m working on a comprehensive bibliography of Deighton’s work and
the associated material with Jon Gilbert, whose recent 736-page <a href="http://www.queenannepress.com/ianflemingbiblio.html">Ian Fleming bibliography</a> has set the
benchmark for bibliographic scholarship.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;"> </span><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;"><br />Does all this have Len’s
blessing? Is it an ‘official’ biography?</span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /><br />Yes, this has his blessing,
and no, it’s not an official biography. I never explicitly sought Len’s
permission but the lines of research kept expanding and he couldn’t have been
more generous with his time and his introductions. He’s never once tried to
impose a preferred point-of-view, direct my research, or steered me away from talking
to anyone. There have been occasions, not many, when I’ve found that an
incident or an event differed significantly from Len’s recollection. There’s no
easy way to tell a subject that they have misremembered something important.
But when that’s happened, Len has readily accepted that he got it wrong. There’s
no question he appreciates solid research.</span></span></span>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;"><br />Even when you have the facts,
is there such a thing as an ‘authentic’ version of
the past?</span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /><br />André Aciman recently wrote a
wonderful <i>New York Times</i> <a href="http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/06/how-memoirists-mold-the-truth">opinion piece</a> about memoirs,
in which he suggested there is no single past, just versions of the past.
“Proving one version true settles absolutely nothing, because proving another
is equally possible</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;">”</span></span>. I think this is right, and when the IPCRESS project
expanded into a full biography, I decided to follow the themes and events that
I found most compelling, wherever they led, and hope that the things that most
interest me also interest the book’s readers. </span></span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;">So I’ve been following a
virtual trail from below-stairs life in pre-<span style="font-size: large;">war </span>London via the camera towers of Tokwe Atoll to the blue skies of <span style="font-size: large;">S</span>outhern California. It’s taken me
through St Martins School of Art and the Royal College of Art, espresso bars in
Old Compton Street and jazz clubs in Greenwich Village, convivial gatherings in
South London kitchens and the fashionable Trattoria Terrazza in Soho’s Romilly
Street, quiet photographic studios, international film sets, Chicago’s Playboy
Mansion, and abandoned poste restante addresses in Europe’s Cold War capitals.
And it hasn’t ended yet.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;"><br />Writing is a solitary
profession. How do you make that life interesting to readers?</span></b></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;"><br />That isn’t a challenge in Len
Deighton’s case. The working title, <i>DEIGHTON: An Uncommon Man</i>,
tells you everything. His lasting influence extends across photography,
cooking, design, marketing, publishing, mass media, and movies, in addition to
his reinvention of the spy thriller and a body of work covering half a century.
The description ‘renaissance man’ never had a more deserving subject.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 150%;"></span></span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;">Matthew Kirschenbaum, who is
researching the crossover between computing and literature for a book entitled <i>Track
Changes: A Literary History of Word Processing</i>, recently <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2013/03/len_deighton_s_bomber_the_first_book_ever_written_on_a_word_processor.single.html">wrote</a> in <i>Slate</i> about how <i>Bomber</i> was the first novel written with a word processor,
which is entirely consistent with Deighton’s early adoption of practical
technology. </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /><br />I recall you pointing out that
one of Len’s intriguing influences on the spy genre was that after <i>The
IPCRESS File</i> everyone started using ‘The’ in the title of thrillers! And do
you know, he’s among the top 1000 authors and works cited in the <i>Oxford
English Dictionary</i>, and is currently quoted 472 times. In six
instances he provides the first evidence for a word: <i>pommes allumettes </i>(<i>The
IPCRESS File</i>); Stasi, Grepo and Shin Bet (<i>Funeral in Berlin</i>);
Stolichnaya (<i>Billion-Dollar Brain</i>), and <i>merguez </i>(<i>Yesterday’s Spy</i>),
and in another 47 instances the first evidence for a sense of a word.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;">If we step back, we can see
that the heart of Deighton’s story is the 1960s, when he played an incalculable
role in reshaping popular culture in Britain. A decade which opens with him
sitting in the garden of the Hôtel Sainte Anne on the island of Porquerolles
filling a notebook with ideas for a story about someone much like himself,
except that he makes him a spy which he never was, and closes with the publication
of what many consider his finest novel, <i>Bomber</i>, which signals a renewal
of his creative energies after his bruising experiences in the film trade. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;">The 1960s has a powerful
appeal today because like our current digital era, it was a time of massive
disruption and transformation. The rate of change was extraordinary. And Harry
Palmer was, to quote Clive Irving, a metaphor for creative insurrection. If you
want to understand how the 1960s has shaped our modern world, there’s no better
way to begin than exploring the life of Len Deighton.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6Usn3wnEYx5IxTKH8UbDk81sMJQXiHDOlY4Sjjq6_-Yognf7zXtwtC7jzj6-yIxLCk6l2xMcj70clRR2LI97-Dct42IgWaBQza7dLDwTtz-cVe8z1SC2CXcXyC5UNfbs2WrOxzdblR2b5/s1600/DEIGHTONCAINEPHOTOS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6Usn3wnEYx5IxTKH8UbDk81sMJQXiHDOlY4Sjjq6_-Yognf7zXtwtC7jzj6-yIxLCk6l2xMcj70clRR2LI97-Dct42IgWaBQza7dLDwTtz-cVe8z1SC2CXcXyC5UNfbs2WrOxzdblR2b5/s640/DEIGHTONCAINEPHOTOS.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:HyphenationZone>21</w:HyphenationZone>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>SV</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/>
<w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
<w:Word11KerningPairs/>
<w:CachedColBalance/>
</w:Compatibility>
<w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Michael
Caine, cinematographer Otto Heller, and Len Deighton. Contact strip of rarely
seen photographs by Jack Nisberg outside London’s Leicester Square Theatre at
the opening of <i>The Ipcress File </i>on 18 March 1965.<span style="font-size: small;"> </span>© <a href="http://www.roger-viollet.fr/collectionsFiche.aspx?fiche=NIS&ficheid=29">Jack Nisberg / Roger-Viollet</a>. No reproduction without permission. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Jack
Nisberg (1922-1980) was a freelance American photographer who worked mainly for
<i>Look</i>, <i>Newsweek</i>, <i>The Observer,</i> <i>The New York Times</i>, <i>The Sunday Times</i>, <i>Elle
</i>and <i>Vogue</i>. After moving to Paris in 1955, he became a sought-after
photographer for cultural, political and social events, in addition to
photojournalistic assignments. A friend of Len Deighton, he was also on hand to
photograph the only meeting of Deighton and Ian Fleming at a luncheon hosted by
Peter Evans in March 1963. Jack Nisberg’s work is being rediscovered by
cultural historians and collectors, and his archive is now managed by the
French agency Roger-Viollet.</span></span></div>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="267">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0cm;
mso-para-margin-right:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0cm;
line-height:115%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]--></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;"></span></b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;">You spoke about there being
different versions of the past. Has your research thrown up any big surprises? </span></b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;"><br />Not really, just what I might
call course corrections. For me, the most important rule is to go to the
source. Don’t accept anything as given. I’m very keen on timelines. They’re a
framing mechanism. I build them for every major event, every milestone in the
story. I look for unambiguous dates and then add in detail around them to build
reliable chronologies. Establishing when things happened helps determine why
they happened. And as more detail is added, I’m able to verify people’s
recollections against them.</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;"></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;"><br />Early on I discovered that <i>The
IPCRESS File</i> didn’t start life in the way that’s always been reported. A
typically self-effacing publicity line by Len following its stunning success
– that the manuscript had lain in a drawer unread and unloved until he unexpectedly met a
literary agent at a party – was repeated and reprinted so many times that even
Len came to remember it as fact. Whereas what actually happened is much more
compelling, and revealing about its author.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;">Incidentally, I found the
woman who typed that <i>IPCRESS</i> manuscript (sadly now lost). Paid by Len
with a second-hand television set, she went on to achieve fame and celebrated
status in the music world.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;">Although today we have Google
and access to unlimited information online, people reach a certain
age and frequently drop below the radar. I was thus delighted to locate and
correspond with Robin Denniston, who sadly passed away last year. He was the
editor at Hodder & Stoughton who bought <i>The IPCRESS File</i> after it
had been turned down by Jonathan Cape and Heinemann. Denniston was a talented publisher – he later brought John le Carré over from Gollancz – whose
family was closely associated with the security services. His father, Alistair
Denniston, set up and ran the Government Code and Cypher School, the ancestor
of today’s GCHQ, and his sister at one time worked for Graham Greene, Kim
Philby and Tim Milne in an MI6 London outstation.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;">Like the manuscript of <i>The
IPCRESS File</i>, the film’s screenplay – which had early drafts by Lukas
Heller (<i>What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, The Flight of the Phoenix, The
Dirty Dozen</i>) and the author Lionel Davidson – has been frustratingly
elusive. But I’ve been able to reassemble some of the scenes and plot
developments that were substantially changed or thrown-out during shooting,
giving me a much better appreciation of what a great job director Sidney Furie
did and how it could have been a lesser film in other hands.</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /><br />The movie’s title theme is
widely remembered for the sound of the cimbalom. I searched for and found John
Leach, who introduced John Barry to th<span style="font-size: large;">is hammer <span style="font-size: large;">dulcimer<span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></span>instrument and played it on the <i>Ipcress</i>
soundtrack. Sitting in his home and listening to him pick out those distinctive
notes on the very cimbalom he played in the CTS recording studio in February
1965, I could have sworn I smelled coffee brewing . . . John Leach knew Kim Philby in Be<span style="font-size: large;">irut. Another of the unexpected connections among the neural pathways of th<span style="font-size: large;">is </span>vibrant story.</span><br /><br />When examining any life, one
quickly recognises how serendipity can play a significant role in determining
the outcome. Deighton’s books, with their radical covers, would have looked
very different had Ray Hawkey left London for Venezuela as the art editor of
Shell’s South American publications. The <i>Ipcress</i> movie would be
unrecognizable had Richard Harris not committed to <i>Il deserto rosso</i>
opposite Monica Vitti, and Christopher Plummer to <i>The Sound of Music</i> . .
. And we might not be discussing Len Deighton author, had he not left the
Robert Sharp advertising agency after six restless and unsatisfactory months in
1959.<br /><br />The journey continues, across a terrain that</span></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;">’</span></span></span>s always striking. Deighton’s fans run the gamut from the former Chief of Staff of the
United States Air Force and the historian Simon Schama, to Rolling Stone
guitarist Keith Richards and the celebrated author J G Ballard. Friends and
former friends, people from many walks of life who worked with him, they’ve all
given generously of their time. I have over 70 hours of interviews, of
which nearly 40 are with Len. Transcribing them is a major undertaking!</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;">A few years ago it seemed that
Len Deighton was a recluse, or close to one </span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;">– </span> he didn’t give interviews at all.
But recently he has given several, written articles, and even published an
ebook about Ian Fleming and James Bond. It’s wonderful. Do you think we’ll hear
more of him </span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;">– </span> perhaps even another novel?</span></b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;">Len writes every day. It’s a
lifetime habit. But now it’s no longer with an eye for publication. He’s
written a 30,000-word exploration of fountain pens, the way they work
and the changes they’ve undergone, and is completing a study of aero engines
called <i>The Secret History of Airplanes</i>. Both reflect private passions,
and maintain his reputation for exceptional research. The ebook you mention, <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/James-Bond-Eventful-Search-ebook/dp/B00AQKE5S2"><i>James Bond: My Long and Eventful Search for His Father</i></a>, is a cinematic memoir
written at the request of Amazon as part of the launch of their Kindle Singles.
</span></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /><br />Over the past four years, he’s
also been writing new introductions for the complete edition of his 28 novels,
which have provided a platform for him to reflect on half a century of writing
and the truth of his observation made many years ago that anyone can write one
book, even politicians do it; starting a second book reveals an intention to be
a professional writer. <br /><br />The future? To my knowledge,
there’s no unfinished novel lying in a drawer and I don’t expect Len to
write a new one, but as recent history reminds us, one should never say never .
. .</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;">What do you make of the <a href="http://deightondossier.blogspot.se/2013/04/hot-off-press-bernard-samson-to-reach.html">news</a>
about the Bernard Samson TV series? </span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /><br />There’s a great team behind
the project that appears to have the talent and confidence necessary to create
an authentic world around Bernard Samson with its own set of implicit values
and touch-points. At the core of Len’s nine novels is a matrix of narratives
about the choices people make, and the series has the potential to engage
audiences on a very different level to the cold techno-driven apocalyptic
approach of, say<i>, Spooks</i>. Clerkenwell Films clearly recognise this. It
was a masterstroke to secure Simon Beaufoy, who I understand is due to start
working on the adaptation later in the year.</span></span></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;">These aren’t the only Deighton
novels headed for TV. Originally conceived as a feature film, <i>Bomber</i> is
currently in development as a television mini-series by Roger Randall-Cutler
and Robert Cheek of First Film Company in partnership with a major broadcaster.
This will give them the screen time to develop the multiple storylines of the
novel. I expect news on the writer of this project very soon too. It’s all part
of an encouraging commitment to long-form drama on television right now. Many
notable film writers are working in the medium. The new UK high-end TV tax
relief scheme, which is heavily modelled on the successful film tax credit
regime, should help sustain this.</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /><br />And I know that film and TV
rights to another two books are currently optioned. That makes 12 of
Deighton’s novels in development today. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;">Aside from Len Deighton, who
are your favourite authors?</span></b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:HyphenationZone>21</w:HyphenationZone>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>SV</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/>
<w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
<w:Word11KerningPairs/>
<w:CachedColBalance/>
</w:Compatibility>
<w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="267">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0cm;
mso-para-margin-right:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0cm;
line-height:115%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]--><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;">John Gregory
Dunne and Joan Didion, le Carré, and my late friend Jim Ballard. These are the
authors whose work I most frequently return to. Beside the bed right now I have
<i>The Infatuations</i> by Javier Marías and Tim Bouquet’s gripping <i>617: Going to War
with Today’s Dambusters</i>. </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;">Thank<span style="font-size: large;">s </span>again for your time<span style="font-size: large;">, Edward </span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;">– I very much look forward to reading the biography.</span></b></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>
</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>For more information about Len Deighton, do <span style="font-size: large;">check out Rob Mallows</span></i></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%;">’ </span></span></span>great website <span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.deightondossier.net/"><span style="font-size: large;">The Deighton Dossier</span></a>.</span></span></span></i></span></span> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="267">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0cm;
mso-para-margin-right:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0cm;
line-height:115%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138728502354978457.post-38171696619872459042013-04-15T17:22:00.002+02:002013-04-15T17:23:32.911+02:00Spy games: an interview with William Boyd<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;">The next James Bond novel will be by the acclaimed British novelist William Boyd, and will be titled <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-22154094"><i>Solo</i></a>. Here's an interview I did with Boyd for the Belgium-based magazine <i>The Bulletin </i>back in 2006, in which he discussed his spy novel <i>Restless</i>, which had just been published. Click on the image to enlarge it.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnxIwF1dGocxPwTcNNpxpmMTD9nr1xCfL59l7EOv6Ddj2CEpEIk1iqIFN7s1HCV5y_JffhMwjNq-Le7GUAjMadxCW7Asq3BrcMu4VjOegyVUsS35ApYnl4bMTl1YQUhxpRxgPi4EIDmYyk/s1600/WILLIAMBOYDINTERVIEW2006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnxIwF1dGocxPwTcNNpxpmMTD9nr1xCfL59l7EOv6Ddj2CEpEIk1iqIFN7s1HCV5y_JffhMwjNq-Le7GUAjMadxCW7Asq3BrcMu4VjOegyVUsS35ApYnl4bMTl1YQUhxpRxgPi4EIDmYyk/s400/WILLIAMBOYDINTERVIEW2006.jpg" width="326" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138728502354978457.post-57796685157545865412013-03-22T00:34:00.001+01:002013-03-23T20:12:41.930+01:00In Fleming’s Footsteps<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">ON OCTOBER 5 1962, the first James Bond
film, <i>Dr No</i>, had its world premiere in London – and the thriller would never be
the same again. The Bond films would become the most successful film franchise
of all time, and almost single-handedly led to the ‘spy-mania’ of the Sixties. </span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR-2_atQ-MQjk7UGRr6dMBBTrklz5CcTe3t7NKLvlb7r0lXeMHwktLVcen_lYmSpPuW1ixNVT5E4PuraIxdWLkIZSvG-6gji3jaLQrM62ktKY-zPnXKFLKXQuKhuO6oD_xhhlQyJiyie6H/s1600/SYDNEY+MORNING+HERALD+JUNE+25+1961.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR-2_atQ-MQjk7UGRr6dMBBTrklz5CcTe3t7NKLvlb7r0lXeMHwktLVcen_lYmSpPuW1ixNVT5E4PuraIxdWLkIZSvG-6gji3jaLQrM62ktKY-zPnXKFLKXQuKhuO6oD_xhhlQyJiyie6H/s320/SYDNEY+MORNING+HERALD+JUNE+25+1961.png" width="248" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: small;"><i>The Sydney Morning Herald</i>, June 25 1961</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">As a result, nearly all discussion of
Bond’s influence on the genre relates to the films. But long before Sean Connery, </span><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB">Terence
Young </span>or John Barry stepped onto the scene, James Bond was a
by-word for excitement, glamour and adventure. Fleming was not merely a
moderately successful writer whose work only became famous via screen
adaptation: by any usual standards, his books were a wide-reaching cultural
phenomenon (which is why the film rights were bought, of course). In Britain, Fleming’s
novels were serialised as comic strips in the <i>Daily Express </i>from 1958 onwards,
and the same year he became a talking point in the literary world when he was
attacked as vulgar by the critic Bernard Bergonzi in the <i>Twentieth Century </i>and
accused of being a purveyor of ‘sex, snobbery and sadism’ by Paul Johnson in
the <i>New Statesman</i>. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">In its review of <i>Goldfinger </i>on March 26<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>1959, <i>The Times</i>
noted that: </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 37.3pt 0.0001pt 45pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">‘A new novel by
Mr. Ian Fleming is becoming something of an event, since James Bond has now
established himself at the head of his profession, a secret service agent who
indeed plays for England but who has much in common with the highly sexed
“private eye” on the other side of the Atlantic.’</span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">A less frequently discussed indication of
Fleming’s success is that, even before <i>Dr No </i>came to the screen, other
thriller-writers were being influenced by Bond. Just over a month after <i>Dr No’s
</i>premiere, on 12 November 1962, Len Deighton’s novel <i>The IPCRESS File </i>was
published by Hodder & Stoughton. Although Deighton wrote the book before <i>Dr
No’s </i>release, Bond was nevertheless uppermost in his mind, as Michael Spencer
Howard revealed in his 1971 book on the publisher Jonathan Cape:</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 37.3pt 0.0001pt 45pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">‘Having studied
the James Bond phenomenon, Deighton had devised his own formula on which to
base efficiently successful thrillers, and was determined to write five of them
to prove it.’</span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: small;">1</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: 37.3pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoBodyText3" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><i>The IPCRESS File </i>was an
unexpected smash, and Deighton defected from Hodder to Jonathan Cape, who
published the sequel, <i>Horse Under Water</i>, the following year. Deighton later
said that this ‘enraged some people, who claimed I was now going to be trained
as the successor to Ian Fleming, who Cape also published.’<span style="font-size: small;">2</span> This was an
understandable view, as Deighton was certainly inspired by Fleming’s work: <i>The
IPCRESS File </i>even closes with a mention of SMERSH, an organisation that had
featured in Fleming novels but which would not appear on film until <i>From Russia,
With Love </i>in 1963 – the screenplay of which Deighton worked on.<span style="font-size: small;">3</span></span></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoBodyText3" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoBodyText3" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;">The mention of SMERSH can only plausibly
be the influence of Fleming, because although the organisation existed in real
life, it had had little in common with Fleming’s fantastic depiction of it, and
<a href="http://jeremyduns.blogspot.se/2010/05/smersh-v-smersh.html">its existence was barely known</a> before the publication of <i>Casino Royale</i>.
Deighton placed the organisation’s headquarters in Moscow at 19 Stanislavskaya
Street, whereas Fleming had it at 13 Sretenska Ulitsa. Despite the
authoritative-sounding specificity, neither was right, as the organisation
had been disbanded and its responsibilities handed over to the Main Administration of
Counter-Intelligence (GUKR) of the MGB in 1946.<span style="font-size: small;">4</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US">~</span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB">LEN </span></span><span lang="EN-GB">DEIGHTON wasn</span><span lang="EN-GB">’t the only thriller-writer
to toy with the Bond formula prior to the films. <i>The Mythmaker </i>by Sarah
Gainham, published in 1957, featured a young, handsome half-British, half-Hungarian
agent called Christian Quest. Bond was half-Scottish and half-Swiss in
Fleming’s novels, and the name is an obvious play on the tradition of gallant
spies fighting for God and country. Gainham was the pseudonym of Rachel Terry,
the wife of the <i>Sunday T</i><i>imes </i>correspondent and MI6 officer Anthony Terry, a close friend and
colleague of Fleming who had helped him with the research for <i>The Living Daylights</i>.
According to Andrew Lycett, Rosa Klebb was partly inspired by an anecdote
Rachel Terry had told Fleming about a hideous female Russian agent who had operated in
Vienna.</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: small;">5</span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmDmpMqBkN8uPlDPz5OJc191bWFFzNxWiNGX15u6bjGKGf_bUKqm2eI0yMjxj589-QAgqBuyhAmbfYfRNpQ1lpEakFRXcnV-ooJH47pVZiGgVMMUiF4zKXBZ7Z_U3UyEbvH4ox2h-4sCQt/s1600/MYTHMAKER+GAINHAM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmDmpMqBkN8uPlDPz5OJc191bWFFzNxWiNGX15u6bjGKGf_bUKqm2eI0yMjxj589-QAgqBuyhAmbfYfRNpQ1lpEakFRXcnV-ooJH47pVZiGgVMMUiF4zKXBZ7Z_U3UyEbvH4ox2h-4sCQt/s400/MYTHMAKER+GAINHAM.jpg" width="262" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">Several moments in <i>The Mythmaker</i>, published
the same year as <i>From Russia, With Love</i>, appear to have been inspired by
Fleming’s work, especially <i>Casino Royale</i>. Quest is a handsome, young, but
somewhat arrogant novice in both the spy game and matters of the heart:</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 46.3pt 0.0001pt 27pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">‘In Kit’s many
small loves his main preoccupation had been to protect himself from involvement
without losing his pleasure. A vulgar concern which was not his choice but
simply the accepted attitude to love of nearly all young men of his kind, and
the very worst preparation possible for the feelings that now filled him. Not
only was Deli a member of his own world and therefore not to be trifled with
without serious consequences, but he found with a momentary fear that only
traces remained of his habitual self-defence against emotion, he was
defenceless against her simply because she was unarmed and brave. Yet he could
not at once give up the essentially hostile posture which had hitherto been his
real attitude to the women he had desired and who had desired him. This fear
and this reservation showed in his eyes after the first flash of recognition,
and in answer to them a familiar smile of ironical understanding came into
Deli’s eyes. Kit looked away from her, shamed that he had betrayed a coarse
caution in a moment that could never return, and spoilt it for both of them.</span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 46.3pt 0.0001pt 27pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 46.3pt 0.0001pt 27pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">‘Let’s dance,’
said Deli, still with the ironical smile.’</span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">The dialogue and Deli’s ironical smiles are reminiscent of
Vesper Lynd</span><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB">’s</span> in <i>Casino Royale</i>, but the passage as a whole also echoes Bond’s changing
attitude to women in that novel:</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 46.3pt 0.0001pt 27pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">‘With most women his manner was a mixture of taciturnity and
passion. The lengthy approaches to a seduction bored him almost as much as the
subsequent mess of disentanglement. He found something grisly in the
inevitability of the pattern of each affair. The conventional parabola –
sentiment, the touch of the hand, the kiss, the passionate kiss, the feel of
the body, the climax in the bed, then more bed, then less bed, then the boredom,
the tears and the final bitterness – was to him shameful and hypocritical. Even
more he shunned the <i>mise en scène </i>for each of these acts in the play –
the meeting at a party, the restaurant, the taxi, his flat, her flat, then the
week-end by the sea, then the flats again, then the furtive alibis and the
final angry farewell on some doorstep in the rain.</span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 46.3pt 0.0001pt 27pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 46.3pt 0.0001pt 27pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">But with Vesper there could be none of this.’</span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 46.3pt 0.0001pt 27pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlkWQ8F1xlyrbiuv-4PHcqKliWhvaDk9YdS41PfcMrF56rBc_J5_bM0iRCCpeTTgMKFJ3s_4S8_63JTkgyT7Q1aTsV3Dj-yk7NCSw5aOnlpr_KdfdCNYN7P_nHt9i8k1buhuwY_IVmB1YW/s1600/SARAH+GAINHAM+PUBLICITY+PHOTO.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlkWQ8F1xlyrbiuv-4PHcqKliWhvaDk9YdS41PfcMrF56rBc_J5_bM0iRCCpeTTgMKFJ3s_4S8_63JTkgyT7Q1aTsV3Dj-yk7NCSw5aOnlpr_KdfdCNYN7P_nHt9i8k1buhuwY_IVmB1YW/s1600/SARAH+GAINHAM+PUBLICITY+PHOTO.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">Rachel Terry, alias Sarah Gainham</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">In the hint of Quest’s ‘real’ attitude to
women – an ‘essentially hostile posture’ – he may also be a subtle portrait of
Ian Fleming. Rachel Terry thought Fleming was ‘highly intelligent and
accomplished’, but that his emotional age was ‘pre-puberty’.</span><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: small;">6</span> A couple of
years after she wrote <i>The Mythmaker</i>, Fleming tried to seduce her on a trip to
Berlin, when she had been estranged from her husband. She had been tempted,
finding Fleming ‘tall, good-looking, highly presentable and with the slightly
piratical air given by his broken nose’, but turned him down. In <i>The Mythmaker</i>,
Quest is described as having a ‘narrow, aquiline handsome face with an arrogant
but humorous expression, a mobile mouth and quick hazel eyes of unusual
beauty’. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">Quest travels to Vienna to find Otto
Berger, a servant of Hitler’s thought to have escaped the Bunker in Berlin and
hidden a cache of platinum and precious stones to be used to fund a neo-Nazi
revival: the book ends with a chase through the Alps. In Fleming’s <i>Moonraker</i>
(1954), the chief villain is Hugo Drax, revealed to have been a Nazi who
survived the end of the war. Drax’s chief accomplice is called Krebs, the same
name as Hitler’s last chief of staff in the Bunker<span style="font-size: large;">.</span></span><span style="font-size: small;">7</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US">~</span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></span></span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">IN THE 1960s and 1970s, neo-Nazi revivals
would become fertile ground for British thriller-writers. One lesser known
example is <i>The Testament of Caspar Schultz</i> by Martin Fallon, published by
Abelard-Schulman in Britain on May 18, 1962, nearly five months
before the world premiere of <i>Dr No</i>. Fallon was an early pseudonym of Harry
Patterson, a writer who would later become famous under another pseudonym: Jack
Higgins.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZoo3jp-Uorbwie6daROr-Z9Zl2KLpFfhaBY9vwRfA4DapymsiQ49xQ4ULr7Wp42hEmONjNm64tb1_X2HF2c5Glkab9N53u_x3mO656mUkDQEWCdPh2fzBDG_c1bv_c7sfb-MrALFHSikX/s1600/TESTAMENT+OF+CASPAR+SCHULTZ+HIGGINS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZoo3jp-Uorbwie6daROr-Z9Zl2KLpFfhaBY9vwRfA4DapymsiQ49xQ4ULr7Wp42hEmONjNm64tb1_X2HF2c5Glkab9N53u_x3mO656mUkDQEWCdPh2fzBDG_c1bv_c7sfb-MrALFHSikX/s400/TESTAMENT+OF+CASPAR+SCHULTZ+HIGGINS.jpg" width="241" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">While Gainham’s book was a literary
thriller with a few nods to Fleming’s work, <i>The Testament of Caspar
Schultz </i>is a full-bodied homage. In the first chapter, British secret agent Paul
Chavasse is summoned in the early hours by telephone to see his superior, who
works out of a building carrying the legend ‘Brown & Company – Importers
& Exporters’ on a polished brass plate outside:</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">‘He went up the
curving Regency staircase and passed along a thickly carpeted corridor. The
only sound was a slight, persistent hum from the dynamo in the radio room…’</span></b></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">Chavasse briefly
admires the Chief’s assistant, Jean Frazer, whose tweed skirt is of a ‘deceptively
simple cut that moulded her rounded hips’, and lights up a cigarette:</span><span lang="EN-GB"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="267">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0cm;
mso-para-margin-right:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0cm;
line-height:115%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">‘‘Now
what’s all the fuss about? What’s the Chief got on his mind that’s so important
it can’t wait until a respectable hour?’</span> </span></span></b></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">
</span></span></b><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">She
shrugged. ‘Why don’t you ask him yourself? He’s waiting for you inside.’</span> </span></span></b></div>
<b><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">
</span></span></b></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Chavasse
cursed softly and got to his feet. ‘What does he think I’m made of – iron?’
Without waiting for a reply, he walked across to the far door, opened it and
went in.</span></span></span></b></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">He frowned
slightly. ‘Another job?’</span></span></span></b></div>
<b><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">
</span></span></b></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB"></span></span></b><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">She nodded.
‘I think it’s something pretty big.’ </span></span></span></b></div>
<b><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">
</span></span></b></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">
</span></span></b><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The room
was half in shadow, the only light the shaded lamp which stood upon the desk by
the window. The Chief was reading a sheaf of typewritten documents and he
looked up quickly, a slight frown on his face.’</span></span></span></b></div>
<b><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">
</span></span></b></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">All of this reads very much like a version
of the openings of several Fleming novels, such as this passage in <i>Moonraker</i> from 1955, in which James Bond enters a building in London in which </span><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span lang="EN-GB">‘</span></span></span><span lang="EN-GB">Universal Export Co.</span><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB">’</span> is on a bronze list of occupants in the entrance hall</span> and makes his way to the ninth floor:</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">‘</span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:HyphenationZone>21</w:HyphenationZone>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>SV</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/>
<w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
<w:Word11KerningPairs/>
<w:CachedColBalance/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--></span><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">As
Bond turned to the left outside the lift and walked along the softly carpeted
corridor to the green baize door that led to the offices of M. and his personal
staff, the only sound he heard was a thin high-pitched whine that was so faint
that you almost had to listen for it. </span></span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></b></span> </div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">Without knocking he pushed through the green door and walked into the last room
but one along the passage.</span></span></b> </span></div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">Miss Moneypenny, M.</span></span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">’</span></b>s private secretary, looked up from her typewriter and
smiled at him. They liked each other and she knew that Bond admired her looks.
She was wearing the same model shirt as his own secretary, but with blue
stripes. </span></span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">‘</span></b>New uniform, Penny?</span></span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">’</span></b></span></span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"> </span></span></b>said Bond. She laughed. </span></span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">‘</span></b>Loelia
and I share the same little woman,</span></span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">’</span></b></span></span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"> </span></span></b>she said. </span></span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">‘</span></b>We tossed and I got
blue.</span></span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">’</span></b></span></span></b> </span></span></b> </span></div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">A snort came through the open door of the adjoining room. The Chief of Staff, a
man of about Bond</span></span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">’</span></b></span></span></b>s age, came out, a sardonic grin on his pale, overworked
face.</span></span></b> </span></div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">
</span></span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">‘</span></b>Break it up,</span></span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">’</span></b></span></span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"> </span></span></b>he said, </span></span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">‘</span></b></span></span></b>M.</span></span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">’</span></b></span></span></b>s waiting. Lunch afterwards?</span></span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">’</span></b></span></span></b> </span></div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">‘</span></b>Fine,</span></span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">’</span></b> said Bond. He turned to the door beside Miss Moneypenny,
walked through and shut it after him.</span></span></b><b> </b><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">Above it, a green light went on. Miss
Moneypenny raised her eyebrows at the Chief of Staff. He shook his head.</span></span></b> </span></div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">
</span></span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">‘</span></b>I don</span></span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">’</span></b></span></span></b>t think it</span></span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">’</span></b></span></span></b>s business, Penny,</span></span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">’</span></b></span></span></b> he said. </span></span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">‘</span></b>Just sent for
him out of the blue.</span></span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">’</span></b></span></span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"> </span></span></b>He went back into his own room and got on with the
day</span></span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">’</span></b></span></span></b>s work.</span></span></b> </span></div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">
When Bond came through the door, M. was sitting at his broad desk, lighting a
pipe. He made a vague gesture with the lighted match towards the chair on the
other side of the desk and Bond walked over and sat down. M. glanced at him
sharply through the smoke and then threw the box of matches on to the empty
expanse of red leather in front of him.</span>’</span></b></span></div>
</blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">Stylistically, the<span style="font-size: large;">se </span>are quite differen<span style="font-size: large;">t</span>: Fleming almost fetishised physical detail, whereas Higgins
st<span style="font-size: large;">ripped the<span style="font-size: large;">m </span>back </span>to prioritise pace. However, the content is very similar, and the character of
Chavasse is also like Bond in many respects: a handsome, ruthless, highly
professional British secret agent who speaks several languages, is an expert at
judo, and so on. The clearest indication that Higgins had Fleming in mind,
however, is the following passage: </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 28.3pt 0.0001pt 45pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">‘</span><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB">‘</span>There are men
like me working for every Great Power in the world. I’ve got more in common
with my opposite number in SMERSH than I have with any normal citizen of my own
country. If I’m told to do a thing, I get it done. I don’t ask questions. Men
like me live by one code only – the job must come before anything else.’ He
laughed harshly. ‘If I’d been born a few years earlier and a German, I’d
probably have worked for the Gestapo.’’ </span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">Again, SMERSH was barely known before
Fleming’s use of it in <i>Casino Royale </i>and subsequent novels, and in reality it had been a
division of Soviet intelligence largely dedicated to interrogating suspected
traitors. Like Fleming (and Deighton), Higgins treated it as though it were still operational, and a major Soviet intelligence organization.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">Paul Chavasse is a half-British half-Breton
secret agent. His mission in the novel is to find Caspar Schultz, a survivor of
Hitler’s Bunker who has written a book naming the leaders of a neo-Nazi
movement in Germany. In Higgins’ original draft, the testament’s author was
Hitler’s private secretary Martin Bormann, but at his publisher</span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB">’</span>s insistence he
changed this to the fictional Schultz.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">Chavasse delivers his speech about SMERSH
to an Israeli agent in a first-class sleeper compartment, in a scene
that is highly reminiscent of Fleming’s <i>From Russia, With Love </i>(1958). In that
book, SMERSH’s dossier on James Bond described him as ‘a dangerous professional
terrorist and spy’, a neat alternate look at our hero. Higgins took this idea a step further.
James Bond would never say of himself that he had more in common with a member
of SMERSH than with British citizens, let alone that had he been born a German
earlier he would probably have joined the Gestapo. Higgins was using Chavasse to
play off and comment on Fleming’s creation. He’s an answer to a writer’s
musings: Are all Germans and Russians bad? And: What would a real secret agent’s
motivation be? Traditionally in thrillers of this kind, it is duty, either in
the form of love of country or God or, sometimes, a woman. Sapper’s Bulldog
Drummond started his career because he found peacetime dull, but he was
nevertheless highly patriotic. For Chavasse, however, the job comes before
anything else, and he recognises that he might have been attracted to the work
whatever his nationality, and whatever the cause. This is an elaboration of a
point made by Fleming in <i>Casino Royale</i>, in which Bond worries that Le Chiffe
was right when he said Bond’s game of ‘Red Indians’ is over:</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 46.3pt 0.0001pt 27pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 46.3pt 0.0001pt 27pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">‘‘This
country-right-or-wrong business is getting a little out-of-date. Today we are
fighting Communism. Okay. If I’d been alive fifty years ago, the brand of
Conservatism we have today would have been damn near called Communism and we
should have been told to go and fight that. History is moving pretty quickly
these days and the heroes and villains keep on changing parts.’’</span></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>The Testament of Caspar Schultz
</i>is a lean, sparsely written thriller, with one dominating theme: the conflict
between conscience and the desire for adventure. At several points in the book,
Chavasse is troubled by his own nature. He tells Israeli agent Anna Hartmann
that he was recruited into intelligence work after bringing the relative of a
friend out of Czechoslovakia:</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 55.3pt 0.0001pt 45pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">‘‘I’d discovered
things about myself that I never knew before. That I liked taking a calculated
risk and pitting my wits against the opposition. On looking back on the
Czechoslovakian business I realized that in some twisted kind of way I’d
enjoyed it. Can you understand that?’</span></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 55.3pt 0.0001pt 45pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 55.3pt 0.0001pt 45pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">‘I’m not really
sure,’ she said slowly. ‘Can anyone honestly say they enjoy staring death in
the face each day?’</span></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 55.3pt 0.0001pt 45pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 55.3pt 0.0001pt 45pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">‘I don’t think
of that side of it,’ he said, ‘any more than a Grand Prix motor racing driver
does.’’</span></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">And he repeats what he told her colleague: ‘I’m
a professional and work against professionals. Men like me obey one law only –
the job must come first.’</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">While the use of this idea is rather
heavy-handed in <i>The Testament of Caspar Schultz</i>, Higgins clearly felt it was
important, developing it in five further novels featuring Chavasse. In <i>The Keys
of Hell</i> (1965), for instance, on a mission in Albania, he says to another
beautiful young woman he has fallen in love with:</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 28.3pt 0.0001pt 45pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">‘‘If I’d been
born in Germany twenty years earlier, I’d probably have ended up in the
Gestapo. If I’d been born an Albanian, I might well have been a most efficient
member of the Sigurmi. Who knows?’’</span></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">This concept eventually became one of the
major themes of his work. In <i>The Eagle Has Landed</i>, published in 1975, Higgins
did not simply have the hero remark how similar he is to a German – the heroes <i>are</i>
German. H</span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB">eroes and villains had in fact changed parts. In </span>a 1987 interview, Higgins related how one publisher was not best
pleased when he heard the premise of the book, telling him: </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 28.3pt 0.0001pt 45pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 28.3pt 0.0001pt 45pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">‘‘You can’t
possibly expect the public to go for a book about a bunch of Krauts trying to
kidnap Winston Churchill. You don’t have any heroes – these people are Nazis,
for God’s sake!’’</span></b><span style="font-size: small;">8</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">But the public did go for it. <i>The Eagle Has
Landed </i>was Higgins’ breakthrough, and has sold over 50 million copies to
date. Part of its appeal is precisely the friction of rooting for characters
who were traditionally cast as antagonists. Frederick Forsyth’s <i>The Day of The
Jackal </i>and Ken Follett’s <i>The Eye of the Needle</i>, two other landmark British
thrillers of the post-war period, also featured highly professional yet
curiously empathetic antagonists. Higgins’ other major success has been with
the character Sean Dillon, a former IRA assassin who is periodically used by
British intelligence. </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7rhhO7InRpyCtmNoe_Rf2KWHxQ5yFJHGQmQL2beI-aimnk7XKvH353LHxCzdCQgrCl9ZxPLFujnD6W8RwI_1MH1Neg7WZTfaSjqIXwM1dggBX-echQqnXeQASkedU7bHXSy-XU7Y_iusL/s1600/THE+EAGLE+HAS+LANDED.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7rhhO7InRpyCtmNoe_Rf2KWHxQ5yFJHGQmQL2beI-aimnk7XKvH353LHxCzdCQgrCl9ZxPLFujnD6W8RwI_1MH1Neg7WZTfaSjqIXwM1dggBX-echQqnXeQASkedU7bHXSy-XU7Y_iusL/s400/THE+EAGLE+HAS+LANDED.png" width="240" /></a></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">In peacetime Britain, when the
justification for what SMERSH would classify as terrorist action was less cut
and dried than it had been during the war, there was a need for a new type of
motivation for fictional secret agents. Higgins hit on the idea of an agent
being driven not by traditional causes such as King, God or country, but by an
addiction to the chase itself, a love of the profession. Chavasse’s other
concern – the broader picture of human nature that allows him to empathise with
the enemy and recognise himself in it – became a major theme of Higgins’ work. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-US">~</span> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB"> </span></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">ANOTHER WRITER who was influenced by
Fleming before the Bond films were made was Geoffrey Jenkins, a South African
who had worked with Fleming at the <i>Sunday Times </i>in the ’40s. In his first
novel, <i>A Twist of Sand </i>(1959), we are introduced to Geoffrey Peace, a former
Royal Navy submarine captain now involved in distinctly shadier business. A flashback
to the war gives us another echo of a Bond/M scene:</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 46.3pt 0.0001pt 45pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">‘The Admiralty looked bleak and cold in the late London spring;
chill it seemed to me after being used to the friendly bite of the
Mediterranean sun. Bleaker still looked those eyes over the top of the desk.
They reminded me somehow of Rockall, the lonely isle in the Atlantic – they
only changed their shade of greyness, sometimes stormy, sometimes still, but
always grey and bleak with the chill of the near Arctic.’</span></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">During the war, as Jenkins would have
known, Fleming worked at the Admiralty, and M is described as having
‘frosty, damnably clear, grey eyes’ in <i>For Your Eyes Only</i>.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcn-fHBM-9t7TcvxVUSUgdvU7YTuuVrEehlzVqLEd2KLC8zKc0o6ly17oARBOb70AuadT1wWHhjI_bDhvDdTau-PYkjjNbGF6_BVqrTBvmqtFET9TK6-8F_5TS_d5HFu1PXWMejX2E5-1o/s1600/ATwistOfSand1964FontanaPB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcn-fHBM-9t7TcvxVUSUgdvU7YTuuVrEehlzVqLEd2KLC8zKc0o6ly17oARBOb70AuadT1wWHhjI_bDhvDdTau-PYkjjNbGF6_BVqrTBvmqtFET9TK6-8F_5TS_d5HFu1PXWMejX2E5-1o/s400/ATwistOfSand1964FontanaPB.jpg" width="242" /></a></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">Jenkins’ next book was <i>The Watering Place
of Good Peace </i>(1960). The hero, Ian Ogilvie, is a Scot who was crippled by a
shark, also while in the Royal Navy. He joins an organisation constructing
anti-shark barriers ‘a fast car, a pretty girl, and half a dozen drinks’ after
his accident. The plot features opium smuggling and a villain called John
Barrow who is using a submarine to find uranium. Ogilvie also swims through the
wreck of a ship with a beautiful woman who is naked but for goggles and scuba
gear. Many of Jenkins’ subsequent novels featured such tips of the hat to his
former mentor. After Fleming’s death, Jenkins was commissioned to write a Bond
novel, which he did – <a href="http://jeremyduns.blogspot.se/2010/03/james-bond-in-south-africa.html"><i>Per Fine Ounce</i></a> – but it was never published.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">Many thriller-writers have been influenced
by Ian Fleming, but most have probably come to his work through the films. But
Deighton, Gainham, Higgins and Jenkins were all influenced by him before the
first Bond film was released. Fleming was an influential thriller-writer in his
own right, and James Bond a character that inspired his peers even before his
transition to the silver screen. </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>UPDATE</b>: <span style="font-size: large;">Edward Milward-Oliver, whose <i>The Len Deighton Companion</i> I c<span style="font-size: large;">ite above and who is currently working on a </span></span>biography of Deighton, <span style="font-size: large;">writes to say<span style="font-size: large;">:</span></span></span></span><br />
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:HyphenationZone>21</w:HyphenationZone>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>SV</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/>
<w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
<w:Word11KerningPairs/>
<w:CachedColBalance/>
</w:Compatibility>
<w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]-->
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-US">‘Regarding
your speculation about Len Deighton’s reference to SMERSH, to the best of my
knowledge, he didn’t read any of Fleming’s novels until producer Harry Saltzman
asked him to write the screenplay for <i>From Russia With Love </i>after Saltzman
purchased the film rights to <i>The IPCRESS File </i>in late 1962.</span></b></span></span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-US"></span><span lang="EN-US"></span><span lang="EN-US">Len
Deighton was certainly familiar with James Bond and Fleming without having read
the novels. The books had substantial sales prior to the films, and of course
they were serialised in the <i>Daily Express </i>where the influential design director
was Len’s good friend and fellow RCA student Ray Hawkey. Deighton disliked the
fantasy world of James Bond and certainly <i>The IPCRESS File </i>was born of his
desire to write something more convincing. Michael Howard is quite correct in
that respect. However Deighton was (and remains) a steadfast researcher, and
would not have turned to Fleming’s novels as a source! My guess is that SMERSH
was an acronym that lived on in publicly available accounts of the Russian
security services well past its demise.</span></b><b><span lang="EN-US">’</span></b></span></span>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1364056733938_3670">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">So I guess one could sa<span style="font-size: large;">y </span>Deighton was inspired by Ian Fleming without having read his novels, perhaps in a similar way as Adam Hall was <a href="http://www.quiller.net/trevor/profile.html">inspired to create Quiller</a> by reviews and discussion of <i>The Spy Who Came In F</i><i>rom The Cold</i>. </span><span style="font-size: large;">According to Edward Milward-Oliver, Deighton started writing <i>The IPCRESS File</i> in September 1960. </span><span style="font-size: large;">As far as I know, the only publicly available account of SMERSH at that time was Nicola Sinevirsky<span lang="EN-US">’</span>s book, <a href="http://jeremyduns.blogspot.se/2010/05/smersh-v-smersh.html">discussed here</a>, which I believe was Ian Fleming<span lang="EN-US">’</span>s main source of information about the organization. SMERSH was not <span lang="EN-US">‘</span>the counter-intelligence unit of the KGB<span lang="EN-US">’</span>, as Deighton claimed in the novel (it was one of several), and had in fact been defunct for nearly 15 years. It had also featured in several Fleming novels and the <i>Express</i> serializations of <i>From Russia, With Love </i>and <i>Goldfinger</i>, and would have been known to thousands of readers as a result. It was barely known in the West before Fleming w<span style="font-size: large;">rote about it<span style="font-size: large;">. </span></span>However, the difference in the addresses given for the organization suggests that, even if Len Deighton had seen the name mentioned in the paper<span style="font-size: large;">s </span>or heard mention of it via James Bond, he researched the organization independently of its appearance in Fleming<span lang="EN-US">’s work.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>
</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">Notes</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">1. <i>Jonathan Cape, Publisher </i>by
Michael Spencer Howard (Penguin, 1971), </span><span lang="EN-GB">p300.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">2. <i>The Len Deighton Companion </i>by
Edward Milward-Oliver (Grafton, 1987), </span><span lang="EN-GB">p14.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">3. ibid., </span><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB">p248.</span> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">4. <i>KGB: The Inside Story Of
Its Foreign Operations From Lenin To Gorbachev </i>by Christopher Andrew and Oleg
Gordievsky (Sceptre, 1991), </span><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB">pp350-1</span>; and <i>Nights Are Longest There: SMERSH From The
Inside </i>by A.I. Romanov (Hutchinson, 1972), </span><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB">p192</span>.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">5. <i>Ian Fleming </i>by Andrew Lycett (Phoenix, 1996), </span><span lang="EN-GB">p371.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">6. ibid.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">7. <i>The Last Days of Hitler </i>By Hugh
Trevor-Roper, University of Chicago Press, 1987), </span><span lang="EN-GB">p31.</span></span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">8. Interviewed by Don Swaim on <i>Book
Beat</i>, CBS Radio, January 16 1987. Available from:
<a href="http://wiredforbooks.org/jackhiggins/index.htm">http://wiredforbooks.org/jackhiggins/index.htm</a>. </span> </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">This article is part of <i><a href="http://jeremyduns.blogspot.com/search/label/007%20In%20Depth">007 In Depth</a></i>, a series of articles on Ian Fleming and James Bond.</span></span></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138728502354978457.post-22266681302388158772013-03-11T08:34:00.003+01:002013-03-11T11:32:03.415+01:00How Nate Thayer plagiarizes<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:HyphenationZone>21</w:HyphenationZone>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>SV</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/>
<w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
<w:Word11KerningPairs/>
<w:CachedColBalance/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="267">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0cm;
mso-para-margin-right:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0cm;
line-height:115%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]--><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">I wrote a post
the other day, <a href="http://jeremyduns.blogspot.se/2013/03/nate-thayer-is-plagiarist.html">‘Nate Thayer is a plagiarist’</a>. Some felt my title
was too bold. Some people don’t seem to be able to get their heads around the
idea that plagiarism can be proven, and so instead you’re supposed to pull your
punches and say it was ‘sloppy’, ‘lazy’, ‘mistakes look like they might have
been made’, ‘parts are problematic’ and so on. Anything but use the ‘p’
word. I even had a professional journalist tell me on Twitter that I should
have stated that what Thayer did was plagiarism, but not that he was a
plagiarist!</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">If you
plagiarize, you’re a plagiarist. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">More seriously,
Sara Morrison <a href="http://www.cjr.org/the_kicker/nate_thayer_freelance_plagiarist.php">has claimed</a> in the <i>Columbia Journalism Review </i>that I didn’t do my
research when I stated that Thayer was a plagiarist, because I didn’t contact all
his sources first.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">Let’s ignore for a moment that she wrote that article without contacting all Thayer</span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">’s </span>sources herself. I didn</span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">’</span>t
need to speak to <i>anyone</i> to state he
was a plagiarist: it was self-evident from the article in question, because it included the following: </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><i>Missing
attributions</i></b> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">Thayer had lifted several pieces of information directly from
<a href="http://legacy.utsandiego.com/news/world/20061029-9999-1n29kim.html">Mark Zeigler’s 2006 article</a> in </span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">the <i>San Diego Union-Tribune </i>without citing him, for example from this passage: </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span class="newstext"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">‘President Clinton's administration began thawing
relations in the late 1990s, and in October 2000, Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright became the first senior-level U.S. government official to visit Kim in
North Korea.</span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"> </span></b></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>
</b></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span class="newstext"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">Their talks lasted two days, and before leaving,
Albright presented the 5-foot-3 Kim a gift – an authentic NBA basketball
autographed by Michael Jordan.</span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"> </span></b></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>
</b></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span class="newstext"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">Accompanying Albright on the trip was Bob Carlin,
who recently retired after three decades as the chief North Korea analyst for
the CIA and State Department.</span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"> </span></b></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>
</b></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span class="newstext"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">“We were looking for something that was a little
more meaningful than a bottle of scotch or a miniature Statue of Liberty or a
Buffalo Bill book – something with more importance to him,” said Carlin, now a
visiting scholar at Stanford University. “He may have been initially surprised
by it, but you could tell he was pleased. I don't think he expected it. It was
a very personal gesture, in a sense.</span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"> </span></b></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>
</b></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span class="newstext"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">“It showed him we went through some effort to get
the signature. They realized it wasn't just an ordinary ball.”’</span></span></b></span></span></div>
</blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="newstext"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">And this is from <a href="http://www.nknews.org/2013/03/slam-dunk-diplomacy/">Thayer’s article</a>:</span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">‘In October 2000, then Secretary of State
Madeline Albright traveled to Pyongyang in the highest-level U.S. visit ever to
the country. Albright, after two days of talks, presented the 5-foot-3 Kim
Jong Il a gift – a NBA basketball autographed by Michael Jordan. Bob Carlin,
who was with Albright on the Pyongyang trip and for three decades a top North
Korea analyst for the CIA and State Department, </span><a href="http://legacy.utsandiego.com/news/world/20061029-9999-1n29kim.html"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">said</span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"> “We were looking for
something that was a little more meaningful than a bottle of scotch or a
miniature Statue of Liberty– something with more importance to him. You could
tell he was pleased. I don’t think he expected it. It was a very personal
gesture, in a sense. It showed him we went through some effort to get the
signature. They realized it wasn’t just an ordinary ball.”’</span></b></span></span></div>
</blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">The <i>quote</i> is now attributed to Mark
Zeigler’s piece with the addition of the hyperlink to the word ‘said’. But the
words <i>before</i> the quote don’t have any attribution at all, and are presented as written
by Thayer. It’s the same seven pieces of information that are in Zeigler’s passage,
in the same order, right before a quote that is (now) attributed to Zeigler. Some
of this material out of quotes is very nearly verbatim. Zeigler wrote that Albright</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">‘<span class="newstext">presented the 5-foot-3
Kim a gift – an authentic NBA basketball autographed by Michael Jordan.</span>’</span></b></span></span></div>
</blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">Thayer wrote
that she </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">‘presented the 5-foot-3 Kim Jong Il a gift – a NBA basketball autographed
by Michael Jordan.’</span></b></span></span></div>
</blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>
</b></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">If you can’t see
this is plagiarism, you shouldn’t be a journalist.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">You don’t need
to pick up the phone to see it.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">Sloppy attributions</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><i> </i></span></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">That ‘said’ hyperlink was not in the article when I first
read it. Thayer has since explained that some citations in his article were missing due to an
oversight in the editing process. This attribution was added when he spotted
this, but it’s barely worthy of that word. There is no mention of Zeigler, or
his article’s title, publication, or when it was published. Thayer regards this
as an acceptable attribution now. It isn’t. There were other examples of this
problem in the piece.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><i>Changed quotes</i> </span></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">The attribution to Zeigler’s piece was added, and Thayer claimed the article
was fine. But look at the quote again: what happened to the part where Bob
Carlin said ‘<span class="newstext">or a
Buffalo Bill book’? It’s gone. No ellipses. Why? If he was quoting Carlin and
meant to cite him all along, why did he remove some words from his quotes without any sign of doing so? If you change quotes, you indicate it very clearly, with ellipses, square brackets
and other very familiar conventions. You don’t just change what someone said
with no indication. I took this as a sign of someone who had a very cavalier approach to journalistic ethics. </span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">So I didn’t need
to call anyone to state Thayer was a plagiarist – there was ample proof of it. But
I have now called a few people and as a result I have a better idea, not of
whether he is a plagiarist – he is, of course – but of <i>how</i> he did it. And it’s quite remarkable.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">Often when a
newspaper runs a story, other newspapers become interested in it. A particularly
unscrupulous journalistic habit is to call up someone who has given a great interview
to another paper and, in effect, get them to say it all again to you. That
way, you can run the story with the barest of attribution to the newspaper who
got the story in the first place, or perhaps even not give them any credit at all. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">Nate Thayer
takes this technique into a new realm. He works fast. He is knowledgeable,
can track down sources, can charm people, and can get original information. And he
does. He has no need to plagiarize on top of it, but he does. When he
is researching a story he reads previous stories on the same subject, as
journalists all over the world do perfectly ethically. That is one way of
finding some good people to interview. The idea is not that you then repeat the
information, though, but write a fresh story, with new information. Thayer often
gets new information from these sources. He tracks down people, interviews them
over the phone and via email.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">He did this in March
2012, when he was researching an article about political changes in North Korea
for <i>Asia Times</i>. One of the people he interviewed was a septuagenarian expert on
the region, Larry Niksch. Thayer emailed him several times and spoke to him on
the phone. And that should have been enough.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">But somehow it
wasn’t. I’ve spoken to Larry Niksch, and he kindly went and looked up his email
correspondence with Thayer. And he read me out an email in which Thayer said
that he had read an interview with him in a <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/30/us-korea-north-missilemaker-idUSTRE7BT0AP20111230">Reuters article</a> from December 2011,
which contained the following passage:</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-US">‘“I would equate Ju with
General Leslie Groves, who headed the U.S. Manhattan Project that produced atomic
bombs during World War Two,” said Larry Niksch, who has tracked </span><a data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.reuters.com/places/north-korea" title="Full coverage of North Korea"><span lang="EN-US">North Korea</span></a><span lang="EN-US"> for the non-partisan U.S. Congressional
Research Service for 43 years.</span></b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-US"> “Ju
runs the day-to-day programs to develop missiles and probably nuclear weapons.”’</span></b></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US">Thayer asked Niksch if this
quote was accurate, and wrote ‘Would you object if I cite it?’ He added: ‘I won’t
do so without your permission.’</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US">Niksch reviewed the quote
from the Reuters article. It was accurate. He had said all that to the Reuters reporter, </span><span lang="EN-US"><span id="articleText">Raju Gopalakrishnan</span>. So Niksch emailed
Thayer back and said yes, the quote was </span>accurate, and yes, he gave his permission for
him to use it.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US">Here is how it then
appeared in <a href="http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/ND04Dg01.html">Thayer’s article</a>:</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-US">‘“I would equate Ju with
General Leslie Groves, who headed the US Manhattan Project that produced atomic
bombs during World War II,” said Larry Niksch, a senior associate with the
Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies and former
Asian affairs specialist for 43 years with the non-partisan Congressional Research
Service. “Ju runs the day-to-day programs to develop missiles and probably
nuclear weapons,” he said in an e-mail this week.’</span></b></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US">This is both plagiarism and
fabrication. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US">It’s plagiarism, because Thayer has lifted material from the
Reuters piece without citing it as the source anywhere. And it’s fabrication because
he has instead claimed it was said to him in an email that week. That’s not
what happened. He asked Larry Niksch if the quotes were accurate and if he
could cite them – that was very slyly worded, because there were <i>two </i>necessary
citations here: one that it was Larry Niksch who had said these words, and the other that he had said them to
Reuters. Instead of claiming Niksch had said this in an email to him that week, Thayer should have clearly stated that he had said it to </span></span><span style="font-size: large;">Reuters earlier. He could have added ‘Niksch confirmed to me this was
still his view’ or something like that. But the original source of the quote had to be cited.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
<span lang="EN-US">Thayer thought he had covered
his back by asking for Niksch’s permission to ‘cite’ this. But he didn’t say ‘Can
I please re-use that quote and pretend you said it to me instead of the Reuters
reporter?’ Because Niksch would have said no, of course. But that is what he did. Thayer had no reason
at all to ask Niksch to use the quote. He could have had reason to ask if he had been misquoted by Reuters, but as </span><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US">Niksch </span>confirmed the quote was accurate he
was then free to use it, as long as he properly cited<i> </i>that it had been said to Reuters. He
didn’t. He didn’t because that is why he asked Niksch about it in the first
place – he was clearly looking for a way to filch the quote without citing Reuters, making
it seem his own, and he got Niksch to unwittingly provide the ‘permission’ to
do so. But even if Niksch had emailed back ‘Yes, Mr Thayer, you have my permission
to pretend I said those sentences to you this week,’ Thayer shouldn’t have done. He knew
the source for the quotes was Reuters. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US">It’s an extraordinarily sneaky tactic, because it is pitched just right:</span> Is this accurate, can I cite it,
I naturally wouldn’t dream of doing so without your permission. Very few interviewees,
if any, would respond to this by saying ‘It is accurate, so you can cite it, of
course, but obviously cite that I said it to Reuters, rather than to you, as I haven’t.
But I stand by the words.’ You’d really have to be a professional journalist to
spot the trick, and even then you probably wouldn’t think of it.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US">So this is how Thayer plagiarizes. Instead of calling up people other journalists have
interviewed and trying to get them to repeat the interview to him so he has an exclusive, he has created a whole new, and significantly worse, con: emailing
interviewees quotes they have already given to other journalists and asking if he
can ‘cite’ them, then claiming they said the words directly to him. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US">This is why many of the quotes supposedly obtained by him
in <a href="http://www.nknews.org/2013/03/slam-dunk-diplomacy/">the article of his</a> I wrote about the other day are either extremely similar or even verbatim to quotes that his interviewees had said elsewhere previously. He had much the same conversation with Gene Schmiel, for instance, about his article in <a href="http://www.unc.edu/depts/diplomat/AD_Issues/amdipl_18/life/schmiel_jordan.html"><i>American Diplomacy</i></a>. I think he ran around trying to contact
everyone Mark Zeigler interviewed and stripping the juicy quotes he got from
them of any credit to Zeigler, slyly obtaining the sources’ unwitting collusion
in transforming them into his own supposedly original material.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US">There is a word for taking quotes
obtained by other journalists, not properly attributing them, and passing them off
as having been said to you. Plagiarism. Even if you get some fresh information out of those same sources on top of that, it’s
still plagiarism. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US">And tricking fellow journalists’ interviewees into <i>helping </i>you
plagiarize? That must surely be a new low in this low, low field.</span></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138728502354978457.post-317864459991853432013-03-07T19:42:00.002+01:002013-03-12T15:23:29.265+01:00Nate Thayer is a plagiarist<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Gosh. That's a bold headline, Jeremy. Are you sure?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Yes.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">There's very little point in using euphemisms like 'deeply indebted to', as Felix Salmon did in his update at the foot of <a href="http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2013/03/05/the-problem-with-online-freelance-journalism/">this article</a>, which is what alerted me to this (via Helen Lewis on Twitter). Plagiarism doesn't have to mean copying and pasting a whole article or book. It simply means lifting someone else's material without attribution. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">I don't have time to do a complete analysis of this, but as nobody else seems to have looked at in detail, and a lot of people are discussing Thayer's article <a href="http://natethayer.wordpress.com/2013/03/04/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-freelance-journalist-2013/">'A Day in the Life of a Freelance Journalist - 2013'</a>, I'm going to. Perhaps this will result in people saying I'm envious of Nate Thayer, or a plagiarism detective, or that I should get on with writing my next book, but the truth is I'd never heard of Thayer before this week, and I am writing my next book, but I find the prevalence of plagiarism in journalism today entirely depressing. I said I wouldn't blog about it, but I don't really see why Thayer should get away with this, and he will get away with it unless someone calls him on it. So I'm doing that.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>The Atlantic</i> dodged a bullet: Thayer's article, <a href="http://www.nknews.org/2013/03/slam-dunk-diplomacy/">'25 Years of Slam Dunk Diplomacy'</a>, is massively and unambiguously plagiarized from the article <a href="http://legacy.utsandiego.com/news/world/20061029-9999-1n29kim.html">'The Oddest Fan'</a> by Mark Zeigler, published by the <i>San Diego Union-Tribune </i>in 2006. Earlier today I asked Thayer on Twitter why he hadn't credited Zeigler in his article, and he replied:</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>'Every quote in my article is from an interview or if not cited as.And I did cite Zeigler's article. Read before you libel.'</b></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Oh, but I had read. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Thayer claimed all the quotes in his article were either drawn from interviews he had conducted himself, or if not he had clearly and fully cited the source. This is not true – at <i>all</i>.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">It is true that he cited Zeigler's article, but here's the bit where he did that:</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>'In 2001, North Korea formally invited Michael Jordan to visit Pyongyang,
according to documents obtained by the San Diego Union Tribune in 2006,
but Jordan declined.'</b></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">There's a serious problem with this citation. Thayer didn't hyperlink to the article, as he could so easily have done, and neither did he give the title of the article or name the author of it, Zeigler. But the major problem is that if you read Zeigler's article, almost everything in it also appears in Thayer's – yet this detail about Michael Jordan is the only one he cited.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Thayer's claim that every quote in his article is either from an interview he conducted himself, or that he cited it, is untrue. Here's one passage:</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>'In October 2000, then Secretary of State Madeline Albright traveled to
Pyongyang in the highest-level U.S. visit ever to the country. Albright,
after two days of talks, presented the 5-foot-3 Kim Jong Il a gift – a
NBA basketball autographed by Michael Jordan. Bob Carlin, who was with
Albright on the Pyongyang trip and for three decades a top North Korea
analyst for the CIA and State Department, <a href="http://legacy.utsandiego.com/news/world/20061029-9999-1n29kim.html">said</a>
“We were looking for something that was a little more meaningful than a
bottle of scotch or a miniature Statue of Liberty– something with more
importance to him. You could tell he was pleased. I don’t think he
expected it. It was a very personal gesture, in a sense. It showed him
we went through some effort to get the signature. They realized it
wasn’t just an ordinary ball.”</b></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">The hyperlinked word 'said' takes you to Zeigler's piece. But neither that word or any other in this passage was hyperlinked when the article was published, as <a href="http://74.6.116.71/search/srpcache?ei=UTF-8&p=http://www.nknews.org/2013/03/slam-dunk-diplomacy/&fr=sfp&u=http://cc.bingj.com/cache.aspx?q=http://www.nknews.org/2013/03/slam-dunk-diplomacy/&d=27022540581245440&mkt=en-US&setlang=en-US&w=22DBi0rEvQY21GwjFFNIjSgdA9lhY0hH&icp=1&.intl=us&sig=q7Wmm4Qiu7HQaqbVO0cqLw--">this cache</a> shows. Someone added that hyperlink, and two others, to the article after Thayer told me he had cited everything and accused me of libelling him. And without the cache, Thayer could have claimed that I or anyone else questioning him about this had read the article carelessly and simply missed the bolded hyperlinks. As well as lying to me that he had fully cited the article, he has now omitted to mention that he updated it in this way, which is in itself deceptive.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">There also still aren't nearly enough hyperlinks – if he'd added the citations the piece needs, almost every sentence in it would contain a bold word. Instead of bolding the word 'said' in the passage above, for example, which suggests that only the quote following that word that was from another source, he should have hyperlinked 'October 2000', because in fact he lifted this whole passage directly from Zeigler's article:</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span class="newstext">'</span><span class="newstext">President Clinton's administration began
thawing relations in the late 1990s, and in October 2000, Secretary of
State Madeleine Albright became the first senior-level U.S. government
official to visit Kim in North Korea.</span></b></span></span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span class="newstext">
Their talks lasted two days, and before leaving, Albright presented the
5-foot-3 Kim a gift – an authentic NBA basketball autographed by Michael
Jordan.</span></b></span></span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span class="newstext">
Accompanying Albright on the trip was Bob Carlin, who recently retired
after three decades as the chief North Korea analyst for the CIA and
State Department.</span></b></span></span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span class="newstext">
“We were looking for something that was a little more meaningful than a
bottle of scotch or a miniature Statue of Liberty or a Buffalo Bill book
– something with more importance to him,” said Carlin, now a visiting
scholar at Stanford University. “He may have been initially surprised by
it, but you could tell he was pleased. I don't think he expected it. It
was a very personal gesture, in a sense.</span></b></span></span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span class="newstext">
“It showed him we went through some effort to get the signature. They realized it wasn't just an ordinary ball.”'</span></b></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">This is <i>blatant </i>plagiarism, of the type that gets you kicked out of school. Even hyperlinking to such a huge lift without mentioning the publication or author at all would have been something of a stretch – it's a hell of a lot of material taken directly to cite with just one bolded word. But he couldn't even do that – until he sensed trouble, and added the bare minimum on the sly without telling anyone (or had the site do it).</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">But there's another troubling thing here apart from the plagiarism: Thayer doctored the quote. He cut '<span class="newstext">or a Buffalo Bill book'. There are no ellipses indicating the cut. That might sound minor, but it isn't </span><span class="newstext">– it means he isn't to be trusted with the basic rules of journalism. He hasn't just lifted material and passed it off as his own, but he's changing quotes. That leads to fabrication. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">So: Nate Thayer lifted this whole passage in his article from another writer, didn't cite any of it, passed it all off as his entirely own work, and even edited part of a quote for his own purposes. He then lied to me that he had in fact cited it properly, after which he added a hyperlink to the article he'd plagiarized, without mentioning it in an update or anywhere else, and still without showing the extent of what he had taken.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span class="newstext"><span class="newstext">I</span>t's the sort of thing even Johann Hari might have blushed at. This isn't just a plagiarist. This isn't even
just a plagiarist who rails against <a href="http://natethayer.wordpress.com/2012/11/23/the-plague-of-online-plagiarism-a-case-study-of-the-anatomy-of-journalistic-theft-from-my-facebook-page/">the plague of online plagiarism</a> and
the need for full attribution. This is a a very sneaky plagiarist
indeed. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">And this is by no means the only problem with Thayer's article. Almost every quote and piece of research in Zeigler's piece reappears in it, and apart from that one detail about Michael Jordan none of it was cited when it was published. It's barely cited now.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Here are just a couple of other problems with the piece. Compare this quote from Thayer's article:</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>'“Kim Jong Il was a huge basketball fan,” ‘90s NBA talent scout Tony
Ronzone recalled this week. “He was absolutely addicted to
basketball.”'</b></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">With this one from Zeigler's 2006 piece:</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span class="newstext">'Adds Tony Ronzone, director of basketball
operations for the NBA's Detroit Pistons, who has made three trips to
North Korea to conduct coaching clinics: “He's a huge fan. He's addicted
to it.”
</span></b></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">I asked Thayer if he had really interviewed
Ronzone this week, and he insisted he had. But if so, what a coincidence!
Ronzone used a few more words, and it's hardly the most extraordinary
sentiment, but he repeated the same information in precisely the
same order as he had done to Zeigler. What was Thayer hoping for in
interviewing Ronzone? He had already read Zeigler's piece, which featured
this quote from him, so presumably he wanted something more. At best,
one could say that he didn't get a great interview and Ronzone unfortunately said nothing to him he could use for his piece except precisely the same thing he had to Zeigler in 2006 with a few modifiers. But it looks to me more like Thayer contacted Ronzone simply to show he had done some original research – what a coincidence, though, that what he got was a near-identical
quote. It would be interesting to see if he transcribed his notes or recording more accurately than the plagiarized Bob Carlin quote.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Most of the quotes in Thayer's article are simply lifted without citation from Zeigler's piece, giving the impression Thayer obtained them. But here's another peculiar one: </span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>'And yet basketball seems to provide one of the United States’ few
windows into the North Korean regime. This was highlighted by a comment
made by U.S. presidential candidate Sen. Rick Santorum last year, when
he said: “Kim [Jong Il] doesn’t want to die. He wants to watch NBA
basketball.”''</b></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">And here's Zeigler in his 2006 article:</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span class="newstext">'“Kim doesn't want to die,” Sen. Rick Santorum,
R-Pa., said a few years ago after one of Kim's missile tests sent waves
of fear across the globe. “He wants to watch NBA basketball.” </span>'</b></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">The quotes are verbatim. Politicians often repeat themselves, but rarely word-for-word over six years apart. I can find no record of Santorum saying this in 2012, either. And Thayer had read Zeigler's article, and has now started surreptitiously adding in a few more cursory citations to it in an attempt to cover his tracks. If Santorum did say this again in 2012, Thayer gives no source for it. It looks to me like this quote has also been massaged, to make the piece seem more timely and important, playing into the fact that last year Santorum was running for president. It also saved Thayer from having to give Zeigler as the source for it. But it's really such an unnecessary deception, and yet one that must have been deliberately thought through, that one has to wonder what else Thayer has been up to. Because there <i>is </i>a plague of online plagiarism – and he's part of it.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>UPDATE</b>: <i>New York</i> magazine has looked deeper into it and <a href="http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/03/nate-thayer-atlantic-charged-with-plagiarism.html">found</a> yet more incontrovertible evidence of plagiarism. The only way Gene Schmiel could have repeated, word-for-word, entire sentences to Thayer from his <a href="http://www.unc.edu/depts/diplomat/AD_Issues/amdipl_18/life/schmiel_jordan.html">200</a><a href="http://www.unc.edu/depts/diplomat/AD_Issues/amdipl_18/life/schmiel_jordan.html">0 arti</a><a href="http://www.unc.edu/depts/diplomat/AD_Issues/amdipl_18/life/schmiel_jordan.html">cle</a> in <i>American Diplomacy</i> (quoted and attributed by Mark Zeigler), is if he had the article on his lap and read excerpts aloud over the phone to Thayer, and didn't say he was doing so. Which is a stretch. Or hold<i> </i>on: perhaps Gene Schmiel was so enamoured of the article he wrote 13 years ago that he committed it to memory, and when finally a journalist dropped by to ask him about North Korean basketball diplomacy he reeled it all off, hoping Nate Thayer wouldn't notice. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Oh no, even that doesn't work – because Thayer has now added in some flimsy citations to Zeigler's article, so he would have known full-well that what Schmiel supposedly told him 'this week' was identical to something he wrote in 2000. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">The <i>New York</i> article also quotes the editor-in-chief of <i>NK News</i>, Tad Farrell defending Thayer, saying: 'We trust the journalists that are writing for us. I don't have time to double-check everything that goes up.' Mr Farrell! It may not be <i>your </i>job, but if you can't pay someone to double-check copy before publishing it, you shouldn't publish it. Double-checking has other names in journalism: sub-editing, copy-editing and fact-checking.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Thayer and Farrell have also denied plagiarism to the <a href="http://www.cjr.org/the_kicker/nate_thayer_accused_of_plagiar.php"><i>Columbia Journalism Review</i></a>. This segment of the article is especially odd:</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>'Thayer did not see the article before it was posted. The editing process created “numerous attribution errors,” Farrell said,
and Thayer pointed them out after the story was posted. The mistakes
were fixed, and this, Farrell said, accounts for why Duns noticed that
links to the <i>Union-Tribune</i> piece were added in later.' </b></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Reproducing chunks of material from elsewhere and not attributing them is <i>the definition of plagiarism</i>. The idea that Thayer originally had all the attributions in place when he sent his article in, and Farrell mistakenly missed them out is just paper-thin: even now there are far too few citations – just three hyperlinked words were added to the piece, and one of those was then mysteriously removed. But if it was Farrell who somehow missed these laughably unsatisfactory attributions in the piece, it's hard to see why the version Thayer <a href="http://natethayer.wordpress.com/2013/03/05/25-years-of-slam-dunk-diplomacy-rodman-trip-and-history-of-u-s-north-korean-basketball-diplomacy/">publ</a><a href="http://natethayer.wordpress.com/2013/03/05/25-years-of-slam-dunk-diplomacy-rodman-trip-and-history-of-u-s-north-korean-basketball-diplomacy/">ished on his own website</a> doesn't have them in either. Are we asked to believe he also missed the attributions in the 'editing process' of reading through the article that <i>NK News </i>had published when posting it to his own site? My, what a coinkydink! </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">When I asked Thayer why he hadn't cited Zeigler, he told me very forcefully that he had cited <i>everything</i>, and accused me of libelling him: this means, presumably, that he accused me of libel without checking his article and seeing the 'citations' weren't there. And when he did finally spot that, why did he not tell me I was right, apologize, get them added and explain to me, on his site, below the article or anywhere else that his editor had accidentally missed out his attributions? </span></span> <br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">And that he had also somehow missed them out when he published <a href="http://natethayer.wordpress.com/2013/03/05/25-years-of-slam-dunk-diplomacy-rodman-trip-and-history-of-u-s-north-korean-basketball-diplomacy/">the same article on his own site</a>. For someone so insistent he cited everything, it's odd that he still hasn't added these paltry few to his own site.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">I think these denials are obvious nonsense. But I guess if you're unwilling to take an hour or so to read both articles side by side carefully, or are in a contrarian mood, they'll pass muster. Sadly, they usually do.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>U</b><span style="font-size: large;"><b>PDATE</b><span style="font-size: large;">:</span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">Astonishingly, Sara Morrison of the <i>Columbia </i><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Journalis</i><span style="font-size: large;"><i>m Review </i>h<span style="font-size: large;">as <span style="font-size: large;">w<span style="font-size: large;">ritten <a href="http://www.cjr.org/the_kicker/nate_thayer_freelance_plagiarist.php">an article</a> claiming I have rushed to judgement and that Nate Thayer <span style="font-size: large;">'doesn<span style="font-size: large;">'t look like<span style="font-size: large;">' being a plagiarist. Her reasoning for this is that I didn't call Thayer's sources to check what they said. Well, I didn't need to, a<span style="font-size: large;">s Thayer and Zeigler's articles spoke for the<span style="font-size: large;">mselves. There's material outside quotes in Thayer's article that is nearly<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>word-for<span style="font-size: large;">-word from Zeigler's, but unattributed: that is called plagiarism. And the quotes are too troubling.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">Sara Morrison seems to have been in a bit of a rush <span style="font-size: large;">hers<span style="font-size: large;">el<span style="font-size: large;">f. Be<span style="font-size: large;">fore publishing this article<span style="font-size: large;">, s</span></span>he spoke to some of Thayer's intervi<span style="font-size: large;">ewees<span style="font-size: large;">. B</span><span style="font-size: large;">ut not al<span style="font-size: large;">l<span style="font-size: large;">. She w<span style="font-size: large;">rite<span style="font-size: large;">s<span style="font-size: large;">:</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">'</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">I </span>was not able to contact Gene Schmiel — Thayer gave me a wrong number. I’ve asked, several times, for the correct one<span style="font-size: large;">.'</span></b> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">I have just spoken to Gene Schmiel. <br /><br />Nate Thayer <i>did </i>call him, and they did speak. But Schmiel still works part-time for the State Department<span style="font-size: large;">, </span>and so is very relucant to give interviews, because he needs to clear everything he says. So he said a few things to Thayer, but insisted that they stay off the record. To help Thayer out, he said he could refer to what he had written in his 2000 article for <a href="http://www.unc.edu/depts/diplomat/AD_Issues/amdipl_18/life/schmiel_jordan.html"><i>American Diplomacy</i></a>.<br /><br />Thayer did do that, but look at how he did<span style="font-size: large;"> it. </span>He didn't attribute the quotes to Schmiel's 2000 article. Instead, he claimed that S<span style="font-size: large;">chmiel <span style="font-size: large;">ha<span style="font-size: large;">d said them </span></span></span>to him<span style="font-size: large;">:</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<blockquote>
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">'Ri Gun “then moved to the TV, turned it on and stared transfixed at the opening jump ball of the NBA basketball between the Chicago Bulls and the Cleveland Cavaliers,” Schmiel recalled in an interview this week.'</span></span></span></span></b></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">Schmiel didn't say any of that to Thayer <span style="font-size: large;">'</span>this week'. The citation is fraudulent. The citation should be 'Schmiel recalled in a 2000 article for <i>American Diplomacy</i>' with a h<span style="font-size: large;">yper</span>link. <br /><br />Thayer didn't get a single on-the-record quote from Gene Schmiel. And yet his article has several Schmiel quotes<span style="font-size: large;">, which he passe<span style="font-size: large;">s </span>off </span>as being said directly to him. <br /><br />Schmiel did not want to give a<span style="font-size: large;"> new </span>on-the-record interview, and so referred Thayer to his previous article. But Schmie<span style="font-size: large;">l </span>didn't ask Thayer to pretend<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>he had said the words in the arti<span style="font-size: large;">cle </span>to hi<span style="font-size: large;">m.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">I look forward to Sara Morrison's retraction of the claim that I, not she, failed to research this properly. I had no need to call Schmiel when I published, because common sense and logic dictates that someone would not repeat long sentences verbatim to a journalist from an article they had wr<span style="font-size: large;">itten </span>13 year previously.<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>And I look forward to Nate Thayer's admission that he is a plagiarist, too, of course. </span></span> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Though I<span style="font-size: large;">'m not<span style="font-size: large;"> holding my breath on either <span style="font-size: large;">of those things happening.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">UP<span style="font-size: large;">DATE<span style="font-size: large;">: </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">I have found <span style="font-size: large;">more plagiarism in another article by Nat<span style="font-size: large;">e </span>Thayer<span style="font-size: large;">, w<span style="font-size: large;">ritten for <i>Asia Times</i>.<span style="font-size: large;"> <a href="http://jeremyduns.blogspot.se/2013/03/how-nate-thayer-plagiarizes.html">Here's</a> </span></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">a post on </span>how he does it, and covers his tracks.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com49tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138728502354978457.post-73757421989227927382013-03-06T21:51:00.001+01:002013-03-07T13:54:45.005+01:00When Julian met Graham<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:HyphenationZone>21</w:HyphenationZone>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>SV</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/>
<w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
<w:Word11KerningPairs/>
<w:CachedColBalance/>
</w:Compatibility>
<w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ7PQBUV643lGVD7ZhW1ENvQ-WOyVheJObZGU6zBUw51H2H5sOE4kjeZ52MqhCYtWr4CourWxhVyq7LfZV6h7TxpNIamJiWVPddyczqJybUhWwKKp_I1NsfAWWOV45OGUIMKV-cEc_9aai/s1600/GREENE+SEMYONOV.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="435" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ7PQBUV643lGVD7ZhW1ENvQ-WOyVheJObZGU6zBUw51H2H5sOE4kjeZ52MqhCYtWr4CourWxhVyq7LfZV6h7TxpNIamJiWVPddyczqJybUhWwKKp_I1NsfAWWOV45OGUIMKV-cEc_9aai/s640/GREENE+SEMYONOV.png" width="640" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Julian Semyonov was the Soviet Union’s most famous spy
novelist. A bearded, burly Hemingway-esque figure of a man, he was best known
for his Second World War-set thriller <i>Seventeen Moments of Spring</i>. A bestseller
in the Soviet Union on publication in 1969, Semyonov adapted it into a 12-part
television series four years later, and it became an indelible part of Soviet
culture. It’s regarded in Russia to this day with roughly the same degree of
reverence as Brits have for the BBC adaptation of <i>Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy</i>.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMu7pKH7uYBzqk5AzEHPbvvZDiq1epRV4zTc8dqYeemmRdtlgovqOqDMMEVmidlS_uVnRwKEWYik88VUzx00tOvKH2EXw9W1irR261CHjDHMxrFIdm65adDRQSGqWeEdY9zr9ZQbYNauh9/s1600/SEMYONOV1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMu7pKH7uYBzqk5AzEHPbvvZDiq1epRV4zTc8dqYeemmRdtlgovqOqDMMEVmidlS_uVnRwKEWYik88VUzx00tOvKH2EXw9W1irR261CHjDHMxrFIdm65adDRQSGqWeEdY9zr9ZQbYNauh9/s320/SEMYONOV1.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I was looking at Semyonov when researchin<i>g </i>my next book,<i> <a href="http://books.simonandschuster.co.uk/Dead-Drop/Jeremy-Duns/9781849839273">Dead Drop</a></i>,
because I realized there were incidents in one of his later novels that closely echoed
the real events I was writing about. Semyonov died in 1993, but his <a href="http://www.semenov-foundation.org/">official website</a> is crammed with information, including interviews he both gave and
conducted (Semyonov was a journalist as well as a novelist). And buried in this
website is <a href="http://www.semenov-foundation.org/video96.html"><span style="font-size: large;">this remarkable i<span style="font-size: large;">nterview</span></span></a> he did with Graham Greene.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In early 1989, Semyonov travelled to Antibes to meet Greene
in his home there. He had tried to contact him before, in Moscow in 1985,
although Greene doesn’t seem to have been aware of this when he mentions it. Greene,
who was 84 at the time and would die just two years later, initially seems a
little stiff, but soon seems to forget that he’s being filmed, and the
interview feels very much like eavesdropping on a private conversation. It’s also
fun to catch a glimpse of how Greene lived – if you look <i>very </i>carefully, you can spot a Scrabble box in the
background!</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This conversation between two of the great spy novelists of the 20th century runs at around an hour and a quarter,
and there are several gems in it if you’re interested in the Cold War or espionage. The two men happened to meet at a crossroads in history when, finally, they could speak relatively openly with each other,
although there are some guarded moments. Semyonov is by turns solicitous and
pushy, while Greene occasionally seems a little lost: despite the almost
tangible end of the Cold War – the Wall would fall within a few months – the
gulf between their worlds is still palpable. Semyonov repeatedly mentions Greene’s books, and even offers to buy one to translate into Russian (Greene
suggests his 1934 novel <i>It’s A Battlefield</i>), but only refers to
one of them by title, and doesn</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">’</span>t ask a single question about their content. </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Similarly<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, Greene seems either unaware or disinterested in
the fact he is talking to one of the Soviet Union’s most prominent writers.
When he relates how a book of his had sold some 14,000 copies in Czechoslovakia
despite a decree forbidding it to be reviewed or advertised, Semyonov lets him
in on a secret about the Soviet literary scene: a book often sells more if it <i>hasn’t </i>been reviewed or publicised, because word-of-mouth
is much more valued by readers than state approval. Later in the conversation,
Semyonov asks if Brits can immediately distinguish shades of sense of
humour, such as ‘Eton humour’, ‘Cambridge humour’ and </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> ‘Oxford humour’</span>. Greene visibly squirms. Both writers were masters at delineating the idiosyncracies and nuances of their own countrymen but, perhaps
unsurprisingly, seem to have had much less of a grasp of each other’s
cultures.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_qiUKlasG2X9sgj7WMcmePY46zs7y5Ut-2cAwsADGo2qnA450QCYPITt5ah4WoB4Nb0QV6SEcRKWt8o1npIaKoeOB2Txtka21S2bevPdj8WJa2JbDyJ_1cllsgOyBptKW25DZV5trDhKu/s1600/GREENE+HUMAN+FACTOR.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_qiUKlasG2X9sgj7WMcmePY46zs7y5Ut-2cAwsADGo2qnA450QCYPITt5ah4WoB4Nb0QV6SEcRKWt8o1npIaKoeOB2Txtka21S2bevPdj8WJa2JbDyJ_1cllsgOyBptKW25DZV5trDhKu/s200/GREENE+HUMAN+FACTOR.JPG" width="127" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcllHsmNeXg-h6HJucw16JxI6TsN6SQfmVs5A7_abBmgpNj7PDws1m3xuZlBI4lpG6EgFfnPVCSLM-T9lzOM0ifULCwYNd1h4osc64FScDSH8gTPYm4Yb8fXqY2aWkduSqn4FxBO3i8wVx/s1600/SEMYONOV+PETROVKA+38.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcllHsmNeXg-h6HJucw16JxI6TsN6SQfmVs5A7_abBmgpNj7PDws1m3xuZlBI4lpG6EgFfnPVCSLM-T9lzOM0ifULCwYNd1h4osc64FScDSH8gTPYm4Yb8fXqY2aWkduSqn4FxBO3i8wVx/s200/SEMYONOV+PETROVKA+38.JPG" width="131" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Greene talks at length about his close friendship with the Panamanian
leader Omar Torrijos, the subject of his book <i>Getting To Know The General</i>, and
both men say they disbelieve that his death in a plane crash had been accidental – Greene even
points to who he feels is the most likely person to have masterminded a plot to
assassinate him! The culprit, he is sure, was Colonel Dario Paredes del Rio. </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">He also discusses how he ‘detested’
Ronald Reagan, his hopes that the newly elected US president, George Bush Snr,
will be more progressive, his time in
Czechoslovakia, and reveals his thoughts on Russia and Afghanistan – the latter being a topic both men
knew well (Semyonov was fluent in Pashto).</span></span></span>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsXBh83CMvqtRJ_feIwlCZY4TPg7J1oy4mlOBBTjXHcX2sjsLmKwzmfURXYO-y2NKY2s5URkbBnx5KtjQiJNMGTa3E_vnZF948eBfquZo4fywL0BzrTAROEkbTAP58K6hBcEdSoKVfzhhh/s1600/GREENE+CONFIDENTIAL+AGENT.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsXBh83CMvqtRJ_feIwlCZY4TPg7J1oy4mlOBBTjXHcX2sjsLmKwzmfURXYO-y2NKY2s5URkbBnx5KtjQiJNMGTa3E_vnZF948eBfquZo4fywL0BzrTAROEkbTAP58K6hBcEdSoKVfzhhh/s200/GREENE+CONFIDENTIAL+AGENT.jpg" width="121" /></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">They also discuss censorship, which was something Semyonov
was very familiar with: his father had been the editor of <i>Izvestia</i>, but had been arrested
by the NKVD and spent time in the gulags. Semyonov talks about how he too had
been summoned to the Lubyanka, by Yuri Andropov shortly after he had been appointed head
of the KGB in 1967. But rather than being put in a cell, Andropov had wanted to
help him with his novels – in a 1987 <a href="http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20095991,00.html">interview</a>, Semyonov revealed that this included being granted access to KGB operational files. Semyonov tells Greene how Andropov had advised him on avoiding the censor</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">’</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">s pen, by simply adding three lines to
any potentially controversial scene setting out the other side of the
argument. This technique is a hallmark of Semyonov’s work, and it’s fascinating
that it was suggested by the head of the KGB. </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Semyonov played both sides of the fence like this throughout
his career, praising the KGB in his books but doing so in such a way as to
almost shame them, by making them conspicuously nobler and more empathetic than
their real-life equivalents. His characters often eloquently condemn precisely the
sort of narrow-minded behaviour that plagued Soviet bureaucracy as ‘anti-Soviet’,
and there are <a href="http://idiommag.com/2010/03/a-portrait-of-bureaucracy-in-twelve-parts-seventeen-moments/">ambiguities galore</a> in <i>Seventeen Moments of Spring</i>. </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Greene doesn’t seem to have been aware of any of this,
and rather peculiarly seems to have seen Andropov as a reformer who paved the way for Gorbachev’s
reforms, something Semyonov agrees to. But Greene had also mentioned, almost in
passing, how he had blocked all Soviet translations of his work as a result of
the Daniel-Sinyavsky trial in 1966, a restriction he had only lifted a couple
of years earlier. Andropov had hardly been a saint in that affair, as Greene
must have known. Both men seem to dance around the other’s politics, anxious to
please and not offend. Safely ensconced in the era of <i>glasnost</i>, Semyonov reveals he
felt the Soviet invasions of Czechoslovakia and Afghanistan were mistakes, but
he also shows a lot of inside knowledge, and one wonders if it crossed
Greene’s mind that Semyonov knew a great many people in the KGB, and that their meeting might well be discussed back in Moscow. At one point Semyonov
asks Greene to sign some books for Raisa Gorbachev, which he duly does. The
entire Gorbachev family, he rather unconvincingly claims, are fans of Greene’s
work. It seems more likely this would have been a totemic gift for Semyonov,
who was a wily networker.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglp8k7DH01dQBOZvGupsXnFgLWQaq0RpB2vgex11fZNv-iOz6nxwNax_Mci2XdwOH1jG1zjTj_VcGjnjD_kJ03TP_KH357-7ME2IDs8AsDY92Vw0CkbRnSRrYvcFL_lxKnwQrZv2JZt6wX/s1600/Philby_My_Silent_War.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglp8k7DH01dQBOZvGupsXnFgLWQaq0RpB2vgex11fZNv-iOz6nxwNax_Mci2XdwOH1jG1zjTj_VcGjnjD_kJ03TP_KH357-7ME2IDs8AsDY92Vw0CkbRnSRrYvcFL_lxKnwQrZv2JZt6wX/s200/Philby_My_Silent_War.jpg" width="128" /></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Perhaps the most fascinating part of the discussion comes about halfway through, and revolves
around Kim Philby. Greene had known the KGB agent well during the war, when
they had both been in MI6, and had (controversially to many in the West),
written an introduction to his memoir <i>My Silent War </i>(British first edition image courtesy of <a href="http://www.existentialennui.com/2012/03/my-silent-war-autobiography-of-kim.html"><i>Existential Ennui</i></a>). Semyonov is keen to get
his sense of the man, and Greene talks about how fond he was of Philby, and how
they had gone to the pub together during the Blitz. He
says that he had sometimes asked himself what he would have done if Philby had indicated
to him, ‘in an unwise moment’ over such a drink, that he was a Soviet agent.
Greene felt he would have ‘given him twenty-four hours to leave the country and
then I’d have reported him. In other words, I’d have given him twenty-four
hours to get away!’</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Perhaps enlivened by the discussion of his old friend Kim, towards the end of the interview Greene suddenly perks up, and he starts to prepare a gin and tonic for the camerawoman, commenting as he does on his most recent (and, it would turn out) last novel, <i>The Captain and the Enem</i><i>y</i>, which he reveals he wasn</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">’t fond of, as he felt it had </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">‘</span>too many echoes of other books</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">’, </span>and that at one stage he had even abandoned writing it. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">And there the footage suddenly ends, with two of the great espionage novelists from either side of the Cold War looking as if they are about to get a little drunk together, in a flat in Antibes in 1989. </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">You can watch the whole interview <a href="http://www.semenov-foundation.org/video96.html"><span style="font-size: large;">here</span></a>.</span></span></span></div>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="267">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0cm;
mso-para-margin-right:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0cm;
line-height:115%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138728502354978457.post-79130057655155411152013-01-30T16:52:00.000+01:002013-01-30T16:56:14.015+01:00Cover reveal: Dead Drop<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">My next book, <i>Dead Drop</i>, is non-fiction, an investigation into one of the most remarkable espionage operations of the Cold War: the running of Colonel Oleg Penkovsky by MI6 and the CIA in the early Sixties, including during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Simon & Schuster will publish it in the UK in June, and here's the fantastic cover for it! I'll add more information about it to this site and a revamped website in the coming weeks.</span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeiRlp3BTp9Ta69tzRhyphenhyphenpp6fYUtIHGnpusUq2MJpGq5wgbHOkyQpw6Tyu-Sg13qx2qQl_BJiRwpfg7Dzpqky760x56zZlfvbNSzKajs0s5vlSa_Ad0uC7gwNvo_Q0KUZXkCOCUZLxERh98/s1600/DEAD+DROP+JACKET+FINAL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeiRlp3BTp9Ta69tzRhyphenhyphenpp6fYUtIHGnpusUq2MJpGq5wgbHOkyQpw6Tyu-Sg13qx2qQl_BJiRwpfg7Dzpqky760x56zZlfvbNSzKajs0s5vlSa_Ad0uC7gwNvo_Q0KUZXkCOCUZLxERh98/s640/DEAD+DROP+JACKET+FINAL.jpg" width="393" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138728502354978457.post-9701758027136941062012-08-26T15:26:00.002+02:002013-01-30T16:55:52.215+01:00An update and a request<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Hi there. I am still suspended from Twitter. Thank you for all the very kind
comments and questions about it. It seems my account was mistakenly
marked as spam. Twitter reactivated it while I was asleep and 17
minutes later, while I was still asleep, it was suspended again for the same reason. So I guess
there may be automated complaints about my account being spam. It may simply be a virus of some sort, and unrelated to Stephen Leather. I've seen a couple of people speculate it may be because I engaged with some Julian Assange supporters, and that somehow they have conspired to sabotage me in this way. I doubt that one, though: if so, half of Twitter would be suspended. Anyway, I am
trying to sort it out. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I can still read Twitter, and there have
been a lot of very kind comments. I see a few people have referred to me as a tireless
campaigner against unethical practices and
that sort of thing. That's very kind, but actually I'm not: I am really
<i> very </i>tired of all this. And I'd much rather simply write books.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">But
this is my profession, it affects me and readers and writers in general,
and I think it's silly to try to pretend that none of this <a href="http://jeremyduns.blogspot.se/2012/08/some-questions-for-stephen-leather.html">crap</a> is
happening <i><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">– </span></i>the culture and environment has significantly changed in the
last few years as a result of the internet, and I do think a lot of
these issues should be addressed. This morning I read <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/26/business/book-reviewers-for-hire-meet-a-demand-for-online-raves.html?_r=1&smid=tw-share">this </a>very
depressing article in the <i>New York Times </i>about paid book reviews on Amazon and
elsewhere. Head-spinning. But I wonder if it might not be an idea that discovered (or admitted!) fraud
disqualified authors from membership of writers' organizations. I also
think it's shocking that Amazon didn't even bother to comment on this
article, and I am guessing won't, and no doubt bestselling author John
Locke will simply shamelessly carry on and not apologize for deceiving
readers.</span></span><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:RelyOnVML/>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:HyphenationZone>21</w:HyphenationZone>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>SV</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/>
<w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
<w:Word11KerningPairs/>
<w:CachedColBalance/>
<w:UseFELayout/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="267">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0cm;
mso-para-margin-right:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0cm;
line-height:115%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
</style>
<![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026"/>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1"/>
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Something that annoys me whenever the subject of fake
reviews comes up is people saying they are never influenced by reviews,
or that they can tell fake ones very easily. Firstly, people are
clearly influenced by reviews, which is why John Locke paid huge sums of
money to buy them. A cheap ebook with a cool cover won't sell if there
are no reviews, as it's a white elephant. But if there are 50 of them,
it appears that the book is something being read and discussed by
others, and so a viable prospect. Locke also cleverly realized that a
lot of five-star reviews from unverified accounts would be seen through
by some, so specifically requested the reviews he paid for came from verified Amazon accounts and that he didn't mind if
a few were poor reviews. This clearly <i>worked</i>. I suspect if I did the
same, and bought a ton of reviews for my latest novel, it would help it
sell more copies. But I'm not going to do that, because, you know, it's fraudulent. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I have also recently heard from authors who were riding high on the Amazon Kindle charts only to find that, almost overnight, they received dozens of one-star reviews from accounts that had previously reviewed nothing, or perhaps an electrical appliance, and that this had an effect on their sales. They dropped out of the charts, where they were very visible, and their sales slumped even more. I have also heard from authors about private web forums and Facebook groups where authors, some of them extremely successful, hang out, and that they trade positive reviews and also post negative reviews to sabotage authors who they dislike or whose success they feel threatens theirs. I guess we're looking at the tip of the iceberg here.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Stephen Leather hasn't been as subtle as John Locke, but it's
clear that not all his reviews are legitimate. His new short story
(featuring me as his killer, I gather) already has 11 five-star reviews
on Amazon. Most of these appear to be from genuine, real people, many of
whom have reviewed a lot of other books by Leather. And that's fine, of
course. He has fans.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">But it's also clear that some of his reviews are
from people in the 'network' he described at Harrogate. <a href="https://twitter.com/Solarian_Author">Jacob W Drake</a>,
aka <a href="https://twitter.com/mc_whiskey">Whiskey McNaughton</a>, recently publicly <a href="http://www.theleftroom.co.uk/?p=1736">accused </a>me and another writer of attempting to sabotage Leather's work on Smashwords with lower book ratings and 'troll tactics'. That's totally untrue, but it didn't take
long for it to come out that Drake <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12417069-night-swims-with-daddy">reviews his own books</a> (it's a separate issue that a book with that description is for sale at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and elsewhere, considering most of these sites have policies of not publishing pornography). But Drake has also publicly boasted that he has edited several of Stephen Leather's books, and he uploaded at least one to Smashwords for him. He has also given several
of Leather's books five-star reviews on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member-reviews/A15IZCSZMM0S00?ie=UTF8&display=public&page=1&sort_by=MostRecentReview">Amazon</a>. So I think it's clear
that Drake is part of the 'network' that Leather boasted he has. After both Leather and Locke's admissions that they
fraudulently deceive readers in this way, I find it very difficult to
trust them on other matters. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I don't have any solutions. And I don't
have the time to go into all this, either. And yes, it does sometimes feel
like <a href="http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/duty_calls.png">this cartoon</a>. But please don't say 'Oh, well I
have never heard of Stephen Leather, so who cares?' He's a bestselling author, has been since the 80s, is published by Hodder and Stoughton as well as Amazon Encore - but anyway this is not about the exact number of
copies he has sold compared to Agatha Christie (although he has outsold her worldwide in ebooks) or his precise level of fame. Please don't try to draw a
false equivalence between a writer who has admitted to fraud, bullies
people online with evil jokes and racist abuse, and boasts about paying
to manipulate his own Wikipedia entry, with concerned writers and readers who are trying to
point out that all that is shoddy and crap and wrong, should be accounted for properly, and
should stop. Please don't say this is all a car crash, or getting silly
now, or it takes two to tango, or aren't we equally to blame for talking about this while these frauds just carry on merrily deceving people. <i>Especially </i>if you are more famous than Leather. Get off the pot. Speak out:
share, retweet, blog. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Take a stand.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Thanks.</span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138728502354978457.post-87784816687682822212012-08-24T21:40:00.000+02:002012-10-18T00:43:52.201+02:00Some questions for Stephen Leather<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:HyphenationZone>21</w:HyphenationZone>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>SV</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/>
<w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
<w:Word11KerningPairs/>
<w:CachedColBalance/>
</w:Compatibility>
<w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="267">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0cm;
mso-para-margin-right:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0cm;
line-height:115%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">If you've been following me on Twitter or Facebook, you might know that over the last few weeks I've had a monster bee in my bonnet about the best-selling British novelist Stephen Leather on account of several unethical practices he is fond of using. </span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">This was triggered by Leather's remarkable boast at the Harrogate crime festival that he has set up a 'network' of fake identities online to promote his own work, and also relies on friends and friends of friends to do the same, using their real names or assuming others' to help him out with this. I did some digging, and soon found out quite a lot more besides, and asked Mr Leather about what I had found on Twitter. He was very aggressive, refused to answer most of my questions, and flat-out lied in response to some of them, before blocking me and going on to make veiled legal threats against me. Today I discover I have been suspended from Twitter (I'm trying to find out why right now), and at the same time Stephen Leather has finally responded, in the comments at <a href="http://murderiseverywhere.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/rogue-author.html">this excellent blog post</a> (which sets out a lot of the background and links to some of my findings). Here is my reply:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span lang="EN-US">Leather: '</span>The problem is that I have been advised to say nothing.<br /><br />But it is
just so darn unfair that blogs like this have repeated allegations as
fact without making any effort to check whether they are true or not.
Ditto all those who pile in to comment on the allegations. It really is
a mob mentality and is unfortunately not uncommon on the internet these
days.'</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">Mr Leather, I've made every effort to check what I have discovered. I tweeted directly to you on Twitter from the beginning, asking you to answer questions about
your sockpuppeting accounts. You were immediately aggressive, refused to answer
my questions, lied, became personally abusive and then blocked me. You flatly denied that you were operating a Twitter account, @firstparagraph, claiming it
was another writer who was a great fan of yours. You eventually changed the name of
the account to @thirdparagraph and added a line in the profile admitting it is you,
but you have shamelessly continued to use the account to talk about
yourself in the third person as some sort of genius, and to relentlessly </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">promote your books. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">You tweeted from that account earlier today:</span><span style="font-size: large;"> 'I just found a awesome free short story', followed by a link to one of your own stories on Amazon. You just found it, did you? Here are some other tweets you have made from the @thirdparagraph Twitter account:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span class="twitter-post-text translatable language-en" style="font-size: large;">'I really wish that I was as terrific a storyteller as Stephen Leather. He's way better than Vince Flynn'</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">'The book I would take with me on a desert island? No brainer. Soft Target by Stephen Leather. http://www.stephenleather.com' </span><br />
<br />
<span class="twitter-post-text translatable language-en" style="font-size: large;">'</span><span style="font-size: large;">My favourite writer? Stephen Leather. </span><span class="invisible" style="font-size: large;">http://www.</span><span class="js-display-url" style="font-size: large;">stephenleather.com</span><span class="tco-ellipsis" style="font-size: large;"><span class="invisible"> </span></span><span style="font-size: large;"> I love his books. Stephen you rock!'</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Just so we're clear: this is you tweeting about yourself in the third person. You denied you were doing it, pretending it was a fan of yours, but have now finally admitted it - and yet are still doing it. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span lang="EN-US">'Pretty
much all the allegations that Duns is making are untrue.'</span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">Those modifiers don't inspire a great deal of confidence! Which allegations I have made are untrue and which ones are true, precisely? You say later that my allegations are unsubstantiated, but in fact I’ve
substantiated them all. <a href="http://harrogateinternationalfestivals.com/crime/shop/wanted-for-murder-the-ebook/">By your own admission</a>, you use fake identities to
promote your own work, which is not just unethical, but fraudulent: it's illegal in the UK. You <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R2A2NVGYKOP40F/ref=cm_cr_dp_cmt?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B006SMHFTI&channel=detail-glance&nodeID=341677031&store=digital-text#wasThisHelpful">make sick jokes</a> on Amazon (that comment links to your own verified account). You <a href="http://storify.com/stevemosby/jeremy-duns-on-stephen-leather-s-sock-puppetry-and">set up two fake identities in the name of another writer</a> – he told me this himself and I have
recorded the conversation. You have </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://storify.com/LucaVeste/jeremy-duns-exposes-alledged-racist-remarks-made-b">posted racist abuse online</a> – there are many
elements of the posts that prove they were made by you, not least the poster’s
knowledge of your address (you should be annoyed with them, surely, if they
aren’t you!). By your own admission you have spent 700 dollars ‘undoing the
work of a Wikipedia troll’. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span lang="EN-US">'I stand by
what I said at Harrogate but he has twisted and lied and stretched the truth in
a way that has stunned me.'</span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">You could
simply have answered my questions when asked. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span lang="EN-US">'At one
point he made a defamatory statement about me on Twitter and I tweeted back
that he had crossed over into libel. He then began tweeting that I was suing
him.'</span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;">You tweeted
at me ‘You have crossed the line into libel. Thanks.’ I took this as an
indication that you were perversely pleased that I had said something untrue and damaging enough that you could then sue me. It’s a clear enough implication to anyone, I think. You also recently
tweeted that you were looking for a lawyer in Sweden (where I live) who
specializes in cyber-bullying - your clear implication being that I
am cyber-bullying you. Good luck with either of those ideas.<i><span lang="EN-US"></span></i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span lang="EN-US">'If nothing
else he has so little in the way of assets that a libel action would be pyrrhic
at best.'</span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">What a cheap shot. And you have no
idea what my assets are. You aren’t suing me because what I am saying is true. You'd be better served coming clean and explaining this to your readers, and of course to your publishers, who I hope would like an explanation for it. But mainly to your readers, who you habitually deceive by pretending to be other people. By your own admission.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span lang="EN-US">'Since then
I have just ignored him.'</span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:HyphenationZone>21</w:HyphenationZone>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>SV</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/>
<w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
<w:Word11KerningPairs/>
<w:CachedColBalance/>
</w:Compatibility>
<w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="267">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">Not quite true. You tweeted that I was ‘mad, ugly, losing his hair’ and called me ‘the shallow end of the gene
pool’. You’ve made several other digs at me indirectly, I think. But yes, you’ve ignored my
questions about your behaviour. Sure. There, we agree. However, a writer you know, Jake Drake, who has acted as an editor
on at least one of your short stories and uploaded it to Smashwords, publicly
accused me and Steve Mosby of smearing your reputation with fake reviews on
Smashwords. Completely untrue. I wonder where Mr Drake could have got such a
bizarre idea from. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span lang="EN-US">'He then
tweeted that he was afraid that I would send someone from Ireland to hurt him.
That is a total fiction. But both these lies have been repeated as if they were
fact.'</span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">But I <i>was
</i>afraid of that. I had read an <a href="http://www.stephenleather.com/files/publishing%20News%20Review.pdf">interview</a> with you in which you boasted about
knowing 'half a dozen IRA guys' and </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">'some big-time drug smugglers', </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">and coupled with
your habit of abusing people online with virulently racist abuse and sick
jokes, and several other things I’ve read and heard about you from
Steve Roach, who warned me not to mess with you as you are 'powerful', and from several former colleagues of yours, such as the nature of that 'minor transgression' you committed as a young man, I was
genuinely spooked by the thought you might send a racist hoodlum to have a
go at me. I’m still a little spooked at that thought, in fact. As I type this, my
account has been suspended from Twitter, apparently because I have been hacked.
It could all be coincidence, but again, you were following my tweets and I was
accusing you of lots of things. You could have answered. You chose not to, I
think, because Twitter makes it very hard to answer direct questions. On a blog you
can finesse your answers a lot, as you are doing.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;"><i>'What I
said at Harrogate was then twisted to say that I had opened fake Amazon
accounts to criticise the work of other writers. That has been repeated many
times and is not true.'</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">I haven’t
said that, though frankly I do wonder what triggered <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/cdp/member-reviews/A10KFJ6ZLCG7DM/ref=cm_cr_pr_auth_rev?ie=UTF8&sort_by=MostRecentReview">the one-star review</a> I just got from
a ‘Mike’ on Amazon, especially as the last book he reviewed was one of yours,
which he gave five stars.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span lang="EN-US">'Duns
phoned a friend of mine and spent almost an hour getting him to try to
criticise me. He taped the call but still ended up twisting what was said. I
have a full four-page statement from that friend about the way Duns behaved. I
also have a letter from him saying that in no way does he regard me as having
bullied him.'</span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">That may
be, because Steve Roach was very anxious not to upset you in any way. I’m
hardly surprised, seeing as you spent over a year bullying him online. He sees it differently now, and is indeed even on friendly terms with you and grateful to you for help you have given him since your vendetta ended, but he didn’t see it like that at the time at all. He said to me that a year ago he had felt just as I did now, furious and wanting to see you account for your actions. He told me he had found himself attacked in all sorts of
forums, had all his books slammed by you on Goodreads, that you named a sleazy
villain after him in one of your books, and finally he discovered you had set up a Twitter account
in his name to promote your own books, at which point he caved. Before that, he
told me on tape at great length, he felt angry, upset and totally powerless: he complained about your behaviour to Goodreads and Amazon, and got
nowhere.</span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">UPDATE. Steve Roac<span style="font-size: large;">h now accep<span style="font-size: large;">ts that Stephen Leather did bull<span style="font-size: large;">y him, and <span style="font-size: large;">in fact continued to do so even after I made this public.<span style="font-size: large;"> See this posting by Leat<span style="font-size: large;">her on his then<span style="font-size: large;">-</span>public Facebook wall, in which he published <span style="font-size: large;">an email from Roach and mock<span style="font-size: large;">ed him</span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">:</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVhbgdnryAkyDTi_7ezE7HGbMW6skvhtGqUxyizDpBk0fRxQZ4SEuBQyuIVeQe8UAQeQRWSH13gGylXdvFk2gJby8hfHiLsZ2Y33QvWfe6OXnBeUFsijMDXi4YRbD66ZSyDPCvbZFHL_x3/s1600/LEATHER+ON+FACEBOOK+POST-COHEN+ARTICLE.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVhbgdnryAkyDTi_7ezE7HGbMW6skvhtGqUxyizDpBk0fRxQZ4SEuBQyuIVeQe8UAQeQRWSH13gGylXdvFk2gJby8hfHiLsZ2Y33QvWfe6OXnBeUFsijMDXi4YRbD66ZSyDPCvbZFHL_x3/s400/LEATHER+ON+FACEBOOK+POST-COHEN+ARTICLE.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span lang="EN-US">'Over the
past three weeks Duns has posted hundreds of malicious and abusive tweets about
me.'</span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">I haven't posted hundreds of tweets about you, and I don’t think any have been abusive. You’ve posted plenty of
personally abusive tweets about me and others, often in the precise tones of a playground bully. Your mocking my lack of assets and sales figures in this response of yours is also for no other purpose than malice. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span lang="EN-US">'He has
appealed to his friends to join in and several have.'</span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">Sigh. I haven’t
appealed to anyone to be malicious or abusive against you, on Twitter or
anywhere else. As above, you have in fact been provably malicious and abusive towards me: I've screengrabbed every one, incidentally. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">I have tried to get this story wider coverage, because you’re a
bestselling author and I want you to be held to account for your fraudulent and often very disturbing behaviour. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span lang="EN-US">'Duns took
screenshots of my Facebook page and tweeted them.'</span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">I tweeted one screenshot of a statement you made publicly on your Facebook wall – it was
public when you made it, which is how I could screengrab it.
I'm not going to apologize for doing that. You were boasting about paying 700 dollars ‘undoing the work of a Wikipedia
troll’! Wikipedia is not a paying encyclopedia, and the way it works is by voluntary contributors who try to gather the most accurate information; there is a policy for getting rid of vandalism and trolls, and it doesn't involve payment. You’re a bestselling author (as you so often remind people) so I think you have an even greater responsibility to act ethically because your fans, some of whom are also writers, may try to emulate you. So instead of getting upset that I posted this incriminating evidence about your unethical behaviour, it might be
a better idea if you explained it. Who
did you pay 700 dollars to at Wikipedia, and to do what, precisely? Why didn't you go through its procedures, which
are free? Why do you think this is acceptable at all? I don’t think I need to justify
exposing this statement of yours in the public domain: I think you need to address why you did this. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span lang="EN-US">'He tweeted
personal details of my address.'</span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">This information was and is in the public domain, Mr Leather. I found it on this <a href="http://company-director-check.co.uk/director/915919339">website</a> listing it as a registered address for you as a company director in
2010. I was looking for it because the same address was mentioned in <a href="http://uk.messages.finance.yahoo.com/Your_Money/threadview?bn=UKF-Property&tid=27922&mid=28080">this racist message</a> from an abusive Yahoo forum poster
who had posted under the names 'Big Nick Palmer', ‘stephenleather’ and 'Joe King' a year previously, in 2009. Although it is
in the public domain, your address is not all that easy to find, so the fact that
‘stephenleather’ knew your address a year before you used it to register for a
company is a piece of evidence that you and the virulent and abusive racist
‘</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">Big Nick Palmer'/‘stephenleather’/'Joe King' </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">are the same person. Added to this, </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">
‘</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">Big Nick Palmer'/‘stephenleather’/'Joe King' </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">shares
several views you have expressed <a href="http://stephenleather.blogspot.se/2009/07/our-crazy-system-of-justice.html">on your blog</a> and in a 2010 novel, is
white, British, your age, posted to a writer’s blog about Amazon’s Kindle
forums, which you frequent, and yet never mentioned he was a well-known writer
and had still not revealed that fact three years later there or anywhere else. All of this suggests either a series of coincidences running into odds of billions to one, an
extraordinarily elaborate smear campaign against you three years ago that never
resulted in any connection being made to you by anyone or, of course, that it
is you. I'm sure that Yahoo would be able to confirm whether or not the poster in question has an IP registered anywhere near your homes in the UK or Thailand, but it would be far easier if you simply answered my question: did you make
racist posts as 'Big Nick Palmer' aka 'stephenleather' aka 'Joe King' on Yahoo’s
message boards? Yes or no? Try not to skirt it. It’s important.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span lang="EN-US">'He has
made countless unsubstantiated allegations and offensive comments to the point
that I have to avoid Twitter most of the time, a great pity as that was my
favoured way of talking to fans.'</span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">You mainly
use it to talk to yourself, in fact, as by my count you now have very few genuine followers, perhaps as low as a few dozen. Between March 1 2012 and March 11 2012 your Twitter account – the one
under your own name, not your sockpuppets under the names of writers who have
irritated you and who you wish to put in their place – received an incredible
26,500 new followers. You received on average 2,650 new followers every day,
for 10 days straight. Then that stopped, and your account continued as normal.
Did you buy these followers? If not, how did you not even remark on the
extraordinary number of new followers you were getting every single day, and
who then suddenly stopped arriving in such numbers? Surely your much-vaunted
social media expertise would have told you this was unlikely to be above board.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span lang="EN-US">'Duns
claims to be a journalist.'</span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">No, I am
one. I’ve been published by most of the British broadsheets, and my next book
is investigative journalism crossed with history.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span lang="EN-US">'He also
claims to be a writer.'</span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">No, I am a
writer, and have worked as one full-time since 2008. I’m just at the start of my career, really. You can try to belittle me as much as you like, but I’m published by Simon
& Schuster and Penguin, and my first three books are currently under
development as a TV series at the BBC. You</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">’</span>ve missed several other things here, but </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">not everyone is as obsessed with sales
as you are, and it’s not the only way of judging a writer’s worth. I’m
not in the least envious of you. (I think you mean envious, not jealous, but I'm not jealous of you, either.) And, of course, one of this is relevant to the issues under discussion.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span lang="EN-US">'A writer
by the name of Steve Mosby has been heaping abuse on me too, He is fond of
calling me a bully (based mainly on the allegations that Duns has made).'</span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">It’s plain as day you are one. You’ve just very pettily listed my and Steve’s book sale figures to try to cow us. You’ve made several
abusive remarks to people on Twitter about this topic. You've called me mad, ugly and the shallow end of the gene pool, and have made similarly offensive digs at Steve.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span lang="EN-US">'If anyone
has been a bully it's Duns and Mosby.'</span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">Really? <i>You're </i>a victim? Pull the other one, it's got a sock on it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span lang="EN-US">'Mosby alone has blogged on me FOUR times
and has sent more than a hundred tweets slagging me off. Duns sends dozens of
abusive tweets about me every day, including sme that are very personally
offensive.'</span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">Blogging
about you isn't bullying. I haven’t sent you any abusive tweets. I have
repeatedly tried to get you to answer my questions.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span lang="EN-US">'But it is
the posting of my personal details on Twitter that worries me most.'</span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">You posted
your address online yourself, as part of an <a href="http://uk.messages.finance.yahoo.com/Your_Money/threadview?bn=UKF-Property&tid=27922&mid=28080">abusive racist diatribe</a>, Mr Leather. This information is also in the <a href="http://company-director-check.co.uk/director/915919339">public domain</a>.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span lang="EN-US">'I would be
grateful in future if you and the visitors to your blog would refrain from
commenting on untrue and unsubstantiated allegations.'</span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">They’re
true, and I’ve substantiated them. You need to answer to them.</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138728502354978457.post-57313622511218682442012-06-28T13:35:00.002+02:002013-03-07T00:48:19.052+01:00Being Jean-Claude (from 2003)<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span lang="EN-US">He was once one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, commanding six million
dollars a film. These days, Jean-Claude Van Damme’s flicks go straight to
video. But the Muscles from Brussels isn’t worried – as he tells Jeremy Duns,
he has a higher calling</span></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">"You’re going to be a very good father," Jean-Claude Van Damme
tells me. "Better than lots of people." Thanks, I say. "Worse
than lots of people, too," he continues. He puts a hand on my shoulder.
"But you’re going to be on the high side." He pauses dramatically.
"And you’re going to have more than one kid."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">My wife is eight months pregnant and I’m chatting about it with the Belgian
action star, father of three and part-time prophet as we sip espressos on the
balcony of his room at London’s Philippe Starck-designed Sanderson Hotel. It’s
taken me three weeks to arrange the meeting: I’ve spoken to Van Damme’s agent,
assistant, sister and mother, and followed him by phone and fax from California
to Moscow to Cannes.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Van Damme has been getting around: in recent weeks, he’s announced that
Kylie’s buns of steel are a result of the exercises he taught her on the set of
Streetfighter (this is, after all, the man who once claimed he could crack
walnuts between his buttocks); been reported as under consideration for a
starring role in an English National Ballet film of Swan Lake; and said to be
considering an offer to spend a week in the French version of the Big Brother
house. </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">But, despite the publicity, things haven’t been going too well for the
self-proclaimed "Fred Astaire of karate". A decade ago, he was one of
the planet’s biggest stars, commanding $6 million a film. But now, like Chuck
Norris, Sylvester Stallone and Stephen Seagal, Van Damme is discovering that
his kind of testosterone-laden action flick is no longer in fashion: his last
three have gone straight to video. </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">He wasn’t always the muscleman, of course. The boy who was born Jean-Claude
Camille François Van Varenberg in 1960, in the Brussels commune of Berchem
Sainte-Agathe, was, by all accounts, shy and sensitive. He liked to read comic
books, and would admire the physique of superheroes like the Silver Surfer.
When he was 12, his father Eugène, a florist, took him along to the nearest
karate school. "He was weak, short and wore glasses," says Claude
Goetz, a burly man in his sixties who still runs the school, "But he was
keen to learn." </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Goetz put the boy onto a rigorous regime that set him on his way to a
pumped-up physique. But Van Damme wasn’t all brawn. While working in his
parents’ shop, the teenager had noticed an attractive older woman who came by
regularly. She ran a ballet school around the corner; he enrolled.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">"When he turned up at my school," says Monette Loza, "I had
no idea he was the Van Varenbergs’ boy. But he was extraordinarily flexible -
he could do the splits, which is quite rare in a man. I said to him ‘Finally!
Someone comes into my school who I can really make into a dancer.’ ‘I don’t
want to be a dancer,’ he replied. ‘I want to make lots of money.’" </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Loza, who had had a brief career as a singer and performed on French TV
with Jacques Brel, says he made the right decision. "Dancers’ careers
don’t last long," she says. "Jean-Claude was clever – he was
ambitious, and he knew exactly what he was doing. He would come to my class, do
what he had to do, then head off to the gym."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Van Damme kept up the ballet for five years and, according to Loza, could
have become a professional. But his sights were set on America: after a karate
contest in Florida and a visit to California’s famous Gold’s Gym, it was all he
could think of. He left school and, with his father’s help, set up his own gym
in Brussels, the California. He was 18. An admirer of Chuck Norris, who had
parlayed his job as a martial arts instructor to the stars into a successful
film career, Van Damme would tell people who visited his club that, one day, he
too would be a movie star. </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">In 1979, he went to Hong Kong to try to break into the burgeoning martial
arts film industry there. Nothing came of it, so in 1981 he moved to Los
Angeles with $2,000 in cash. He worked as a chauffeur, carpet-layer, bouncer
and pizza delivery boy, sleeping in a rented car and showering at the gym, before
a chance meeting with Norris led to a bit part. In 1983, he adopted the surname
Van Damme, after a family friend. Shortly after, he landed a small role as a
gay martial arts expert in Monaco Forever but, five years after leaving
Belgium, he still wasn’t much nearer his dream. He’d regularly call his parents
and Goetz to update them on his progress. "If things didn’t work
out," says Goetz, "we were going to open a chocolate shop in
Brussels."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">But Neuhaus and Godiva were not to have a new rival. In 1986, Van Damme
made a move that was to become Hollywood lore: spotting the influential action
film producer Menahem Golan leaving a restaurant in Beverly Hills, he aimed a
360-degree kick at him, stopping just a hair’s breadth from his face. Golan
gave Van Damme his card, and told him to come by his office the next day. The
meeting led to Van Damme’s breakthrough: Bloodsport, in which he played
real-life underground martial arts champion Frank Dux. The film was a surprise
hit, making $35 million from a budget of just $1.5 million. A string of others
followed, and Van Damme started earning serious money: a million dollars for
Universal Soldier in 1992, $3 million for John Woo’s Hollywood debut Hard
Target in ’93, and over $6 million for the following year’s Streetfighter. The
puny boy with the glasses had become one of the world’s biggest movie stars. </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Yet even as his career was sky-rocketing, Van Damme was in trouble. His
first marriage had ended in 1984: before long, he had two other failed
marriages behind him, and had wed former model Darcy LaPier. In 1996, Van Damme
admitted he was addicted to cocaine, and checked into the Daniel Freeman Marina
Hospital in LA: he checked out after a week. LaPier filed for divorce, claiming
that Van Damme had physically abused her under the influence of the drug, and
had threatened to kidnap their son Nicholas and leave the US. </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Van Damme’s annus horribilis was 1998: he was back on cocaine, was beaten
up by one of his former stuntmen in a topless bar in New York, and was ordered
by a Californian court to pay LaPier $27,000 a month in child support and
$85,000 a month in alimony. In 1999, he remarried his second wife, Gladys
Portugues, a former bodybuilder. He was fined for drunk driving in 2000, but he
seems to have settled down, shooting four movies in the next three years.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Which brings us to today. Van Damme has promised on the phone he will tell
me things about his life he hasn’t told anyone before, so I’ve prepared a list
of questions covering everything from his childhood to his struggle with drugs.
</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Things don’t go quite as planned. As I enter his suite, his assistant, an
attractive American in her early thirties, is about to leave. He kisses her
goodbye on the lips, then turns to me and grins.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">"Do you fuck around?" he asks.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">I shake my head.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">"That’s good," he says. "You shouldn’t. I fuck around."
He laughs. "Not really, of course."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">"Nice way to start the interview, Jean-Claude," says the
assistant.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Van Damme smiles boyishly, and asks her to order some coffees for us on her
way past reception. "And cookies." He points at me. "This guy’s
too skinny." </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">We head to the balcony. Sporting a crew-cut and tan, he looks in good
shape, and younger than 42. He’s wearing a grey sweatshirt, dirty white
trainers, and a pair of stonewashed jeans with the number 7 down one leg – part
of his own Dammage 7 collection, launched in 2001. </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Then he lights a cigarette and tells me that he doesn’t want to discuss
"anything physically real". </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">It’s hard to describe what happens next. Van Damme loves to talk, but it’s
stream-of-consciousness stuff, and his English is often hard to follow. For
much of the time, it feels as if I’m not there.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">"You know, I have to be very <i>aware </i>of what I say to you," he
begins, with an ironic smile. His emphasis is deliberate: Parlez-vous le
Jean-Claude?, a book of carefully chosen extracts from 20 years of interviews
with him, is a runaway best-seller in France. The word that crops up most in it
is "aware", and it has made him an object of ridicule in the
French-speaking world. </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">"A guy like me, when I say something to people, I’ve got nothing to
gain," he says. "I get into trouble, because I speak too fast and I
don’t explain myself too well. But now I became better. It took me a long time
because, you know, when you leave school at sixteen and you have your own way
of talking…" He tails off. </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Van Damme claims that the media has misrepresented him. "They cut me,
left and right," he says. "Like butchers. Why butchers? Because
butchers are killers."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">I can see his point: his sentences sometimes go on for 10 minutes, making
him hard to quote. As he winds up a long monologue on the "speed of
thought", I decide to risk a question on the physically real. "I
spoke to your former ballet teacher…" I begin.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">"The problem is – I’m gonna cut you – all those people I met in my
life, they’re past. The present is all that counts. Those people you spoke to
met me when I was 15. But let’s say something happened to me. Something
wonderful. And since then, the man changed, okay? Wow. But he was educated that
way. But he remembers stuff. And, in fact, even when he wants to remember
something now it doesn’t come until it’s supposed to come." He slaps his
head. "Now I knew it."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">So you’ve changed, I say.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">"Completely. And I wrote a script."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">The script is called either The Choice or The Tower, and it’s Van Damme’s
obsession. "It’s what keeps me alive," he says. It’s about a
professional motorcyclist who has a crash and slips into a coma, where he
discovers himself inside a seven-level tower he has to move his way up. Van
Damme has been working on the project for six years, and plans to direct and
star in it. After a long, abstract explanation of the plot, he gives me a broad
grin. "Wow," he says. "Profound. You see, if you want to do an
interview with me, you have to spend three, four days. Because then you start
to know a person. After this meeting, we can go on the street and talk normal.
Listen, sometimes I smoke, I train every day, I go three hours to the gym. My
favourite ice cream is vanilla. I can say that – it’s more nice for the people,
because it’s more about the physical, here. But I’ll prove it to you. I’m on
paper here. I believe in my stuff."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">He returns to the plot of his script, and there are some interesting thoughts
beneath the twisted grammar and leaps of logic. I’m especially struck by his
idea that any moment from our past can revisit us to guide our actions. I tell
him it reminds me of the Russian-Armenian mystic Gurdjieff’s explanation of
vivid childhood memories as "moments of consciousness". Hey, if you
can’t beat ’em… Van Damme is fascinated by this. Gurdjieff was right, he says:
our past is the key to our evolution.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">"Look, I’m still on a huge process of learning. Life. Myself.
Remembering. You. Love. Bigger. Faster. Smarter. But everything what you’re
doing in life, what I do in life, is also attached to what we call our past
life. I was born skinny, and I was laughed at in school, you know – I was with
glasses and I didn’t speak well. I was having a lithp. Big lithp – I was
talking like that." We laugh at his joke. </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">"Plus I lost my few first girlfriends. I was so much in love with
them, only with a kiss. And you know, at that time, sex was not existing –
strong Catholic family. So I was waiting, waiting, afraid to do, and nothing
happened. And I was hurt, big time. So karate came to my life. And I became
very good. Very strong. And guess what? Ladies came at me! More than enough.
Too much! Then I go to America, with this package called muscles," – he hunches
his back in the classic body-builder position – "Carapace, the turtle, you
know? It’s my cover. And I show that to people, and with that I become a star.
But now I’ve got to say ‘Wait a second – what else can I do in my life? I show
and show and show, but it’s still on the low shakra, on the primal way.’"</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">He started having these thoughts while using cocaine. Instead of using the
drug to party, he sat at home in his room, contemplating suicide. He quit coke,
he says, because he realised that he hadn’t yet created anything. "You
just created an illusion," he says, recounting his dialogue with himself.
"What you think is real, it’s not real. You have to create inside you, JC.
You have to go inside and ask the question to yourself ‘What do you want in
life?’ You cannot talk to yourself, JC. You’re scared to think you’ve got
something powerful inside you who can tell you what to do, who knows every
answer in the universe? But you have to believe in the question, knowing the
answer is already in your head. So I take a different stage to create a movie
where I’m gonna try to do something very special."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Understandably, he’s worried how his fans might react. "My people are
from the street," he says. "Those people made me. So if they hear me
talking about the universe, this and that, they think ‘This guy is fucked
up.’" This is why, he says, the film will start from the mundane and
gradually move to the mystical. "I will take them through different
levels. Then if they don’t like it, they can walk back. But they cannot refuse
me, Jean-Claude Van Damme. Those are my people and I am your people, guys! I’m
still the guy if I see a person crossing the street or a young guy getting hit
for his lunch box at school who’s skinny like I was, I will go and fight the
group and say ‘Guys, give back the food!’ Because I’m still a hero. A real
hero. I mean, somebody gets attacked - I’ll protect. I’ll do my best. I’m for
real, okay? I’m not made of cable."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">I tell him that perhaps a spiritual action movie is just what his fans
want. Look at The Matrix. He doesn’t like the comparison.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">"The background of The Tower will not be sci-fi," he says.
"It will be made of wood, stone, trees, water – elements. Earth elements.
And lots of wisdom. We’ll have a gnome in the tower. An old person. A gnome."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">I notice he says "we" a lot. At one point, he proclaims "The
most important people are the gurus", and I ask him if he has one.
"Of course. My guru is someone very close to me, someone I speak to every
day. But if I say that in your newspaper they’re going to think we’re having
sex or something."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">I assure him I can avoid that insinuation. The good thing about having a
guru, he continues, is that he has someone who can listen to him "from the
heart" – and who can correct him. "I make notes like this," he says,
showing me a pad of paper. "I have something to add to them now, in fact.
Today, because of you, I just saw something." He’s talking about
Gurdjieff. "This guy doesn’t know shit about the script, but he remembers
his destiny," he says, pointing at me. "He told me the answer without
knowing it! How did you give me the answer?" I have no idea, I say,
already imagining my name on the film’s opening credits. "We all have a
path. The path is perfection. We’re all here to search for perfection, to be
able to cry without tears. Being able to compress your emotion to one
point."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Monette Loza told me that she found you very self-contained, even as a
teenager.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">"What does that mean – ‘self-contained’?"</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">I tell him, and he starts writing down my definition. "A very
beautiful word," he says. He tells me he was in love with Loza. "I
was 16, 17, and she was 40. But to be as in shape as an 18-year-old at her age,
it’s very sexy. Also, when a woman is that age, you can talk with them. You can
have dinner for two or three hours before love-making. And talk about life. And
the wine."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">As we’re clearly now in physically real territory, I ask him about his
plans. He says he's yet to be approached by English National Ballet, and that
he's now too old for ballet, anyway. Hell, which has also been titled The Shu
and The Savage at various stages, and The Order, which features Charlton Heston
as his father and was shot in Israel, have both been released on video and DVD,
but his agent has told me that The Monk, in which Van Damme - rather
implausibly, I’d thought prior to meeting him - plays a Shaolin monk, may not
see any kind of release. Van Damme admits he’s done "a few shitty
movies" – he tears into last year’s Derailed, in which he played a secret
agent battling terrorists on a train – but says he’s excited about upcoming
projects: After Death, a revenge thriller directed by Ringo Lam (Maximum Risk,
Replicant), and Lone Wolf, "a cool story – very commercial", which he
won’t discuss more for legal reasons. After that, it’s The Tower/The Choice.
What about the remake of The Great Escape he’s mentioned in several interviews?
His plans to make a Jacques Brel biopic? Or the long-rumoured sequel to
Streetfighter, which both Holly Vallance and Dolph Lundgren have been connected
to in recent weeks? His eyes harden: "The plan is what I just told
you."</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Eventually, his publicist appears by the table, and I realise we’ve been
talking for nearly two hours. Van Damme looks like he could carry on for a few
more, but I feel drained. He wishes me luck with fatherhood, which brings me
back to earth. As we shake hands, I start worrying about how I’ll break the
news to my wife: we’re going to have more than one child.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span lang="EN-US">First published in The Bulletin, May 30, 2003.</span></i></span></span></div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="3" class="MsoNormalTable" style="width: 600px;">
<tbody>
<tr style="mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td style="padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138728502354978457.post-34454602741599648962012-06-28T10:34:00.000+02:002013-03-07T00:47:24.733+01:00The perils of Googledemia<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Dear Glenn Greenwald, </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">This is a response to your <a href="http://ggdrafts.blogspot.se/2012/06/responses-to-twitter-objections.html">recent blog post</a></span><span lang="EN-US">, in which you address several
comments I’ve made on Twitter about your defence of Julian Assange’s jumping
bail to avoid facing questions in Sweden. You argue that Twitter’s truncated
format prevents any checks on claims people make and ‘enables easy distortions’.
You seem to feel that the blog format is more accountable. Perhaps you have a
point. So let me try to do that here, and see if I can check your claims. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">In your blog post, you wrote:</span></span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">‘Sweden is plagued by
oppressive pre-trial confinement, disturbing levels of judicial secrecy, and a
history of lawless rendition cooperation with the CIA, all of which creates a
reasonable fear that Julian Assange would be extradited to the U.S.’</span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Guardian</i> on June 20, you <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jun/20/julian-assange-right-asylum">wrote</a>:</span></span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">‘For several reasons,
Assange has long feared that the US would be able to coerce Sweden into handing
him over far more easily than if he were in Britain. For one, smaller countries
such as Sweden are generally more susceptible to American pressure and
bullying. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">For another, that country
has a disturbing history of lawlessly handing over suspects to the US. A </span><a href="http://www.hrw.org/news/2006/11/09/sweden-violated-torture-ban-cia-rendition"><span lang="EN-US">2006 UN ruling found
Sweden</span></a><span lang="EN-US"> in violation
of the global ban on torture for helping the CIA render two suspected
terrorists to Egypt, where they were brutally tortured (both individuals,
asylum-seekers in Sweden, were ultimately found to be innocent of any
connection to terrorism and received a monetary settlement from the Swedish
government). </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Perhaps most disturbingly
of all, </span><a href="http://ggdrafts.blogspot.com.br/2012/06/swedish-justice.html"><span lang="EN-US">Swedish law permits extreme
levels of secrecy in judicial proceedings</span></a><span lang="EN-US"> and oppressive pre-trial conditions, enabling
any Swedish-US transactions concerning Assange to be conducted beyond public
scrutiny. Ironically, even the </span><a href="http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2010/eur/154453.htm"><span lang="EN-US">US State
Department condemned Sweden's</span></a> <span lang="EN-US">“restrictive conditions for prisoners held in pretrial
custody”, including severe restrictions on their communications with the
outside world.’</span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">In an interview with Democracy
Now on May 30, you <a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2012/5/30/divided_british_court_upholds_extradition_of">said</a>:</span></span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">‘I think there’s two issues
of concern with being extradited to Sweden. One is that, although we don’t
think about Sweden this way, it is nonetheless the case that they have a very
oppressive—I would even say borderline barbaric—system of pretrial detention,
where when somebody is charged with a crime, they are almost—especially in
Assange’s case, where he’s not a Swedish citizen—automatically, more or less, consigned
to prison, not released on bail, even though he’s proven over the course of the
last two years that his appearances can be secured. And not only would he
likely be imprisoned pending trial, but he would be imprisoned under very
oppressive conditions, where he could be held incommunicado, denied all contact
or communication with the outside world.</span></span></span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">The hearings, pretrial
hearings in Sweden, are not public. They are entirely private. The media, the
public has no idea what takes place within these hearings. And given how
sensitive this case is, the idea that judicial decisions in Sweden will be made
privately and secretly is very alarming.’</span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Your claim that Assange ‘would
be imprisoned under very oppressive conditions, where he could be held
incommunicado’ was quoted in the widely-publicized <a href="http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/node/1257">open letter</a> delivered to the
Ecuadorian embassy in London last week, calling for Ecuador to grant Assange
asylum, and which was signed by several well-known figures from the world of media
and journalism, including yourself.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">On the sheer face of it, all
this is rather hard to swallow. I am a British citizen living in Sweden, and
while I’m not so naïve to think that the country is a paradise or incapable of
wrongdoing, all of those ideas fly in the face of what I’ve learned about it.
Sweden is renowned as a transparent liberal modern democracy and, as you said
on May 30, is not usually thought of as oppressive, let alone barbaric. That
doesn’t mean it’s perfect, and nor does it mean that it can’t be everything you
say it is. But your claims go so heavily against the grain of what most people
think about Sweden that they need to be supported with convincing </span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">evidence.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">So what is your evidence for all this? In your blog post, you claim to have spent months ‘talking to
numerous WikiLeaks associates and Europeans lawyers and journalists about the
reasons Assange and his lawyers fear his extradition to Sweden’ – but you didn’t
quote or cite any of these interviews in that post, or in your <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Guardian</i> article on this, or in your interview with
Democracy Now. I can’t see you having cited any lawyers or journalists anywhere
on this issue. You state on your blog that you provided ‘ample documentation’ about
conditions in Sweden in your <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Guardian</i>
piece and elsewhere. But you backed your points in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Guardian</i> piece by quoting from and linking to just three articles
online. You made much the same points, as we can see, to Democracy Now, and
didn’t cite any sources for them at all. In your blog post, you write that Sweden
has ‘quite awful judicial secrecy, pre-trial confinement conditions, and a
history of lawless rendition cooperation with the U.S.’ and that you have repeatedly
cited your evidence for this, </span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">‘</span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">which includes:</span></span></span><br />
<ul type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://ggdrafts.blogspot.com.br/2012/06/swedish-justice.html"><span lang="EN-US">this</span></a><span lang="EN-US"> (Fair Trials International documenting the
oppressive pre-trial confinement and judicial secrecy "<b>routinely
imposed</b>" by Sweden); </span></span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2010/eur/154453.htm"><span lang="EN-US">this</span></a><span lang="EN-US"> (2010 State Department report on Sweden's
human rights practices condemning "lengthy pretrial detention,"
"restrictive conditions for prisoners held in pretrial custody",
"extended isolation," and noting that cases involving rape
"may be <b>closed to the public</b>"); </span></span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo3; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://www.cpt.coe.int/documents/swe/2009-34-inf-eng.htm#_Toc248053668"><span lang="EN-US">this</span></a><span lang="EN-US"> (2009 report from the European Committee
for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment, noting that "Since the CPT’s last visit to Sweden in
2003, practically no legislative or regulatory changes have been
introduced in the area of restrictions, and the <b>Committee’s concerns
about the procedure for the application of restrictions to remand
prisoners, and the impact of such measures on their mental health, remain
valid"</b>; that "At the court hearing concerning remand in
custody, <b>prosecutors do not have to present concrete evidence in
support of the request for the imposition of restrictions</b> (as distinct
from the grounds which justify remand custody), and the choice of specific
restrictions is left to the discretion of prosecutors"; and that
"the proportion of remand prisoners with restrictions had been<b>
higher in the recent past (e.g. 70% in March 2008)</b>."</span></span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo4; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://www.hrw.org/news/2006/11/09/sweden-violated-torture-ban-cia-rendition"><span lang="EN-US">this</span></a><span lang="EN-US"> (a report from Human Rights Watch
describing the "the United Nations’ ruling that <b>Sweden violated
the global torture ban in its involvement in the CIA transfer of an asylum
seeker to Egypt</b>"; in particular: "Swedish officials handed
over al-Zari and another Egyptian, Ahmed Agiza, to CIA operatives on
December 18, 2001 for transfer from Stockholm to Cairo. Both men were
asylum seekers in Sweden, and suspected of terrorist activities in Egypt,
where torture of such suspects is commonplace").’</span></span></span></li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Three of these articles are ones you cited in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Guardian</i> piece. Let’s start with the
one that isn’t: the third one cited, the </span><a href="http://www.cpt.coe.int/documents/swe/2009-34-inf-eng.htm"><span lang="EN-US">2009 report by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment orPunishment</span></a><span lang="EN-US"> (CPT). On the
face of it, the parts you’ve quoted do seem to hold up your claim that Sweden
has ‘oppressive pre-trial confinement’ and that it might have an impact on a
remand prisoner’s mental health. But a closer look reveals some serious problems
with your research. Firstly, you admit you haven’t read the whole report, which
you provided a link to your followers on Twitter just 12 minutes after it was
sent to us both. I am instinctively skeptical of someone who points to a report
as evidence for their case when they haven’t even read it <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">in toto</i>. But you excuse this on the
following grounds:</span></span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">‘I verified its
authenticity by examining the Committee's website. The report is divided into
sections by topic. The vast majority of the topics have absolutely nothing to
do with the issue at hand (treatment of juveniles, conditions at psychiatric
facilities, etc). The section that is relevant to the issues being discussed is
easily found -- it's labeled "Imposition of Restrictions on Remand
Prisoners" -- and they document exactly the oppressive pre-trial
conditions that the other evidence I cited described.’</span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">The document does contain descriptions of pre-trial conditions that </span><span lang="EN-US">very closely resemble those </span><span lang="EN-US">in the other articles you cite, for one rather glaring reason you have missed, but I</span><span lang="EN-US">’</span><span lang="EN-US">ll get to that shortly. There are several troubling
aspects about your justification for not having read the whole document. Journalistic rigour doesn’t entail simply
verifying that a document is authentic. Even an authentic report could have
contained errors, or been proven wrong by other sources just as authentic. It
could also be an authentic document, but one created by an organization that
adopts spurious means or has a spurious agenda. I’ll grant that the European
Council, of which the CPT is a committee, doesn’t immediately seem to fit
either of those categories, but then neither does Sweden instantly ring the
bells of highly oppressive judicial procedures. Where’s your skepticism? More
importantly, where’s your research? The organization’s title and provenance
sound impressive, but I would still expect you to have corroborated with other
sources that the Committee for the Prevention of Torture is a respected and
competent body in this field and that it is widely seen as impartial. That
might have entailed, for example, you seeing where else this report had been
cited, seeing if there has been any criticism of it and – as you have admitted
you’re not an expert in Swedish law – calling some people who <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">are</i> experts in it and asking them what
they thought of the report. Instead, you simply presumed that the findings of a
report you hadn't read through were rock solid, and asked your 84,000-plus
Twitter followers to do the same.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Secondly, you say you
examined the Committee’s website. You don’t seem to have done so in any great
depth, though, because you tweeted this link to your followers within 12
minutes of it being drawn to your attention. You also neglected then, and have
neglected since, to make any mention of other country reports by the CPT. How
did its report on remand conditions in Swedish prisons in 2009 compare to other
countries it has visited? All its reports are on its site. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">But more importantly than
all of that, you failed to notice that the Swedish government had responded to
the findings and recommendations in the report, and that its response is </span><a href="http://www.cpt.coe.int/documents/swe/2010-18-inf-eng.htm"><span lang="EN-US">readily available on the site</span></a><span lang="EN-US">. Considering that the report you
cite is from 2009, it is of course relevant whether the situation described in
it is still valid. So how the Swedish government responded in writing, and how
they responded in fact, are both very important. You clearly haven't checked.
You fail to appreciate that a four-day visit to five prisons in 2009 may not
accurately represent the current situation in the country. It’s a very basic
point to have missed. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Your assumption that the
report can be taken as convincing evidence simply by reading the section in it
marked ‘Imposition of Restrictions on Remand Prisoners’ also shows a worrying failure
to grasp the importance of context to corroborating research. If you don’t read
the full report you don’t know its framework, purpose, stated restrictions, how
widely and appropriately the compilers of it consulted, and you’re incapable of
judging whether its methods as a whole seem sound.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">But let’s assume for a
moment that you had actually done some basic journalistic homework instead of
simply pointing to this 2009 report that you hadn’t even read, and that the
report does in fact represent an accurate picture of the remand situation in
Sweden in 2012, and that if Julian Assange went to Sweden all the worst
practices that have taken place were applied to him: he was placed in extended
isolation, cut off from other prisoners, newspapers and TV, and his mental
health put at risk as a result. That would all be extremely unpleasant for him,
of course, but I don’t see you arguing that Assange should not go to Sweden
because it would be extremely unpleasant. You have explicitly argued that
Sweden’s pretrial detention conditions are part of a package that lead to a
reasonable fear of extradition from Sweden to the US:</span></span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">‘Sweden is plagued by oppressive pre-trial confinement, disturbing levels of judicial secrecy, and a
history of lawless rendition cooperation with the CIA, all of which creates a
reasonable fear that Julian Assange would be extradited to the U.S.’</span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Even if Sweden does have
oppressive pre-trial confinement, I don’t see – and you haven’t explained – how
that creates the reasonable fear that Assange would be extradited to the US.
The two things aren’t linked. If he is subjected to extended pretrial detention
in Sweden, he will be in Sweden, not in the US. It looks like you’ve simply
listed a lot of scary-sounding stuff and said they <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">all</i> create the fear of extradition. But I can’t find any article or interview with you where you</span><span lang="EN-US">’ve </span><span lang="EN-US">addressed why
this might be. Perhaps I</span><span lang="EN-US">’ve missed something.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Let’s move on to the </span><a href="http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2010/eur/154453.htm"><span lang="EN-US">2010 US State Department report</span></a> <span lang="EN-US">you cite, ‘condemning
Sweden’s “lengthy pretrial detention”, “restrictive conditions for prisoners
held in pretrial custody”, “extended isolation,” and noting that cases
involving rape "may be closed to the public”.’ </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Well, that also all sounds rather
terrifying. But let’s look closer at those quotes as they appear in context in
the report:</span></span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">‘Prison conditions
generally met international standards, and the government permitted visits by
independent human rights observers. However, lengthy pretrial detention was a
problem.’</span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">That’s where your first
quote comes from.</span></span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">‘Restrictive conditions for
prisoners held in pretrial custody remained a problem. According to the Swedish
Prison and Probation Service, in July approximately 45 percent of pretrial
detainees were subject to extended isolation or to restrictions on mail
delivery or exercise. According to authorities they took this step when
detainees' contact with persons outside the detention center could risk
destroying evidence or changing statements, thereby imperiling the ongoing
investigation.’</span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">That’s where your second <i>and
</i>third quotes from – extended isolation is one of the restrictive
conditions. The reasons for imposing this in certain cases sound valid to me,
but I’ll admit that 45 percent of detainees being subjected to it does seem
more alarming. The source for that, you can see, is the Swedish Prison and
Probation Service. It would be interesting to call them up and ask them why
this is the case. It would also be interesting to know what the State Department
made of other countries’ records in this regard, including for example Britain.
You haven’t looked at any of this. Four documents online are enough evidence
for you, and apparently should be for everyone else.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">But it’s not just that your
research is lacking – even the little work you have done is so sloppy. You’ve
cited the 2010 State Department report. Why not look at its most recent report,
from </span><a href="http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/186621.pdf"><span lang="EN-US">2011</span></a><span lang="EN-US">, as that is more likely to present a picture
of what would apply in Assange’s case in 2012?</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Here’s the new equivalent
of that first quote:</span></span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">‘Prison conditions
generally met international standards, and the government permitted visits by
independent human rights observers.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Prisoners had access to
potable water. There were no specific prison ombudsmen, but prisoner complaints
were sent to and handled by the justice ombudsman. Authorities used
alternatives to sentencing for nonviolent offenders, such as intensive
supervision with electronic monitoring, conditional sentence, probation, and
community service. During the year the government took a number of measures to
improve prison conditions, including measures to decrease the rate of
recidivism and a national effort to reduce the number of career criminals.’</span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Well, fancy that! Things have changed rather
a lot between the 2010 and 2011 reports. First of all, they scratched the
sentence about lengthy pretrial detention being a problem, and it doesn’t
appear anywhere else in the report. How about that? If you had cited the most
recent State Department report on this you would not have been able to quote
that at all. It seems it no longer applies. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">But note the second
paragraph, too – none of those findings were in the 2010 report. The Swedish
government, it appears, has made efforts to improve prison conditions. It
mentions a couple, but I’m intrigued that this report has dropped the part
about the lengthy pretrial detention, so perhaps that was also addressed. It
would be so interesting to know, but of course that would involve research. And
as you’re the one making the rather lurid claims about Sweden, I suggest it
might be an idea for you to be the one to pick up the phone and write the
emails.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">The next quote you used has
also been affected:</span></span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">‘Restrictive conditions for
prisoners held in pretrial custody remained a problem. A new Act on Treatment
of Persons Arrested or Remanded in Custody that went into force on April 1
includes the possibility of appealing a decision on specific restrictions to
the Court of Appeals and ultimately to the Supreme Court.’</span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Well, it’s still a problem,
according to the US government, but I wonder if the latter part might affect
Julian Assange. Perhaps someone could investigate.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">A few more points about the
US State Department document you’ve cited. If you had read it closely, you’d
have realized that it contains no original findings or research, and depends
almost entirely on two sources: the Committee for the Prevention of Torture report
from 2009, and the Swedish government’s response to that report (where, it
seems, it has drawn the information about this new act and from the Swedish Prison
and Probation Service). The fact that you didn’t cite the CPT report in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Guardian</i> and were not aware of it
until we were both tweeted the link on June 25 suggests that you didn’t read
this document thoroughly – if you had, you would surely have been interested in
the report by the august-sounding Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention
of Torture that it mentions several times. You weren’t.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">It strikes me from the US
State Department’s reliance on that CPT report that there may not be all that
much information available to cite about Swedish pretrial detention – at least
online, in English, for free. Sometimes one has to read books, or academic
articles that aren't free, or write to people, or call them, or meet them. And
for the first three of your quotes, this document’s source is none other than
one of your other documents, with no original research of its own. So the 2010
US State Department report is not additional backing for your case at all. It
is simply restating research from the CPT site, and is out of date to boot.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">The final bit you quote
from this document does appear to be from another source, although it’s not
cited: this is the part about rape cases sometimes being held in camera:</span></span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">‘Trial Procedures</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">The constitution provides
for the right to a fair trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced
this right. Defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence. Trials are generally
public. Juries are used only in cases involving freedom of the press or freedom
of speech. In other cases, judges or court-appointed civilian representatives
make determinations of guilt or innocence. Cases of a sensitive nature,
including those involving children, child molestation, rape, and national
security, may be closed to the public. The court system distinguishes between
civil and criminal cases. Defendants have the right to be present at their
trials and to consult an attorney in a timely manner. In criminal cases the
government is obligated to provide a defense attorney. A "free
evidence" system allows parties to present in court any evidence,
regardless of how it was acquired. Defendants can confront or question
witnesses against them and present witnesses and evidence on their behalf, and
defendants and their attorneys have access to government-held evidence relevant
to their cases. If convicted, defendants have the right of appeal.’</span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">This appears to be your
only source for the following assertion of yours on Democracy Now:</span></span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">‘The hearings, pretrial
hearings in Sweden, are not public. They are entirely private. The media, the
public has no idea what takes place within these hearings. And given how
sensitive this case is, the idea that judicial decisions in Sweden will be made
privately and secretly is very alarming.’</span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">I hope you have another
source for all that, because it’s not what this document says at all. It says cases
of a sensitive nature <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">may</i> be closed
to the public, not that they will be, and it is referring to trials not
pretrial hearings. Significant differences. I think it’s pretty sane policy
that some very sensitive cases are not held in public, and I think
conflating a trial closed to the public with the idea that it is held secretly
and will not be just requires a lot more evidence. I think you’ll appreciate that
on the showing so far I would also need that evidence to come from a journalist
much more diligent than you at interpreting it. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">The next document is an
excerpt on your site from a document written by a British NGO, Fair Trials
International. It’s a little concerning from the outset that you chose not to
link to the document itself, but instead to your own </span><a href="http://ggdrafts.blogspot.com.br/2012/06/swedish-justice.html"><span lang="EN-US">website</span></a><span lang="EN-US">, where you reproduced only part of it, and then
highlighted in yellow parts of it that you feel suit your case. Reading the
entirety of that excerpt presents a less persuasive picture by far. Reading the
entirety of the report (available </span><a href="http://www.fairtrials.net/publications/article/julian-assange-and-detention-before-trial-in-sweden"><span lang="EN-US">here</span></a><span lang="EN-US">), the issues are even more nuanced. And once
again, you appear to have done no research into the document you cite or the
organization that produced it. You offer no corroborating evidence that Fair
Trials International is a respected NGO that researches fairly. You just cite a
report from it, and presume that it is scrupulously-conducted original research that reflects the current situation.
</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">You have also either only
skim-read the full document, or not read it at all. The chief source for the
information in it is… once again, the Committee for the Prevention of
Torture report from 2009! The writers of the Fair Trials International report
don’t even seem to have read that fully themselves, as can be seen in this
excerpt:</span></span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">‘The Council of Europe has
reported ongoing concerns about remand conditions in Sweden and that many
people feel that they are prevented from contacting family members to ‘break’
them.1 The US State Department has also noted that people are often subject to
extended isolation and severe restriction on their activities whilst awaiting
trial.2’</span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Footnotes 1 and 2 refer
to none other than the CPT’s 2009 report and the 2010 US State Department report. But the US
State Department got its information about pretrial isolation and restrictions from
the CPT. So Fair Trials International have pretended that they have two sources
for their information when in fact they only have one – and another body who
has repeated it. And you have taken this one step further, by pretending to
have three sources for the same information. Both this document and the US
State Department document take the vast body of the information you are using
in your argument from the CPT’s website. So one report appears to be backed up
twice, when it is simply the same visit to Sweden in 2009 providing the
information. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">The paragraph above shows
that Fair Trials International either didn't read the CPT report in full to
realize that the State Department drew that information from it, or they were
being deliberately dishonest and trying to make one source look like two.
Either discounts this as a reliable piece of research, even if it does contain
original research, which I doubt – there are no other footnotes and no
indication FTI has visited Sweden, interviewed anyone or done anything but not
read two documents properly.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">And of course the same
applies to you – either you simply skim-read these three documents and didn’t
notice that two of them took almost all of their information from the third, or
you did know that and have knowingly tried to present them all as original
research. I note that the Fair Trials International report, which you have
excerpted on your own website, footnotes the 2010 US State Department report,
not the more recent 2011 report. This suggests to me that you simply followed
the FTI's footnote, and therefore knew perfectly well that this document simply
replicated research from elsewhere. But whether you misled knowingly or
unknowingly, this discredits you as a serious researcher. You’re not engaged in
journalism or academia here, but a superficial imitation of both: instead of detailed
research and rigid corroborated investigation, you use authoritative language to
give the appearance you are citing ‘ample evidence’, providing a flurry of
links from impressive-sounding bodies. But you haven’t read them carefully, or
even completely, let alone researched their context, reliability, reception or relevance.
Perhaps Googledemia would be the best term for it. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">I’ve talked about context.
A deeper look at Fair Trials International led me to this interesting </span><a href="http://ec.europa.eu/justice/newsroom/criminal/opinion/files/110510/appendix_2_-_comparative_research_en.pdf"><span lang="EN-US">document </span></a><span lang="EN-US">from 2011. This examined pretrial
detention practices in 15 EU countries. First of all, the fact that pretrial
detention exists in so many countries drew me up. Suddenly Sweden doesn’t seem
such an outlier – pretrial detention, commonly called remand, is very common.
But secondly, the document criticized the conditions of pretrial detention in
every single country it looked at. So if you imagine that Julian Assange’s
accusers had been French, Polish, Portuguese, Dutch, British and so on… you
could construct a very similar argument to the one you have done for Sweden: ‘Country
X has pretrial detention. It has been criticized on these grounds by Fair
Trials International. He should not go.’ Similarly, I suspect if you Googled
around a bit you could find reports from the Council of Europe and others that
also criticize all those countries’ pretrial detention records. You could cite
them merrily, without even reading them through or checking that the
information in them isn't simply replicated research, or even still applies. And
if it’s not pretrial detention, you could find something else: no country is perfect, and
all judicial systems in the world will at some stage have been subject to
criticism from a respected body.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Your final cited </span><a href="http://www.hrw.org/news/2006/11/09/sweden-violated-torture-ban-cia-rendition"><span lang="EN-US">document</span></a><span lang="EN-US"> involves a rendition case from 2001. I’m not
sure I can be bothered to go into this in depth, but in short – is this the
best you could do? That's your smoking gun to suggest Sweden would
extradite Julian Assange to the US? There have been <i>three general elections </i>in Sweden<i> </i>since that case, in
2002, 2006 and 2010. The case you cite happened 11 years ago. It’s like
claiming that the current American foreign policy is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">de facto</i> the same as that of George W Bush’s administration. It’s
like trawling through the actions taken by Tony Blair’s government and claiming
that David Cameron’s will do the same because Britain has a history of it. It’s
manifestly silly. When you claim Sweden is ‘plagued’ by ‘a history of lawless
rendition cooperation’, what you really mean is that you searched and searched
online, and you found <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">one</i>
controversial case from 2001 – which, incidentally, I don’t think is nearly as
cut and dried as you claim. To convince that this represents a country with, as
you put the same point in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Guardian</i>,
‘a disturbing history of lawlessly handing over suspects to the US’, you’ll
need to find more than one example of it four administrations ago.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">In conclusion, your claims
about conditions in Sweden rely on shockingly thin and sloppy research. They rely
on just four articles. One of them you haven’t read through. Two you appear to
have only skim-read, and both almost entirely depend on the first article’s original
research and contribute none of their own. All three are outdated. The final article you cite is about events that took place in 2001, and you’ve
claimed that this alone represents systematic behavior by the Swedish state. You have misunderstood,
exaggerated and in some cases totally misrepresented what is in these four articles.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">I could be here all day, as
there are so many other arguments you’ve made that don’t stand the barest scrutiny,
but I think I’ve made my point. You were right about one thing, though – it <i>is
</i>easier to hold people’s claims to account outside the confines of
140-character bursts.</span></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138728502354978457.post-9463357638105577942012-03-21T14:32:00.005+01:002013-03-07T00:47:54.655+01:00Coming soon...<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6gQmRfBzvwthzXsPLfZnhmD3d5JqJNwSdi9qucYaf2TgcQKmOVCweeoJ5gYfp6xAvtIZ4XbKt0h9umHtJPEyAqzVZlB3j-mJurOpSGd2KSt1vHNY8pE4CXgMYy2JmJBnklpiQgq4RuzHg/s1600/Song+of+Treason+Large+Print.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6gQmRfBzvwthzXsPLfZnhmD3d5JqJNwSdi9qucYaf2TgcQKmOVCweeoJ5gYfp6xAvtIZ4XbKt0h9umHtJPEyAqzVZlB3j-mJurOpSGd2KSt1vHNY8pE4CXgMYy2JmJBnklpiQgq4RuzHg/s200/Song+of+Treason+Large+Print.jpg" width="133" /></a>Here<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">’</span>s a quick update on my books <span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">– </span>there<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">’</span>s quite a lot happening in the next couple of months. On April 1, Ulverscroft in the UK will publish a large-print hardback edition of <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Song-Treason-Jeremy-Duns/dp/1444810472/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_5"><i>Song of Treason</i></a>. This is the second Paul Dark novel, which was originally published as <i>Free Country</i> but had its title changed. The book is set primarily in Rome, Sardinia and Istanbul: <i>The Times </i>called it ‘a taut and tortured exploration of betrayal on the national, ideological and personal levels simultaneously’, ‘a cleverly twisted tale of intrigue and deception’ and ‘a masterly excursion back to the bad old days of the Cold War’. You can read another review of it <a href="http://www.eurocrime.co.uk/reviews/Song_of_Treason.html">here</a>. <i>Song of Treason </i>will also be published as a <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Song-of-Treason-ebook/dp/B007IL524I/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_2">Kindle ebook</a> in the UK on April 5. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">On April 12, Simon & Schuster will publish the third Paul Dark novel, <i>The Moscow Option</i>, in the UK, in mass-market <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Moscow-Option-Jeremy-Duns/dp/1847394531/ref=ntt_at_ep_edition_1_2">paperback </a>and <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Moscow-Option-ebook/dp/B007IL59GE/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&m=A3TVV12T0I6NSM">ebook</a> editions. The initial plan was to publish this in February, but for various reasons the date was changed to April <span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">– </span>so please ignore listings for the book on Amazon and elsewhere with the old date, as that edition no longer exists. <i>The Moscow Option </i>is set in the Soviet Union and Finland in October 1969, and features sunken U-boats, a hunter-killer unit chasing Dark through icebound forests and a countdown to the end of the world. Like <i>Free Agent </i>and <i>Song of Treason</i>, it<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">’s </span>based around real historical events. The jacket is an atmospheric shot of an overcoated Dark trudging through snowy Moscow.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">In the US, Penguin are taking a different tack. On May 29, they will publish all three Dark novels <span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">– </span>which form a trilogy<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"> – </span>in an omnibus paperback edition, titled <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Chronicles-Trilogy-Treason-Moscow/dp/0143120697%3FSubscriptionId%3D0ACM1RC83GP83JK10M02%26tag%3Dspeculativefic05%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D0143120697"><i>The Dark Chronicles</i></a> (it will also be available as an <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Chronicles-Trilogy-Treason-ebook/dp/B00778BYOO/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&m=A1NBCVVM1MRWGW">ebook</a>). This has great jacket art evoking pulp thrillers from the Cold War era. To see the artwork in greater detail, just click on the thumbnails.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXLpSqimz_y7fOSKuMjzPfaDl897CqEKlmVWIq66aLh3MjL1zePtTVQ_kvcvtS0pqVxmyz6QgLP5KdBOaOaV6-McOi5sjFsCtT9gcrD0RywKXamZUWzQaO2JRdF2hpLhTAMs8ETs1SoMZ_/s1600/MoscowOptionSmall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXLpSqimz_y7fOSKuMjzPfaDl897CqEKlmVWIq66aLh3MjL1zePtTVQ_kvcvtS0pqVxmyz6QgLP5KdBOaOaV6-McOi5sjFsCtT9gcrD0RywKXamZUWzQaO2JRdF2hpLhTAMs8ETs1SoMZ_/s320/MoscowOptionSmall.jpg" width="208" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg17DDsI3rm0k93zBf-OsegxZxQvlf1CRuDomplkDx2Irq4ANirGPA5eQJfHf6VahuK5k0-uQhrrpQf6JsEkgfIhvCIH5g8HLMwLSN1qc2mS7dUVl0PmQb4uYPz2O7ttGgjohoUSere6cIA/s1600/Dark+Chronicles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg17DDsI3rm0k93zBf-OsegxZxQvlf1CRuDomplkDx2Irq4ANirGPA5eQJfHf6VahuK5k0-uQhrrpQf6JsEkgfIhvCIH5g8HLMwLSN1qc2mS7dUVl0PmQb4uYPz2O7ttGgjohoUSere6cIA/s320/Dark+Chronicles.jpg" width="219" /></a></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">In the meantime, I<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">’</span>m hard at work on my first non-fiction book, which is an investigation of the most exciting espionage operation of the Cold War: MI6 and the CIA<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">’</span>s joint handling of Colonel Oleg Penkovsky during the run-up to the building of the Berlin Wall and then the Cuban Missile Crisis. More details on that to come, so please watch this space, and follow me on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/jeremyduns/#">Facebook</a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/jeremyduns">Twitter</a>.</span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138728502354978457.post-33078769240223251332012-02-14T21:31:00.000+01:002012-02-14T21:31:04.955+01:00Cartoon corner<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ60C6GtwURIO7od2hpJSeGeMCY7u0Z3miUB1mL_3erD3B9nX8DNh3MNf6utdcgpJ6f51Dm0Jo-MZLCXT1zIrTHDhRwjcyENtQEqq-nnM8jUmrFNWvpqzlWa2PvPlsLtL7MF8FtYkZ5J1I/s1600/Cartoon121.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ60C6GtwURIO7od2hpJSeGeMCY7u0Z3miUB1mL_3erD3B9nX8DNh3MNf6utdcgpJ6f51Dm0Jo-MZLCXT1zIrTHDhRwjcyENtQEqq-nnM8jUmrFNWvpqzlWa2PvPlsLtL7MF8FtYkZ5J1I/s400/Cartoon121.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138728502354978457.post-67356927934211812702012-02-14T10:37:00.001+01:002012-02-14T10:39:53.280+01:00Another cartoon<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZJqdEBdyc12FEPGXpRbLoUr96Pc_BSeVqoHmeooIRMbMm5bLVk6F9v6AM3YtkcynAaw-oCpkARnEbM2sDs0_WdYCcMNgbWmZgaIyF2MQFt8Dioby8kZmSvNd0fDfblIzbbu3Si9dC5AJo/s1600/Cartoon119.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZJqdEBdyc12FEPGXpRbLoUr96Pc_BSeVqoHmeooIRMbMm5bLVk6F9v6AM3YtkcynAaw-oCpkARnEbM2sDs0_WdYCcMNgbWmZgaIyF2MQFt8Dioby8kZmSvNd0fDfblIzbbu3Si9dC5AJo/s400/Cartoon119.jpg" width="383" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138728502354978457.post-59984340826751963802012-02-13T23:58:00.002+01:002012-02-14T00:19:23.271+01:00A cartoon<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieAgivw4AdIwPdDZcrHuznMAK4w6D6G3cD9n5uVFojjz3uDj32e1gIRGnQNUoMjLBvZ6GFVheAnGbd6ez1QdjkZ4CwcGwcQxsrbKnBVAx6lLIazqFHh8xc4LJ981cMJju4Qr4PJO6BgPbb/s1600/Cartoon118.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieAgivw4AdIwPdDZcrHuznMAK4w6D6G3cD9n5uVFojjz3uDj32e1gIRGnQNUoMjLBvZ6GFVheAnGbd6ez1QdjkZ4CwcGwcQxsrbKnBVAx6lLIazqFHh8xc4LJ981cMJju4Qr4PJO6BgPbb/s400/Cartoon118.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“Matthewson – didn’t I fire you in last week’s cartoon?”</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138728502354978457.post-14721828008444993432011-12-16T21:21:00.009+01:002013-03-07T00:58:22.667+01:00Lawrence Block on Lenore Hart<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;">It is increasingly clear to me that St Martin's Press believes that if they simply ignore anyone who informs them that Lenore Hart is a plagiarist, the issue will gradually fade away. This is incredibly arrogant, highly irresponsible - and extremely frustrating. As explained <a href="http://jeremyduns.blogspot.com/2011/12/accidental-mountweazel-lenore-hart-is.html">elsewhere</a>, this is not a borderline case or a grey area. <i>The Raven's Bride </i>blatantly plagiarizes an earlier novel, <i>The Very Young Mrs Poe </i>by Cothburn O'Neal. Hart followed many passages in O'Neal's novel sentence by sentence, sometimes tweaking a few words or changing the order around, but at other times repeating his sentences word for word. Please see my last <a href="http://jeremyduns.blogspot.com/2011/11/ravens-bride.html">two</a> <a href="http://jeremyduns.blogspot.com/2011/12/accidental-mountweazel-lenore-hart-is.html">posts</a> for many examples, including in the comments and at <a href="http://worldofpoe.blogspot.com/2011/03/my-little-longfellow-war.html">other</a> <a href="http://thesumpplug.blogspot.com/2011/12/hart-tells-tales.html">blogs</a>. This is brazen and extensive plagiarism.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;">And yet, despite this having being covered by the <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g7kxHj4L2xpXg_Cci1a5G3KYk4FA?docId=099f5a93037044e7933dd6544f923d95">Associated Press</a>, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/nov/21/lenore-hart-rejects-plagiarism-accusations?newsfeed=true"><i>The Guardian</i></a>, and <a href="http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/08/is-it-plagiarism-publisher-says-no/"><i>The New York Times</i></a>, St Martin's have continued to insist that black is white, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/stmartinspress?sk=app_324540057556264">and claimed that Lenore Hart is not a plagiarist</a>. With a straight face. The idea that dozens of scenes are identical in theme, precise incidents and language is because Hart was working from 'the same limited historical record' is blown apart by the fact she copied many phrases and even sentences <i>word for word </i>from O'Neal's novel, with no quote marks or citations, and that O'Neal made several very specific historical errors, <i><a href="http://thesumpplug.blogspot.com/2011/12/hart-tells-tales.html">which Hart repeated verbatim</a></i>. It is also obvious that St Martin's only made their weaselly statement at all because this was written about in the press. They were informed of this by others before me, once in April and again in May by someone else, and they ignored both of them. Now they are ignoring <a href="https://www.facebook.com/stmartinspress?sk=wall&filter=1">me, and anyone else who points this out</a>.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;">So who <i>couldn't </i>they ignore, I wondered to myself earlier today. And then it hit me. Lawrence Block.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYnBoMf2TXJk564IF5nATzGgl5RXfK6jztRSzOq8bSdoUhclBAXwlbV6IsGOffyhDH8NfL5Z-HB5F7-QK-WZTRKECFt3ARIx7_pk20IJv_QeQTVtROF_V3vdKFQq9AiYbnfoMGh6Fu3JPA/s1600/lawrenceblockauthorphoto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYnBoMf2TXJk564IF5nATzGgl5RXfK6jztRSzOq8bSdoUhclBAXwlbV6IsGOffyhDH8NfL5Z-HB5F7-QK-WZTRKECFt3ARIx7_pk20IJv_QeQTVtROF_V3vdKFQq9AiYbnfoMGh6Fu3JPA/s200/lawrenceblockauthorphoto.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;">At 73, Block is a legendary figure, one of the great crime novelists of our age. And last month, he was the moderator of a panel at the Mysterious Bookshop in New York titled <a href="http://www.pulpserenade.com/2011/11/new-faces-of-suspense-at-mysterious.html">'The New Faces Of Suspense'</a>. One of these new faces was Q.R. Markham - Quentin Rowan. When it was revealed soon after that Rowan had plagiarized his novel, <i>Assassin of Secrets</i>, Block took the unusual step of writing an <a href="http://www.amazon.com/review/R2FR7PXB5DHMZ4/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm">Amazon review</a> for it, in which he made his feelings clear:</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;">'There are plenty of good sentences in this book, but they're all the work of other writers. The author must be seriously disturbed; he quite deliberately stole everything in the book. And no, it's not an homage, not a tribute album. It's theft, and quite transparent; it should be off-sale by now, but it may take Amazon a while to take it down. The author, it turns out, has made a habit of this sort of thing throughout his "career." Let us not encourage him.' </span></blockquote>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Remembering this a few hours ago, I contacted Lawrence Block and informed him of Lenore Hart and <i>The Raven's Bride</i>, providing him with some links and asking him to make a statement about it in the hope that it would make a difference and help resolve this. 'Lawrence Block condemns Lenore Hart' is, I think, news that would be impossible for St Martin's Press to ignore. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;">And here's his reply to me, which I have just received:</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;">'Jeremy, thanks for this. I had indeed followed your blog in connection with the Quentin Rowan debacle. I can't say I was taken in by him, as I just had a quick glance at his book before the panel on which we both appeared, read enough to know it wasn't anything I wanted to read more of, and at the event itself found him sort of an odd duck; we didn't really connect. When it all went pear-shaped a couple of days later, I was surprised and dismayed, but heartened by our mutual publisher's quick withdrawal of the book.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I can't imagine why St. Martin's doesn't do the same. What this woman has done, clearly, is sit down with a book and rewrite it. That's marginally acceptable when you're writing a term paper for a high school history class, but rather less so when you're foisting a novel upon the public.'</span></blockquote>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Thank you, Mr Block. And, indeed, that is precisely what Lenore Hart has done. Can some enterprising journalist or 16 now run an article on this, and hopefully bring this affair, finally, to an end? Because I don't have Lady Gaga's email address, and I have a book I need to finish.</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138728502354978457.post-41861742253726039752011-12-13T17:58:00.034+01:002013-03-07T00:58:45.472+01:00Accidental Mountweazels: Lenore Hart is a proven plagiarist<div style="color: black;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">If you've read my last <a href="http://jeremyduns.blogspot.com/2011/11/ravens-bride.html">post</a>, and are following me on Facebook or Twitter, you will know by now that St Martin's Press has finally <a href="https://www.facebook.com/stmartinspress?sk=app_324540057556264">issued a statement about Lenore Hart</a>, claiming that she is not guilty of plagiarism:</span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: black;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">'In April 2011, when these allegations first came to our attention, Ms. Hart supplied a detailed response, which cited her research into biographical and historical sources, and explained why her novel and Cothburn O’Neal’s “The Very Young Mrs. Poe” contain certain details of place, description and incident. As Ms. Hart explained in her response, of course two novels about the same historical figure necessarily reliant on the same limited historical record will have similarities. We have reviewed that response and remain satisfied with Ms. Hart’s explanation.'</span></span></blockquote>
<div style="color: black;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">I have a copy of Lenore Hart's defence, and while it is extremely long (around 18,000 words), it does not explain any such thing. Saying something doesn't make it so.<i> The Raven's Bride</i> is not just plagiarized from Cothburn O'Neal's novel <i>The Very Young Mrs Poe</i>, but blatantly so. It's not a borderline case, or in any way debatable. As indicated already by <a href="http://worldofpoe.blogspot.com/2011/03/my-little-longfellow-war.html">The World of Edgar Allan Poe</a> and revealed in greater detail by Archie Valparaiso on his <a href="http://thesumpplug.blogspot.com/2011/12/hart-tells-tales.html">blog</a>, it's not that Hart worked from the same sources as Cothburn O'Neal, using the same historical facts. The historical record for many of the events in both novels is very limited indeed, and O'Neal therefore had to surmise a great deal. In doing so, he got several extremely specific facts <i>wrong. </i>And Lenore Hart repeated them. </span></span></div>
<div style="color: black;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">From <i>The Very Young Mrs Poe</i>:</span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: black;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">'The train crossed the Appomattox after sunset but pulled into the Petersburg depot before dark. Their host, Mr. Hiram Haines, publisher of the Petersburg <i>American Constellation</i>, was waiting with his wife. He was a cheerful, balding man...'</span></span></blockquote>
<div style="color: black;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">From <i>The Raven's Bride</i>:</span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: black;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">'We crossed the Appomattox after sunset and rolled into the Petersburg depot before full dark. As we descended from the car Eddy spotted our host, Hiram Haines, the cheerful, balding publisher of the <i>American Constellation</i>...'</span></span></blockquote>
<div style="color: black;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">This is obviously plagiarism simply from the extraordinary number of similarities between the sentences. Of the 37 words in O'Neal's two sentences, Hart repeats 21 of them: <i>crossed, the, Appomattox, after, sunset, into, the, Petersburg, depot, before, dark, host, Hiram, Haines, publisher, of, the, American, Constellation, cheerful, balding</i>... If you plug the phrase "crossed the Appomattox after sunset" into Google Books - and note that the phrase is not about Edgar Allan Poe or his wife - of the 15 million books scanned by Google it only comes up with one result: <i>The Very Young Mrs Poe</i>.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">But even more damningly, and totally contradicting Lenore Hart and St Martin's Press's defences, Cothburn O'Neal <i>invented </i>several details of this scene. Very little is known about Edgar and Virginia Poe's honeymoon other than that it took place in 1836 in Petersburg and that they stayed with Hiram Haines. O'Neal invented his account of their journey there.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">In April, Lenore Hart defended the similarities between these scenes thus:</span></span></div>
<blockquote style="color: black;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">'I'd like to point out first that Eddie and Virginia have no choice but to "take a train" to Petersburg because that - aside from riding horseback - was how you GOT from Richmond to Petersburg in 1835.'</span></span></blockquote>
<div style="color: black;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Actually, no it wasn't. St Martin's Press has taken Hart's word on this, and much else. But they should have looked closer. Because unfortunately for Lenore Hart, Cothburn O'Neal got this wrong - he took the detail that they went by train from Mary Phillips' 1926 biography of Poe and invented an account of the journey from whole cloth. But it was in fact impossible to take a train from Richmond to Petersburg then, because the line <a href="http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Richmond_and_Petersburg_Railroad_During_the_Civil_War_The">wasn't completed until 1838</a>.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Cothburn O'Neal also speculated in his novel that Hiram Haines was cheerful and balding, neither of which can be found in any historical source.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Once we get onto this train, which did not exist historically, there's a near-identical scene in which the conductor recognizes that the couple are newlyweds and takes them to the ladies' coach, where they can sit together. Here's the scene in O'Neal's novel:</span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: black;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">'He asked permission of the half-dozen lady passengers to bring them aboard. "If you ladies don't object," he said, "I will close my eyes to company rules and allow the groom to sit in the ladies' coach with his lovely bride." </span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: black;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">"We would be delighted to have them with us," a self-appointed spokesman assured him. All the others agreed and subjected Sissy to as thorough a scrutiny as she had ever stood before. She felt that she passed inspection. At least there were no audible tongue-cluckings or obvious stares of disapproval. It was difficult to determine the age of a young lady, especially if she were reasonably well filled out and modestly veiled. </span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: black;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">"I must ask you not to smoke, Mr. Poe" the conductor warned in parting. "Smoking is restricted to the gentlemen's car on the rear." </span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: black;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">"Thank you," Eddie said. "I seldom smoke."'</span></span></blockquote>
<div style="color: black;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">And here it is in Hart's novel: </span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: black;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">'"Going to flout company rules, folks, and seat you all in the second coach." He grinned at Eddie. "Already cleared it with the ladies aboard." </span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: black;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">When we climbed up no one looked askance or asked how old I was. Of course, if a female is veiled and reasonably well filled out it's hard to tell her exact age anyhow. The conductor left after admonishing the groom, "Smoking is restricted to the gentlemens' car at the rear, sir." </span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: black;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">And Eddie, who had just been withdrawing one from the fistful of huge Cuban segars Tom Cleland had presented him with after the ceremony, sheepishly slid it back into his coat pocket. "Thank you for the information," he said. "In any case, I seldom smoke."'</span></span></blockquote>
<div style="color: black;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">This is very obvious plagiarism, but the real smoking gun is Virginia Poe's clothing. That she's veiled might be expected. But Hart also used precisely the same unusual phrase as Cothburn O'Neal to describe her: 'reasonably well filled out'. Not well filled out, or reasonably filled out, or quite well filled out, or even some entirely other choice of words: had some flesh on her bones, was fully grown, was reasonably mature-looking for her 13 years, or any of hundreds of possibilities. No, it's word for word the same as in O'Neal's wholly invented scene, 'reasonably well filled out'. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Here's how Lenore Hart explained this remarkable set of coincidences in her defence in April:</span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: black;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">'It’s clear here both O’Neal and I did the same research into rules and customs of southern railroad travel circa 1839. The “second coach” was usually designated the “Ladies’ Car”, and the conductor, to comport himself as a gentleman, would have to ask the ladies’ permission to invade their space. But also this was often the First Class car. The “rule” my conductor is talking about is that the young married couple only had second-class tickets, not first class -- very expensive. But he will let it slide. Smoking cars had just been introduced (via Europe) so it’s unlikely Poe would know this – a minor embarrassment to him before his new bride. The custom of giving wedding cigars to new grooms should not require citation, I think -- and like any guy, he just wanted to smoke them. Again, we have a passage of commonplace social interaction in a 19<sup>th</sup>-century mode of transportation, where you can almost predict in any book, film, or TV series, what the characters will talk about. A honeymoon trip on a train with people joshing the newlyweds. The usual. Take out what’s different about the two passages, and what’s left is clichés.'</span></span></span></div>
</blockquote>
<div style="color: black;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Well, no. The scenes are both taking place in 1836, not 1839, on a train line that did not exist then, with a very precise set of events happening in the same order, using many of the same words. In some cases, <i>the exact same words</i>:</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">'reasonably well filled out'</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">'reasonably well filled out' </span></span></blockquote>
</div>
<blockquote>
<div style="color: black;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">'"Smoking is restricted to the gentlemen's car on the rear."'</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">'"Smoking is restricted to the gentlemens' car at the rear, sir."'</span></span></div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<div style="color: black;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">'"In any case, I seldom smoke."'</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">'"Thank you," Eddie said. "I seldom smoke."' </span></span></div>
</blockquote>
<div style="color: black;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">There are many other examples of such undeniable and precise similarities in Hart's novel. In <i>The Very Young Mrs Poe</i>, O'Neal describes the following scene on this impossible train journey to Petersburg:</span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: black;">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">'As the train pulled out of the depot and onto the bridge across the James River, Eddy pointed out Gamble’s Hill rising to the right above the State Armory and the ironworks situated on the banks of the canal. He shouted the names into her ear. But when the train stopped for a few minutes outside Manchester, just across the river, they were both mute again.'</span></span></span></div>
</blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">And in <i>The Raven's Bride</i>, again on this same impossible journey on a non-existent train, Lenore </span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">Hart has the following: </span></span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: black;">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">'As we chugged away from the confines of Richmond, Eddie leaned over and shouted the names of landmarks into my ear: “Gamble’s Hill. The State Armory, there. Oh – and the Tredegar Iron Works.” By the time we stopped briefly at Manchester, on the opposite side of the James River, he’d fallen silent again, either out of names or out of breath.'</span></span></span> </div>
</blockquote>
<div style="color: black;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">There's no debate here. These aren't coincidences, and it's not about working from 'the same limited historical record'. That's just bluff from a liar who has been caught, accepted by a publisher neglecting its duty. This is open and shut plagiarism, and it is shameless, blatant, extensive and proven. By insisting that black is white, Lenore Hart is compounding what she has done: the decent thing now would be to admit frankly that she plagiarized this novel, admit to whatever other plagiarism she is guilty of if that is the case, apologize whole-heartedly, and resign from her creative writing teaching role at Wilkes University.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">St Martin's Press is in no way to blame for the fact that Lenore Hart is a plagiarist, but by denying what is clear to anyone who can read they are behaving irresponsibly and arrogantly and doing their brand untold damage. It's time to stop supporting Lenore Hart, who is a liar and a fraud, and to do the right thing by their readers and the estate of the writer she stole from: withdraw <i>The Raven's Bride </i>and issue a statement condemning Lenore Hart's plagiarism. The longer this goes on, the worse it gets.</span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138728502354978457.post-63043101448419690712011-11-16T04:29:00.055+01:002013-03-07T00:59:06.566+01:00The Raven's Bride<div>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">It's half-past three in the morning here in Stockholm, and I'm wired. A problem has arisen, and I have thought about it a little and this post is my solution.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">There have been a lot of articles about the QR Markham/Quentin Rowan affair, and some have mentioned me, and this blog. One such article appeared in <i><a href="http://www.observer.com/2011/11/q-r-markham-takes-his-remorse-public/">The New York Observer</a></i>, and another in <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew-losowsky/qr-markham-quentin-rowan-plagiarist_b_1093831.html"><i>The Huffington Post</i></a>. I noticed that at the foot of both those articles someone had made the following comment:</span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">“Earlier this year, Lenore Hart's "The Raven's Bride" contained many passages that were a direct lift from a 1956 novel, "The Very Young Mrs. Poe," by Cothburn O'Neal. She got away with it--I suppose because O'Neal's novel is so little-known--and no doubt Markham believed he could get away with it as well. </span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="snn_comment_text">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I wonder how many other cases of blatant plagiarism are lurking out there?”</span></span></div>
</blockquote>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">That's something I've also wondered. I hadn't heard of either book, or of this at all. And I could have simply ignored it, especially as I have been very caught up with the Rowan stuff and am at a crucial stage in my current book, that stage being I have to deliver it very soon. And while I have now been involved in helping to expose two fairly high-profile cases of plagiarism, that has never been my plan or intention. I read about Johann Hari on Twitter one day, like a lot of other people. I spotted a reference to <i>Assassin of Secrets </i>in a James Bond forum, and it was closer to home, as I had blurbed the book and my last blog post was a Q and A with the man. I really really <i>really </i>dislike plagiarism, but it's not some campaign of mine, despite all appearances to the contrary.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">But I can't leave a comment like that sitting there. Why should Quentin Rowan be exposed, and someone else - if they are a plagiarist - not be, simply because nobody bothered to google it to follow up?</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.savannahbookfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/The-Ravens-Bride.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.savannahbookfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/The-Ravens-Bride.jpg" width="213" /></a>So I googled it, and it brought up this <a href="http://worldofpoe.blogspot.com/2011/03/my-little-longfellow-war.html">blog</a> post. I haven't read either book. None of the examples were quite as stunningly verbatim as Rowan's when I started plugging his phrases into Google Books. But I read it again, carefully. And yes: Lenore Hart is a plagiarist.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I started tweeting about it, and the author of that blog post and some other people started discussing it. Hart is a well-established and well-respected novelist, published by St Martin's Press. The allegations on that blog were drawn to her attention several months ago, and she wrote an astonishing and utterly bonkers 18,000-word response, arguing why all the similarities noted between her novel <i>The Raven's Bride</i> and the 1956 novel <i>The Very Young Mrs. Poe </i>by Cothburn O'Neal were all perfectly explainable and not at all due to rampant plagiarism on her behalf.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Her defence is as unconvincing as it is prolix. I haven't read <i>The Raven's Bride</i>, which received a starred revew from <i>Publishers Weekly</i>, or <i>The Very Young Mrs. Poe</i>, but the examples speak for themselves. However, bearing in mind this very long document, I wanted to think of a quick way to get this book withdrawn. With the Rowan book, I emailed his editor citing several examples. I don't know Hart's editor, I don't own either book, and I don't want to spend days working through it - only for Hart to reply with an 18,000-word defence that bores people into submission, which is what I suppose happened last time. St Martin's have also previously been informed of Hart's plagiarism by at least two parties, and from what I've been told never even bothered to respond in either case.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">So I'm not going to go that route and potentially waste a lot of time. Instead, I'm hoping to shine some more light on it in this post and, knowing that some bloggers and journalists may now be reading this blog because of the Rowan stuff, am leaving it up to you lot. Search, and you will find incontrovertible proof that Lenore Hart is a plagiarist. She has written quite a lot, including under pseudonyms, and I suspect some of that work may be plagiarized as well. But even if not, <i>The Raven's Bride</i> most definitely is, and St Martin's should withdraw it, just as Little, Brown responsibly did with <i>Assassin of Secrets </i>when it was brought to their attention. I can't spend the time going through the weeds on this. But here are just two quick examples (of many) that prove she is a plagiarist, followed by her amazing defences of them. Oh, and do read this <a href="http://www.bookslut.com/features/2011_05_017609.php">interview</a>, in which she is shameless enough to be condescending about the novel from which she stole.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">From <i>The Very Young Mrs. Poe </i>by Cothburn O'Neal, 1956:</span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">'Beyond Hopewell and the confluence of the Appomattox, the James grew narrower and wound in great loops around Bermuda Hundred. Further on, the current was swifter, foaming against gray boulders and lush green islands which twisted the channel torturously.'</span></span></div>
</blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;"><i>From The Raven's Bride </i>by Lenore Hart, 2011: </span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">'Beyond the confluence of the Appomattox, the James grew narrower and wound in great loops about Bermuda Hundred. The current ran more swiftly there, shoving its relentless force against gray rocks and lush low peninsulas which twisted the channel into a shallow treacherous serpent whose narrow back we must ride.'</span></span></div>
</blockquote>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">That first sentence is very nearly verbatim from O'Neal, and is blatant plagiarism. It alone should be enough to have this novel withdrawn. But Hart, instead of raising her hands and saying 'Okay, you got me, I'm a plagiarist, here's my <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-a-personal-apology-2354679.html">mealy-mouthed apology admitting what you've already discovered</a> and I'm off to Columbia for a few months', decided instead to try to defend it, thus:</span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">'<span lang="EN-US">When I Googled the “confluence of the Appomattox and James” phrase I got 1,960 hits, in documents ranging from historical society pamphlets to real estate brochures. When I added the word “Hopewell” the number rose to 26,200 results.' </span></span></span></div>
</blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">Extraordinary. Because after taking the words </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">"the James grew narrower and wound in great loops" from <i>The Raven's Bride</i> and entering them in quotes into Google Books, </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;"><i>I </i>got just one hit, which was </span><span style="font-size: large;"><i>The Very Young Mrs. Poe </i>by Cothburn O'Neal. Fancy that.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Anyway, Hart went on in her defence, Googling is for the birds: </span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">'I didn’t need to do this, though, since my husband has taken our sailboat across the Bay and up the James on research cruises for both his historical books and mine. Bermuda Hundred was the site of the first incorporated town in the colony of Virginia, a known treacherous spot even today, and the river does in fact loop around it, in a serpentine way. So I suppose could have said “snaked.” But I didn’t.'</span></span></div>
</blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">No. But I don't think that is really the point. And </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">'Bermuda Hundred was the site of the first incorporated town in the colony of Virginia' is </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">plagiarized from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bermuda_Hundred,_Virginia">Wikipedia</a>. Yes, in her defence against allegations of plagiarism, Hart plagiarized. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">Hart should know full well what plagiarism is. A good clear definition can be found in <a href="http://www2.etown.edu/docs/registration/archived_catalogs/2008-2009.pdf">this</a> 2008-2009 PDF prospectus from Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania: </span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US">'Plagiarism is defined as taking and using the writings or ideas of another without acknowledging the source.'</span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">In the same document, you will also find Lenore Hart listed as that year's Visiting Assistant Professor of English. As well as being an acclaimed novelist, she does a lot of teaching of writing, and is currently on the faculty of the <a href="http://www.wilkes.edu/pages/2171.asp">Graduate Creative Writing Program</a> at </span><span style="font-size: large;">Wilkes University in Pennsylvania.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">Next example. The protagonist of both novels is a real but rather obscure historical figure - Edgar Allan Poe's wife Virginia. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">Cothburn </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">O'Neal told his story of 'the very young Mrs. Poe' in the third person, and </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">Lenore </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">Hart tells it in the first. So </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">O’Neal: </span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">“She turned to look out across the basin toward Federal Hill.”</span></span></div>
</blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">And Hart:</span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">“I turned away to look out across the basin toward Federal Hill.”</span></span></div>
</blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">You can't <i>coincidentally </i>write a sentence that similar to someone else's. It is plagiarism. But Hart defends it, and in style. She points out that</span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">'...my Virginia is looking AWAY from the familiar (Baltimore proper). and the past, toward the unknown (the shipping channel) that would soon convey her to her new life. The one in which she imagines she would soon, magically, become “fully a woman,” as she calls it. However, as she looks she also notes the incoming cargoes of doomed shellfish and dead waterfowl bound for market (all on the properly-identified commercial fishing boats of the era) and begins to feel terror. She suddenly, briefly is unable to <i>breathe</i> – this will become an important repetitive motif in my novel. In fiction, whether historical or contemporary, it is considered ideal to SHOW emotions through actions and imagery, rather than to summarize or baldly explain them, as in a nonfiction essay. If my goal was unclear... then perhaps I was too subtle here.'</span></span></div>
</blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">No, Lenore Hart. You were not too subtle here. You just added the word 'away' to another writer's sentence, and it is just one of many, many examples of your blatant plagiarism.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;">Can I now hand this over to someone else, please? I think this deserves to be exposed, and this book withdrawn at once, but I really don't have the time or energy to work on it any more at the moment. Over to you, bold bloggers, tweeters, Facebookers, journalists, editors, agents, publishers... </span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138728502354978457.post-47654926713389291042011-11-10T14:58:00.076+01:002013-03-07T01:01:24.488+01:00Highway Robbery: The Mask of Knowing in Assassin of Secrets<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">In Martin Amis’ debut novel, <i>The Rachel Papers</i>, published in 1973, precocious teenager Charles Highway sits exams to study English at Oxford University, after which he is interviewed by one of the professors in his rooms. Dr Charles Knowd begins the interview by asking Highway if he likes literature. “What kind of question is that?” asks the young man. Knowd replies:</span></span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">‘“For example. In the Literature paper you complain that Yeats and Eliot... ‘in their later phases opted for the cold certainties that can work only outside the messiness of life. They prudently repaired to the artifice of eternity, etc. etc.’ This then gives you a grand-sounding line on the ‘faked inhumanity’ of the seduction of the typist in <i>The Waste Land</i> – a point you owe to W. W. Clarke – which, it seems, is just a bit too messy all of a sudden. Again, in the Criticism paper you jeer at Lawrence</span><span lang="EN-US">’</span><span lang="EN-US">s ‘unreal sexual grandiosity’, using Middleton Murry on <i>Women in Love</i>, also without acknowledgement. In the very next line you scold his ‘overfacile equation of art and life.’” </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">He sighed. “On Blake you seem quite happy to paraphrase the ‘Fearful Symmetry’ stuff about ‘autonomous verbal constructs, necessarily unconnected with life’, but in your Essay paper you come on all excited about the ‘urgency… with which Blake educates and refines our emotions, side-stepping the props and splints of artifice’. Ever tried side-stepping a splint, by the way? Or educating someone urgently, for that matter? </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">“Donne is okay one minute because of his ‘emotional courage’, the way he seems to ‘stretch out his emotions in the very fabric of the verse’, and not okay the next because you detect... what <i>is</i> it you detect? – ah yes, a ‘meretricious exaltation of verbal play over real feeling, tailoring his emotion to suit his metrics’. Now which is it to be? I really wouldn’t carp, but these remarks come from the paragraph and are about the same stanza. </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">“I won’t go on... Literature has a kind of life of its own, you know. You can’t just use it...ruthlessly, for your own ends...”</span></span></span></div>
</blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">To play with the phrasing of Dr Knowd’s assessment of Charles Highway, Quentin Rowan has, I think, used others’ literature ruthlessly for his own ends (if you haven<span lang="EN-US">’</span>t followed this story, please see <a href="http://jeremyduns.blogspot.com/2011/11/assassin-of-secrets.html">my last post</a>). But in doing so, he did, curiously, also create something that had ‘a life of its own’, and to adopt a pseudo-academic tone, what one might call a mask of knowing and an unearned, one could say, automatic resonance.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Apart from taking the piss out of the inevitable academic studies of this book that I think will soon appear, what do I mean by that? Let me try to explain, in terms which I hope are not pseudo-academic, self-serving or forgiving, but an honest attempt to understand why I liked the book so much, and why it ‘worked’, at least for a time. Since the plagiarism in <i>Assassin of Secrets</i> has come to light, I’ve seen remarks from several people wondering how on earth it was not spotted earlier, by his agent, his editors, reviewers, or Greg Rucka, Duane Swierczynski and myself</span>, all of whom praised the book and are now angered at having missed what it was. I haven’t gone through every line of the book, but it seems clear that the vast majority of it, pretty much down to every paragraph, was stitched together from other works: at least a dozen in total. But even if you weren’t familiar with the works he stole from, some have asked, surely it must have been obvious that the book was not original because it would have been totally incoherent?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Well, no. It is a coherent novel. The plot is not its driving force, as it might be in a crime story, and in many ways it read to me like a collection of set scenes, which of course was what it was. But that feeling – absent the knowledge that it was plagiarized – was part of its charm. I don’t believe that the book was a post-modern experiment to expose the publishing industry or anything of that sort, as some have inevitably <a href="http://flcenterlitarts.wordpress.com/2011/11/09/assassin-of-secrets-plagiarism-scandal-or-cutting-edge-work-of-genius/">suggested</a>, simply because ruining your own career and having to pay your advance back in the process is not all that fun an experiment. Was Richard Condon doing the same when he plagiarized <i>I, Claudius </i>in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Manchurian Candidate</i>? Or was he, more likely, simply plagiarizing and hoping nobody would spot it, as indeed in that case nobody <a href="http://articles.sfgate.com/2003-10-04/entertainment/17512034_1_software-engineer-claudius-novel">did</a> for many years. (I don’t know if anyone has examined the book in more detail since 2003, but I suspect there may be a lot more plagiarism in it, and probably in Condon’s other novels, too.)</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">But a great part of the appeal of <i>Assassin of Secrets</i>, to me anyway, was what I felt to be its post-modernism, albeit in a very different way. It reminded me of several other novels – sadly, not the ones he plagiarized! It reminded me in parts of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cockpit</i>, Jerzy Kosinki’s 1975 novel about a former spy called Tarden, which contains a lot of dazzling writing but reads as fragmentary excerpts. This is perhaps not all that surprising, as Kosinski has also been exposed as a plagiarist (long after he was published, and won many awards), and <i>Cockpit </i>is now thought to have been a compilation of pieces </span><span lang="EN-US">Kosinski commissioned </span><span lang="EN-US">from unknown writers and then assembled, partially helped by a young Paul Auster. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">It also reminded me in parts of David Lynch’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mullholland Drive</i>. Like <i>Cockpit</i>, that film is compelling not for its plot, which is unfathomable or non-existent, but in the way it plays with our memories of and feelings for genre conventions. Both <i>Cockpit </i>and <i>Mulholland Drive </i>feel like dreams, where narrative rules are abandoned, leaving dead-ends that allow the reader or viewer to step in and find their own resonances. It also reminded me in parts of <i>Inception</i>, which does have a coherent plot (<a href="http://memearchive.net/memerial.net/741/picture.jpg">I think</a>) but does much the same. At one point in that film, Cobb and his team have to infiltrate a guarded clinic – that’s plot. But Christopher Nolan could have placed that clinic anywhere, and the plot would have been the same. He decided to place it in a snowy mountain fortress, I think so he could have fun exploring, almost in isolation of the plot, our memories of and expectations of a James Bond film. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">The plot of <i>Assassin of Secrets </i>was more coherent than <i>Cockpit </i>or <i>Mulholland Drive</i>, but not as coherent as <i>Inception</i>. It worked, and held the attention, but it was not the chief appeal: it was understood that it was a vehicle for spy shenanigans around the world. The book also reminded me of <i>Tunc </i>and <i>Nunquam</i>, two linked novels by Lawrence Durrell that <a href="http://jeremyduns.blogspot.com/2010/12/007-in-depth-agents-of-influence.html">play with spy thriller conventions</a>, and James Bond, and leap about all over the place. There is a plot, but it’s not what I primarily find enjoyable about those novels, the latter of which, incidentally, features a snowbound clinic, and of which <i>The Observer</i></span><i><span lang="EN-US">’</span>s </i><span lang="EN-US">critic wrote: </span><span lang="EN-US">‘</span><span lang="EN-US">There are times when one wonders if one isn</span><span lang="EN-US">’</span><span lang="EN-US">t reading some unholy coupling of Swinburne and Ian Fleming.</span><span lang="EN-US">’</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">It was the style that I liked most about <i>Assassin of Secrets</i>.</span><span lang="EN-US"> That style was predominantly taken from the American spy novelist Charles McCarry, at least five of whose novels Rowan plagiarized: <i>The Tears of Autumn</i>, <i>Christopher’s Ghosts</i>, <i>Shelley’s Heart</i>, <i>The Last Supper </i>and <i>Second Sight</i>. I’ve read the first two of those mentioned several years ago, and remember next to nothing about them other than that the protagonist is a CIA officer who is also a poet, that I enjoyed them, and that the prose was wonderful. Much of what I admired in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Assassin of Secrets</i>, I now realize, was McCarry’s prose, which looks to take up roughly half the book, although that may not have been the case with the draft his agent submitted to publishers. On July 2 2010, shortly after he was offered a two-book deal by Little, Brown, Rowan wrote to me via Facebook:</span></span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">‘</span><span lang="EN-US">Now I </span><span lang="EN-US">s</span><span lang="EN-US">’</span><span lang="EN-US">pose I wait for them to summon me to sign some contracts and then I’m working with the editor. Can’t remember if I told you, but besides changing the title, he wants me to change a few scenes he thought too Bond-like. If they’re really going to stick me with this new title, I’m thinking of proposing ‘An Enemy of War’ instead. Even so, it’s quite forgettable. </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Trying to take it easy now and celebrate but mind is mostly racing miles ahead of me. Luckily, I’ve already started the second book...</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">All the Best,</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Quentin</span><span lang="EN-US">’</span></span></span></div>
</blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">‘</span><span lang="EN-US">Too Bond-like’ is quite something, as most of the published novel that is not plagiarized from McCarry </span><span lang="EN-US">is plagiarized from Bond novels. Presuming he was telling me the truth, I wonder how much Bond was in his original submission to his agent. But perhaps this was a lie designed to put me off the scent, although it seems an odd way to do that. We had discussed our favourite authors in the genre before. On May 4 2010, he had emailed me:</span></span></span> <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">‘Have you tried Adam Diment? or James Dark (Don’t think that was his real name, but his spy is named Mark Hood). I’ve found them both pretty enjoyable, though a little light-weight. One thing I’ve found in my research is that there really aren’t that many American spy novelists who are any good. Perhaps only Charles McCarry. Though I suppose there are good American thriller writers, their prose is usually slightly awful. Take Robert Ludlum, for example.’</span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">I have read a few novels by Adam Diment and James Dark (though please don’t test me on them), and told him so. I also told him that I had read some McCarry and enjoyed it, but that I hadn<span lang="EN-US">’</span>t read all his work <span lang="EN-US"><span class="st">– </span></span>perhaps at this point he decided to add more McCarry into the book<span lang="EN-US">.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Quentin Rowan<span lang="EN-US">’</span><span lang="EN-US">s </span>emails to me were, either accidentally or by design, well aimed. I share his view of Ludlum, who of course he also plagiarized in <i>Assassin of Secrets</i>. I think it may be that he knew I would share these views, as I have probably spouted them somewhere online in the last decade, and he was simply parroting them back at me. Or he may have genuinely felt this way – in which case why did he plagiarize Ludlum, if he thought his prose was ‘slightly awful’? Well, not <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">all</i> of Ludlum’s prose is that, of course. Ludlum has sold over 200 million books, so he was doing something right. And I think that was primarily two things: premise, and pace. By the first, I mean Ludlum had some terrific premises, most notably that of <i>The Bourne Identity</i>, of a government assassin who has forgotten who he is and is being chased by his desperate employers. As I explored in <a href="http://jeremyduns.blogspot.com/2010/06/bourne-yesterday.html">this essay</a>, it is clearly inspired by Ian Fleming, who I think in turn may have taken the premise from two previous writers. But Ludlum made it his own, and made it exciting. On pace, Ken Follett has <a href="http://www.ken-follett.com/masterclass/draft.html">written</a> that a story ‘should turn about every four to six pages’. McCarry does not subscribe to that idea; Ludlum sometimes has several major turns in one page. These are often rendered in hackneyed and laboured prose and signalled by internal dialogue in italics with exclamation points, but they have their own intensity that sweeps you up and keeps you reading.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">And Ludlum didn’t <i>always </i>write in hackneyed prose. Those bits tend to stand out and irritate me, but he also wrote plenty of vivid and evocative descriptions, sometimes overly florid but sometimes judged just right. He was notorious for making mistakes about guns, but his fight scenes are usually gripping. He was also extremely prolific, perhaps making detection seem less likely. It looks to me as though Quentin Rowan took several passages from Ludlum that he thought fitted his purposes. They provided his hero with some muscularity – the stereotypical secret agent who can kill everyone in the room using a toothpick. <i>Assassin of Secrets </i>also reminded me of Trevanian, incidentally, who parodied this sort of thing brilliantly in <i>Shibumi</i>, <i>The Eiger Sanction</i> and <i>The Loo Sanction</i>, often in such a deadpan style that it was not noticed. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Yes, it reminded me of a lot of books, and the wrong books to boot – but there are a lot of books out there. His protagonist, Jonathan Chase, is (was?) an amalgamation of attributes: like many of Ludlum’s protagonists, he is determined, fit, and repeatedly evades death with consummate skill, often in close combat with opponents. This came back into fashion with the film version of <i>The Bourne Identity </i>in 2002, meaning that segments taken from old Ludlum novels now seem up-to-the minute even when, perhaps especially when, transferred into a Cold War setting. Jonathan Chase is also up against a vast villainous organization who meet in a secret headquarters in a Casablanca market accessed via a steel passageway. If you’ve read Raymond Benson’s 1999 James Bond novel <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">High Time To Kill</i>, you may recognize that this is where he took that from, but I read that book in 1999 and interviewed Raymond Benson about it, and didn’t notice. Rowan, relocating all the action to the late Sixties, combined Benson’s scene with one from McCarry’s <i>Second Sight</i>. Rowan’s villain, The Mirza, looks precisely like Benson’s villain, Le Gérant, and speaks many of his lines verbatim. But he also resembles McCarry’s villain Yeho, and speaks many of his lines verbatim. Likewise, Rowan’s character Neville Scott is a mix of McCarry’s character Horace Christopher and Benson’s character Dr Steven Harding. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">McCarry’s characters are much more recognizably realistic than Benson, Ludlum or Gardner’s – he was writing a different sort of spy novel, and it doesn’t contain fist-fights or underground lairs, but is rather more concerned with lie detector tests and elaborate deception operations that play out like chess games. Rowan took elements of both, and combined them into a stew that in hindsight may seem obvious (especially if you were not fooled originally!), but which I genuinely found not just coherent, but compelling. Here’s an example of how he did it, with a passage from page 9 of <i>Assassin of Secrets </i>in which an American agent, Number One, is drawn by a beautiful woman on a train to her compartment, whereupon she attacks him:</span></span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">‘With a shout, he delivered a kick to the blond woman’s chest, knocking her back. The blow was meant to cause serious damage, but it landed too far to the left of the sternal vital-point target. Number One was momentarily surprised that she didn’t fall, but he immediately drove his fist into her abdomen. That was his first mistake – mixing his fighting styles. He’d been using a mixture of karate and traditional Western boxing, whereas the female had picked a system and stuck with it. He kept on, though, lunging away, and smelling her stinking Je Reviens perfume, but he knew these sensations were only a dream. In reality they were floating in a skiff down the Seine, listening to a tinny phonograph record of a girl singing in French. How beautifully the girl sang, how the river smelled of the flowers that turned its torpid waters into perfume, how much like his own mind and voice were the mind and voice of this chanteuse! It was uncanny.</span></span></span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Someone seized his lower lip and twisted. The pain changed his idea of where he was. His right eye focused, briefly, and he glimpsed the blond woman’s eyes. She was on top of him now, thrusting her forearm into Number One’s neck, exerting tremendous pressure on his larynx. With his right hand, the American fumbled in his pants pocket, attempting to get at his insurance policy. The blond managed to elbow him in the ribs, but this only served to increase his determination. She managed to get her hands around the man’s neck, but it was too late; Number One deftly retrieved the twenty-ounce Mk 2 “pineapple” fragmentation grenade from his trousers and pulled the pin.</span></span></span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">She dived through the compartment door and fell to the floor in the hallway. Afterward, the assassin known as Snow Queen thought that she remembered the flash of the explosion lighting the flat face of the American spy and the blast lifting his thick black hair so that it stood on end. The noise was a long time coming. Before she heard the explosion, like the snap of a heavy howitzer, she saw the whole body of the train car swell like a balloon full of water. The glass blew out and the compartment door cut through the rest of the car like a great black knife.</span></span></span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Concussion sent blood gushing out of her broken nose. She could hear nothing except a high ringing in her ears. All around her, mouths opened in noiseless screams of terror. She lay where she was with her eyes open.</span></span></span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">In a few hours a policeman wearing a lacquered French helmet liner leaned over her and spoke. The blond woman pointed to her ears and said, “I’m deaf.” She heard nothing of her own voice but felt its movement over her tongue. The policeman pulled her to her feet and led her out of the debris. She would have been killed by the fire truck that roared up behind them if the Frenchman had not pulled her out of the way.’</span></span></span> </blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Is this coherent? I thought it was, and thoroughly enjoyed it: a close, terse, vividly painted fight, but also spinning off unexpectedly to a dream sequence, and ending with a superb piece of description of an explosion and its aftermath. I was hooked, and wanted to read on. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">The scene is constructed entirely from three other passages, one by Raymond Benson and two by Charles McCarry. Here’s the scene by Benson, from <i>Zero Minus Ten</i>:</span></span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">‘With a shout, he leapt in the air and delivered a Yobi-geri kick to Bond’s chest, knocking him back. The blow was meant to cause serious damage, but it landed too far to the left of the sternal vital point target. Michaels was momentarily surprised that Bond didn’t fall, but he immediately drove his fist into Bond’s abdomen. That was the assassin’s first mistake – mixing his fighting styles. He was using a mixture of karate, kung fu, and traditional Western boxing. Bond believed in using whatever worked, but he practiced hand-to-hand combat in the same way that he gambled. He picked a system and stuck with it.</span></span></span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span class="st"><span lang="EN-US">By lunging at Bond’s stomach, the man had left himself wide open, enabling Bond to backhand him to the ground. Giving him no time to think, Bond sprang on top of him and punched him hard in the face, but</span></span><span lang="EN-US"> Michaels used his strength to roll Bond over onto his back, and, thrusting his forearm into Bond’s neck, exerted tremendous pressure on 007′s larynx once again. With his other hand, the young man fumbled with Bond’s waterproof holster, attempting to get at the gun. Bond managed to elbow his assailant in the ribs, but this only served to increase his aggression. Bond got his hands around the man’s neck, but it was too late. <span class="st">Michaels </span><i><span style="font-style: normal;">deftly retrieved the</span></i><span class="st"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>Walther PPK 7.65mm from the holster and jumped to his feet.</span></span></span></span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span class="st"><span lang="EN-US">“All right, freeze!” he shouted at Bond, standing over him, the gun aimed at his forehead…’</span></span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Here is the passage from McCarry’s <i>Second Sight</i>: </span></span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">‘Patchen kept hearing Maria Rothchild’s voice and smelling the smoke from her stinking Gauloises Bleues cigarettes, but he knew these sensations were only a dream. In reality he was floating in a sampan on the River of Perfumes, listening to a tinny phonograph record of a girl singing in Vietnamese. <span class="st">Vo Rau translated the lyrics: “She says that God is the smallest thing in the universe, </span>s<span class="st">o small that he cannot be imagined; he does not wish to be imagined, so he fills the sky with the stars that are his uncountable thoughts and we look not at the place where he is, but at the places where he has never been.” Patchen nodded sagaciously; this much of the truth he had already perceived.</span> How beautifully the girl sang, how the river smelled of the flowers that turned its torpid waters into perfume, how much like his own mind and voice were the mind and voice of Vo Rau! It was uncanny.</span></span></span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Someone seized Patchen’s lower lip and twisted. The pain changed his idea of where he was. Maria Rothchild said, “Wake up, David.” His right eye focused, briefly, and he glimpsed Maria’s face.’</span></span></span> </blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">And here’s the passage from McCarry’s <i>The Tears of Autumn</i>:</span></span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">‘Afterward, he thought that he remembered the flash of the explosion lighting the flat face of the Chinese boy and the blast lifting the boy’s thick black hair so that it stood on end. The noise was a long time coming. Before he heard the explosion, like the slap of a heavy howitzer, he saw the whole body of the car swell like a balloon full of water. The glass blew out and one door cut through the crowd like a great black knife.</span></span></span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Concussion sent blood gushing out of his nose. He could hear nothing except a high ringing in his ears. All around him, mouths opened in noiseless screams of terror. He lay where he was with his eyes open.</span></span></span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">In a few moments a policeman wearing a lacquered American helmet liner leaned over him and spoke. Christopher pointed to his ears and said, “I’m deaf.” He heard nothing of his own voice but felt its movement over his tongue. The policeman pulled him to his feet and led him toward the end of the street. He would have been killed by the fire truck that roared up behind them if the policeman had not pulled him out of the way.’</span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Fairly astonishing. </span><span lang="EN-US">I think it</span><span lang="EN-US"> is too easy to say with the benefit of hindsight that the joins are easy to spot in the scene above. I don</span><span lang="EN-US">’t think that is the case, even reading it again now. It is also well established that combining different pieces of one</span><span lang="EN-US">’</span><span lang="EN-US">s own writing can create fresh and surprising effects and resonances, and I think thrillers often thrive on this sort of dotting about and unpredictability. It</span><span lang="EN-US"> can be highly effective, and I think it was in this scene and many others. So I think it would be dishonest to claim that this subterfuge should have been obvious to any editor, or reviewer, or, well, me: even if you had happened to have read all three of these novels </span><span lang="EN-US">– </span><span lang="EN-US">and I had only read one </span><span lang="EN-US">– </span><span lang="EN-US">I think it would be chance if you spotted it. It took a certain amount of intelligence and ingenuity to have pieced these passages together to make a coherent and readable scene, and moreover Rowan did this for the <i>entire </i>novel, using over a dozen sources for his </span><span lang="EN-US">unholy but also illegal coupling</span><span lang="EN-US">. This example, I think, illustrates the technique he used for much of the book: action and dialogue from Bond and Ludlum novels are interspersed with poetic flourishes and descriptions from across McCarry’s work. Jonathan Chase’s entire backstory is also taken from McCarry’s <i>Second Sight</i>, and grounds the character in a surreal but convincing espionage reality.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">It took some ingenuity, but that ingenuity is still very limited, and in my view doesn’t even begin to equate with the talent and work of those he plagiarized. </span><span lang="EN-US">I suspect I could, if I wanted, create a novel in this way. I couldn’t write the <i>original </i>passages, though – that is quite another order of ingenuity, and how long Rowan took to piece passages from books together to make it read convincingly doesn’t matter in the least: it was a Charles Highway-style robbery of several other </span>writers<span lang="EN-US">’ </span><span lang="EN-US">ideas, and unfortunately I was not familar enough with his sources to perform a Dr Knowd on him: I</span><span lang="EN-US">’</span><span lang="EN-US">m fairly widely read in the genre, I think, but I haven</span><span lang="EN-US">’</span><span lang="EN-US">t read every spy novel ever published, don</span><span lang="EN-US">’</span><span lang="EN-US">t have a photographic memory, and quite simply wasn</span><span lang="EN-US">’t looking for this</span><span lang="EN-US">. And while I think the idea to do this was cunning, albeit totally unethical and absurdly unlikely to have remained undetected for long once it reached thousands of eyes, I don’t agree that it would have been easier to have written the novel from scratch. I’m pretty sure he couldn’t do that, which is why he cut and pasted the whole book. </span><span lang="EN-US">Clever forgery does not stand on a level with original creation, and </span><span lang="EN-US">having good taste in which spy novels to plagiarize isn’t much to laud, either.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Some have said that plagiarism, derivation and influence are on a sliding scale, and I agree. Some newspapers mistakenly reported that Rowan plagiarized Ian Fleming, but it’s a thought-provoking error, as part of the reason I enjoyed it was because in many parts it read like a pastiche of Fleming, only played straight – a kind of Bond novel in inverted commas. And in some ways, that is what the post-Fleming novels are, because they are indebted to the original creation and trying to find new takes on it while having fun with what we all associate with Fleming</span><span lang="EN-US">’s</span><span lang="EN-US"> books and the films adapted from them. Outside a James Bond novel, a villainous organization meeting in a secret headquarters reads as Bond pastiche. It is also the case that Ian Fleming was taken to court for plagiarism, and settled, and that he sometimes refashioned premises and ideas from other writers, as I’ve written <a href="http://www.spywise.net/pdf/March_10/wheatley_declassified.pdf">about</a>. <i>In You Only Live Twice</i>, James Bond’s philosophy is quoted as ‘<i><span style="font-style: normal;">I shall not waste my days</span></i><span class="st"> in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.’ As John Pearson revealed in his 1966 biography of Fleming, this line was Jack London’s, and Fleming used it without attribution. </span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="st">One can argue what is acceptable behaviour in such matters, but I think it is clear that </span>Fleming is on the end of the scale marked </span><span lang="EN-US">‘</span><span lang="EN-US">sometimes derivative</span><span lang="EN-US"><span class="st">’</span></span><span lang="EN-US"> while <i>Assassin of Secrets</i> is at the other end, marked </span><span lang="EN-US">‘</span><span lang="EN-US">straightforward plagiarism</span><span lang="EN-US"><span class="st">’</span></span><span lang="EN-US">. It’s a fascinating and bizarre thing to have done, but please don’t make the mistake of thinking there was anything admirable in it. The honest publishing professionals who paid him and spent their time promoting him, creating artwork for him, arranging events for him and all the rest in good faith, and the </span><span lang="EN-US">talented writers whose work he so shamelessly stole, </span><span lang="EN-US">deserve more respect than to glorify his actions as some noble anti-establishment ruse, piece of performance art or any <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2011/11/q-r-markham-plagiarism.html">nonsense</a> of that sort. Rather than seeking fault with his victims, it would be much more responsible to condemn Rowan</span><span lang="EN-US"><span class="st">’s</span></span><span lang="EN-US"> fraud and theft.</span></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com81tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138728502354978457.post-77617794757067234452011-11-09T00:43:00.007+01:002013-03-09T03:32:04.500+01:00Assassin of Secrets<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">It</span><span lang="EN-US">’</span><span lang="EN-US">s dunce</span><span lang="EN-US">’</span><span lang="EN-US">s cap time for me.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Eagle-eyed followers of this blog may have noticed that the last item I posted here has vanished overnight. It was a question-and-answer session between myself and Q.R. Markham, the author of a new spy novel, <i>Assassin of Secrets</i>. A</span><span lang="EN-US">s is now being widely </span><a href="http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/08/little-brown-pulls-novel-citing-plagiarism/"><span lang="EN-US">reported</span></a><span lang="EN-US">, that novel has been withdrawn by its American publishers, Mullholland, an imprint of Little, Brown. It will also be withdrawn by Mulholland in Britain, on the grounds of plagiarism. As I gave a fulsome blurb for the book (along with a couple of other writers), and a Google search for the author</span><span lang="EN-US">’</span><span lang="EN-US">s name brings up this blog, I’ve already been contacted by one newspaper, and I don’t want this to drag out. I would also like to explain how this happened from my vantage point, and make sure that nobody wastes more time on this. Naturally, I’m embarrassed to have fallen for the deception, and wish I’d spotted it sooner.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">In May last year, I received an email from someone called Quentin Rowan, a bookseller in New York who had also published poetry in <i>The Best American Poetry</i> <i>of 1996 </i>and a short story in <i>Paris Review</i>. He said he was a fan of spy thrillers and had enjoyed my first novel, <i>Free Agent</i>, which he had liked for its ‘merging of Bond-style action in the field with Le Carre-like behind-the-scenes/HQ intrigue’. He also mentioned that he had a blog about spy fiction, and that he had written a spy novel set in 1968, titled <i>Spy Safari</i>, for which he had an agent who was already seeking a publisher for it. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">I found the email flattering, of course, and thought that Mr Rowan was a very astute young man with excellent taste in spy fiction. The fact that his novel was already represented by a reputable agent also made me think that he was not simply buttering me up to read his unpublishable mess. We exchanged some friendly emails, in which I offered him some advice on the rather nerve-wracking process of waiting for responses from publishers, and soon after I invited him to submit a guest post to this blog, which he did (and which I</span><span lang="EN-US">’</span><span lang="EN-US">ve since removed, for reasons that will become clear). Swimming, I thought. Uplifting. The internet: a collegiate place, after all! </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">In July, two months after he had first contacted me, Quentin announced that his novel had sold to a major publisher, Little, Brown. He was taking the </span><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">pseudonym </span></span>Q.R. Markham </span><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">– a reference to Robert Markham, the alias used by Kinglsey Amis for his 1968 James Bond novel <i>Colonel Sun</i> </span></span><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">– </span></span> and the book would now be titled <i>Assassin of Secrets</i>. Some time after that, he asked if I would like to read the book with a mind to endorsing it if I enjoyed it, and I readily agreed.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">I really did enjoy the novel, which seemed to me to combine all the familar tropes I like about spy fiction into one book, but to use some wonderful imagery and language to do so. I gave it the best quote I could, calling it an ‘instant classic’ (I am blushing). I agreed to help him promote the book by doing a question-and-answer session with his publisher for use on their website, which we did a few months ago together in Google Docs. As with the book, I was impressed at Quentin’s knowledge, insights, and command of language. Our exchange was published online just a few days ago.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Yesterday, while perusing a James Bond forum, I noticed that someone had started a </span><a href="http://debrief.commanderbond.net/topic/60689-assassin-of-secrets/page__pid__1171360#entry1171360"><span lang="EN-US">discussion</span></a><span lang="EN-US"> about <i>Assassin of Secrets</i>. Initial commenters were impressed by the excerpt on the publisher’s site (as I had been), but one commenter was not, noting that several passages seemed to have been taken verbatim from <i>Licence Renewed</i>, the 1981 James Bond novel by John Gardner. My eyes goggled. Verbatim? Really? I went to my bookshelf and took out <i>Licence Renewed</i> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">– </span><span lang="EN-US">which I should say I haven’t read in several years. And by gum, the commenter was right. It was indeed <i>verbatim</i>. He had changed ‘James Bond’ to ‘Jonathan Chase’, the name of his protagonist, and Ann Reilly, Gardner’s character, to ‘Francesca Farmer’, but otherwise entire sentences were identical: ‘Then he saw her, behind the fountain, a small light, dim but growing to illuminate her as she stood naked but for a thin, translucent nightdress; her hair undone and falling to her waist </span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">– </span><span lang="EN-US">hair and the thin material moving and blowing as though caught in a silent zephyr.’ The exact same sentence in both books. I took another sentence at random in the chapter, put quote marks around it, and entered it into Google Books. It was verbatim from another Bond novel, <i>Zero Minus Ten</i>, by Raymond Benson, which I haven’t read. Another sentence: verbatim from <i>Second Sight</i> by the American spy novelist Charles McCarry, which I also haven’t read. Another sentence: verbatim from <i>The Prometheus Deception </i>by Robert Ludlum, which I have read, many moons ago. He seemed to have taken most of his action scenes and dialogue from post-Fleming Bond novels (at least six of Gardner’s), and added long poetic descriptions from several of McCarry’s books, as well as the back-story for his protagonist. A bizarre personal playlist of his favourite moments in the genre, I guess, all sewn together with the magic of Controls C and V.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">I had hoped that this problem, awful as it was, only affected the opening of the novel, but as I looked into it more I quickly realized that the whole novel was ‘written’ this way </span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">– </span><span lang="EN-US">I was finding it hard to find sentences that had <i>not </i>been taken verbatim or near-verbatim from other sources. I came across a scene that was, apart from the names of characters and locations, precisely the same as one in Gardner’s <i>For Special Services</i>. Then I found a scene that was, word for word apart from the names, the same as one in <i>Licence Renewed</i>, f</span>or <i>six pages straight</i>. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">I considered emailing Mr Rowan to ask him what in blue blazes he was thinking, but decided not to waste any more time corresponding with him </span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">– </span><span lang="EN-US">it would make no difference what excuse he came up with. The evidence was incontrovertible, and it was also rather late in the day for explanations. The novel was due out in Britain this Thursday, and my name and now clearly idiotic recommendation was prominently displayed on the jacket. I immediately emailed the publisher, explaining the situation and giving the example from the Bond message board and all the others I had found, and asking them to remove the Q&A I had done with him from their websites </span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">– </span><span lang="EN-US">he had of course also plagiarized many of his comments in it, from </span><i>Dream Time </i>by Geoffrey O<span lang="EN-US">’</span>Brien<span lang="EN-US">, which was also the source for much of his book</span><span lang="EN-US">’</span><span lang="EN-US">s prologue </span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">– </span><span lang="EN-US">and to withdraw the book. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">This they have done, and very quickly, as well. I think they acted promptly and professionally, and I don’t attach any blame to them for any of this. It’s embarrassing enough as a Bond fan to admit that I didn’t spot massive lifts from these novels. (And ironic in its way, too, as two repeated topics of this blog have been the literary James Bond and Johann Hari’s plagiarism.) I don’t think it would be reasonable to expect a publisher to check through the thousands of thrillers out there to make sure a book on submission was not a collage of others’ work from start to finish. The idea that anyone would do such a thing never even crossed my mind until last night. I am, of course, embarrassed and irritated at having been duped, as it seems so very very obvious now, and disappointed at having wasted time on supporting someone whose writing I admired, when really it was the writing of John Gardner, Charles McCarry and several others.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">I also find the whole thing fairly mind-boggling, and have no idea how Mr Rowan thought he could get away with it. He got rather lucky with me in that, although I’m a huge fan of spy fiction, these days I rarely read it, ironically enough because since starting to write spy novels I don’t like to expose myself too much to others’ takes on it in case some of it rubs off on me and I subconsciously start to echo what I have read elsewhere. I’ve read at least five of the books he plagiarized, but in all cases I did so long enough ago and I’ve read enough other books in the genre that I didn’t recognize the passages taken from them in a new context, even when they were so brazenly stolen. He managed to get it by Little, Brown, Hodder, me and several others (the book had starred reviews from <i>Kirkus </i>and <i>Publisher</i></span><span lang="EN-US"><i>s Weekly</i>), </span><span lang="EN-US">but it’s not as if nobody else has read any James Bond novels or Robert Ludlum, so I don’t really get it. Someone had already noticed from the short excerpt published online. Sooner or later, others would have been reminded of scenes in other books, too, and the game would have been up. </span><a href="http://www.edrants.com/q-r-markham-plagiarist/"><span lang="EN-US">Some</span></a><span lang="EN-US"> are now combing through the book trying to find what he plagiarized. I wouldn’t bother </span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">– </span><span lang="EN-US">it looks to me like pretty much every sentence in it was taken from elsewhere, so you’ll simply be wasting your time. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">It’s such a bizarre thing to have done that I can’t fathom the reasons for it. But I do know one thing </span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">– </span><span lang="EN-US">I won’t be blurbing any more books for a while.</span></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com29tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138728502354978457.post-24180320608712554562011-10-27T12:51:00.002+02:002013-03-07T01:01:07.912+01:00I spy with my little eye<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: large;">An interesting <a href="http://www.nature.com/news/2011/111019/full/478301a.html">article</a> in <i>Nature </i>on how a US intelligence agency is studying whether social media can predict social unrest.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: large;">After 10 series spanning nine years, British spy drama <i>Spooks</i> has come to the end of its run. There were several articles about it in the British press, but my favourite was <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/8841328/Whats-the-secret-of-Britains-love-affair-with-spies.html">this</a> one in <i>The Daily Telegraph </i>by spy novelist Jon Stock (perhaps because I'm mentioned in it). </span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: large;">Who said the KGB was dead? A good old-fashioned honey-trap spy <a href="http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-24001664-katia-is-most-successful-russian-spy-in-30-years-says-top-soviet-defector.do">scandal</a>.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: large;">It's silly season for articles about the next James Bond film - well, when isn't it, really? Ben Child of <i>The Guardian </i>has his cake and eats it, using an article in <i>The Sunday Express </i>which he bemoans as smacking of 'join-the-dots journalism' as the basis for his own <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2011/oct/26/bond-action-sam-mendes?newsfeed=true">article</a>, in which he joins, um, precisely the same dots. </span></li>
</ul>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138728502354978457.post-58686010626445095422011-10-17T23:43:00.003+02:002013-03-23T23:38:30.098+01:00Unbelievable stories<div>
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Early in John le Carré’s <i>The Russia House</i>, the novel’s narrator observes that Americans ‘lack the instinct to dissemble that comes so naturally to us British’. Recently, I’ve been wondering if there’s not something in this, and also if there isn’t something in the British psyche as a result that leads us to be apathetic towards and sometimes even accepting of deception. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">A case in point: when <i>The New York Times</i> discovered that one of its reporters was a serial plagiarist, the journalist in question swiftly lost his job and the newspaper devoted <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/11/us/correcting-the-record-times-reporter-who-resigned-leaves-long-trail-of-deception.html">18 pages</a> to its investigation of what he had done, taking full responsibility for it. But when the British broadsheet <i>The Independent</i> was confronted with a similar problem regarding its star reporter Johann Hari earlier this year, it faffed about for several months before refusing to publish the findings of its investigation, instead offering its readers a self-serving quasi-apology from Hari, along with the news that he was to go on a journalism course in the US before returning to his job as though nothing had happened. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Something about this seems very British to me – as if the idea of admitting that someone is a liar and a cheat is in itself disreputable, rather than the honourable course of action. This tendency seems particularly rife when it comes to matters concerning the Second World War </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">– </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">perhaps because Britain</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">’</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">s </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">self-image is so tied up with its role in the war that Brits in general, and the British media in particular, are reluctant to ask common-sense questions about its history, or purported accounts of it. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">This came to mind again this morning because a book has just been published in Britain by two authors who claim to have discovered evidence that Adolf Hitler survived and died an old man in Argentina. It’s getting an enormous amount of attention, with an interview with one of the authors already playing on Sky and another lined up with Sir David Frost. Luckily, some people are prepared to <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2050137/Hitler-escape-theory-Leading-historian-says-Nazi-leader-fled-Argentina.html">step forward</a> to point out that it’s a nonsensical conspiracy theory and not worth publicizing. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVWfuVLIHeBC8lo-TV2qj4CIqUDV4FFc9MvjKpIXUOe8PJ7V2EbTFIwLyYOmpQvCnFSOa_m3bVho8MsybMqaFWevqTZuq0amn8YujjastCAY2_OG2QlVI0sPoOfbSPlK-v-Ntk_yrYbulz/s1600/TheManWhoBrokeIntoAuschwitzpaperback.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVWfuVLIHeBC8lo-TV2qj4CIqUDV4FFc9MvjKpIXUOe8PJ7V2EbTFIwLyYOmpQvCnFSOa_m3bVho8MsybMqaFWevqTZuq0amn8YujjastCAY2_OG2QlVI0sPoOfbSPlK-v-Ntk_yrYbulz/s200/TheManWhoBrokeIntoAuschwitzpaperback.jpg" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Something else that has caught my eye is this week’s <i>Sunday Times </i>paperback non-fiction chart. Sitting on top of it is a book called <i>The Man Who Broke Into Auschwitz</i>, by Denis Avey and Rob Broomby. Back in April, I helped historians Guy Walters and Adrian Weale write an <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1375018/Denis-Avey-broke-Auschwitz-expose-Holocaust-account-insult.html">article</a> about this book, in which we raised several questions about its central claim. In the book, Second World War veteran Denis Avey, working with journalist Rob Broomby, recounts an astonishing story. He claims that during the war he was imprisoned by the Germans at E715, a labour camp very near Auschwitz III, also known as Monowitz, and that he decided to smuggle himself into that concentration camp overnight on two separate occasions, in order to witness the treatment being meted out to the Jews.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">It’s sensational stuff, but our research uncovered several major discrepancies in the story. However, despite these, and serious reservations about the book from the head historian at Auschwitz, former prisoners-of-war from E715 and Auschwitz, the World Jewish Congress and others, the publisher stood by the book. And, clearly, it’s still selling by the bucketload, unquestioned by readers. It has also been sold to publishers in the US, Brazil, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and Spain, and Mr Avey has been honoured by the British government as a ‘British Hero of the Holocaust’.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">But since our article was published, we have discovered that Denis Avey has told two unreconcilably contradictory versions of his experiences during the war. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">On July 16 2001, Mr Avey gave a long interview to the Imperial War Museum. In that interview, he described his experiences during the war in great detail. However, he gave an inexplicably different account of what he had done than the one that appeared earlier this year in <i>The Man Who Broke Into Auschwitz</i>. For example, he told the Imperial War Museum that he had witnessed the death of a Jewish prisoner – who were called ‘stripeys’ by the British PoWs – while he was laying heavy cables:</span></span></div>
<blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">‘It was winter. It was about eight foot down. I used to work with the political prisoners and the stripeys alongside us. The roll had stopped for some unknown reason, and we stood up looking, and there was one of the stripeys up there, and of course one of the SS <i>feldwebels</i> approached this chap. Immediately addressed by the Waffen SS, these political fellas had to take their hat off straight away and stand to attention. And he stood to attention telling this <i>feldwebel </i>something. And he hit him right across the face and knocked him straight into a pit, and as he fell so the roll of the cable rolled over him, and killed him. And I remonstrated with this – like an idiot – with this <i>feldwebel</i>, and he didn't say a word. He jumped down in the pit well and hit me straight across the face with this Luger. And nothing was said. Nothing at all.’1</span></span></div>
</blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">This incident also appears in <i>The Man Who Broke Into Auschwitz</i>, but with a very different outcome. In the book, Avey claims that while he and others were laying cables a Jewish youth, perhaps 18 years old, removed his cap and stood to attention when an SS officer approached, and the officer hit him in the face. Within a few seconds, the blood was flowing ‘uncontrollably’:</span></span></div>
<blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">‘The boy managed to haul himself back to attention mumbling something in a language I couldn’t place.’</span><span style="font-size: large;">2</span></span></div>
</blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">The boy was struck savagely again, and managed to pull himself up again. Watching this, Mr Avey claims that he became enraged and shouted at the SS officer, calling him an ‘<i>untermensch</i>’. And as a result, the beating of the boy stopped. However, some 10 minutes later, when Mr Avey had finished his work, he climbed out of the trench and began to walk away. The same officer came up behind Mr Avey without warning and hit him in the right eye with the butt of his pistol. Mr Avey fell to the ground and blacked out for a few seconds. When he had recovered consciousness he found that his eye was closing up, and that the officer had gone. ‘I never saw what happened to the boy,’ he concludes, ‘but he can’t have lived long. If those head injuries didn’t kill him he had been marked out and would die soon anyway.’</span><span style="font-size: large;">3</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Both accounts cannot be true – they directly contradict each other. And this isn’t a small detail or the sort of thing one might misremember: one either sees a boy knocked into a pit and a cable rolling over him and killing him, or one doesn’t. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Even more troublingly, Denis Avey also told the Imperial War Museum that he smuggled himself into Auschwitz II – Birkenau – rather than Monowitz, as he claims in his book. And he told the Museum that he accompanied a Jewish prisoner called Ernst Lobethal into Birkenau so that Ernst could show him the treatment of the prisoners there:</span></span></div>
<blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">‘So over the days and weeks we arranged to have an ‘<i>umtausch</i>’ – an exchange. I went in to Birkenau with Ernst and this stripey got into my uniform and got into E715 for the night. And I went with him to Birkenau and slept alongside him, as was the position of this other fellow, and in this way I got the information, very surreptitiously again.’</span><span style="font-size: large;">4</span></span></div>
</blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Ernst Lobethal features in the book, but there is no mention that he was involved in arranging for Mr Avey to go into any camp, let alone that he was with Avey when he did it. Neither did Ernst Lobethal mention this astonishing event in his testimony to the Shoah Foundation. Again, Mr Avey</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">’</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">s testimony to the Imperial War Museum directly contradicts what he has claimed in his book </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">– </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">they cannot both be true. If you’ve done something as extraordinary as break into a concentration camp for the night, you remember if you did it alone or accompanied – and if you don’t remember, you’re not a reliable witness and shouldn’t have your memoirs published by reputable firms.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">The smoking gun that proves that Mr Avey is an unreliable witness, though, is the following part of his account to the Imperial War Museum:</span></span></div>
<blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">‘And the whole thing was to discuss things with him (Ernst), find out the treatment and what was happening. Now he told me of an Australian POW that was working in Birkenau, and sure enough he did. I tried constantly to contact him. I couldn’t. I don’t know why – I couldn’t. And you know what he did? He was an escaped POW. They picked him up just going into Switzerland in civilian clothes, and they interrogated him because of the civilian clothes, and they wanted to know how he got the clothes, how he got the map, how he got the compasses and he wouldn’t tell them. He’d got my temperament and he was an Australian to boot as well. And of course he caused a lot of problems, and they beat him badly, and then they sent him to Auschwitz-Birkenau. You know what he did? He stoked the crematoria. He stoked the crematoria for twelve months. I tried to contact him after the war: I couldn’t, but then I found out he’d written a book called “Stoker”.’</span><span style="font-size: large;">5</span></span></div>
</blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkYWkoIdA97ksaLK8V9SX95aXxJ5Klk4BhZ-VR2qeWe4lx7Om-l03JPpbD20aAdEY8OOcUlJsDHVlb-FW3SbKC3ibt8aIszAJ0l_rqBlbDZMD4eVGsfLTNc-AZycBbrbdcUYGS-h3QIKKU/s1600/StokerbyDonaldWatt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkYWkoIdA97ksaLK8V9SX95aXxJ5Klk4BhZ-VR2qeWe4lx7Om-l03JPpbD20aAdEY8OOcUlJsDHVlb-FW3SbKC3ibt8aIszAJ0l_rqBlbDZMD4eVGsfLTNc-AZycBbrbdcUYGS-h3QIKKU/s200/StokerbyDonaldWatt.jpg" width="130" /></a><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">It is perhaps unsurprising that Mr Avey failed to find this man, because he is referring to Donald Watt, author of the memoir, <i>Stoker: the Story of an Australian Soldier who survived Auschwitz-Birkenau</i>, published in 1995. Mr Watt’s key claim in that book, that he was a stoker in the crematoria in Birkenau with the Sonkerkommandos, has been revealed to be a hoax. An investigation into it by Yad Vashem, </span>Israel's official documentation and research centre on the Holocaust, <span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"> concluded that Mr Watt had ‘at no time been a member of the Sonderkommandos in Auschwitz</span>-Birkenau<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">’</span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">.</span>6<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"> The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum also investigated Mr Watt’s claim, and their report concluded that there was no evidence in the records that he had been a stoker in Auschwitz, and neither was there any evidence that he had ever been in Auschwitz at all.</span>7<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"> In 1997, Professor Konrad Kwiet, the resident historian at the Sydney Jewish Museum and former chief historian of the Australian war crimes commission, wrote an article titled <i>Anzac and Auschwitz: The unbelievable story of Donald Watt</i>, in which he presented even more evidence against Mr Watt’s claim, including that his official Service and Casualty Form kept by the Australian Army revealed that he had been discharged from Stalag 357 in April 1945, and that there was no evidence that he had ever been in Birkenau.</span>8<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Donald Watt’s claim that he was a stoker in Birkenau has been debunked as a fabrication by a host of institutions with acknowledged expertise on the Holocaust, including the historians at Auschwitz itself. Denis Avey’s claim that he switched places with a Jewish inmate in Birkenau and tried to seek out Donald Watt in that camp cannot therefore be true: his story relies on another man’s fabrication. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">In addition, the story of searching for Watt is nowhere to be found in <i>The Man Who Broke Into Auschwitz</i>. Why, then, did Mr Avey claim this in 2001? If the account he gave the Imperial War Museum is true, and he really did go into Birkenau to try to find Donald Watt, the contradictory account he gives in <i>The Man Who Broke Into Auschwitz</i> of entering Monowitz, with no mention of searching for Watt, must be untrue. And if the account in the book is true, the account he gave the Imperial War Museum must be untrue. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Either way, at least one of Denis Avey</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">’</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">s accounts about his experiences during the Second World War <i>cannot </i>be true. He is therefore an unreliable witness, and all his claims about switching places with an inmate to enter Auschwitz are therefore suspect, including that in his book <i>The Man Who Broke Into Auschwitz</i>. Readers and the media should be pressing his publishers to acknowledge this fact, explain why the co-author Mr Broomby ignored the testimony to the Imperial War Museum, and withdraw the book from circulation as soon as they can. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Alternatively, we can all just look the other way and pretend it never happened. After all, he, his co-authors and his publishers are only telling stories about the Holocaust and making money from it. Nothing wrong with that, is there? It</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">’s not like <a href="http://lipstadt.blogspot.com/2007/12/apples-over-fence-holocaust-story-that.html">that </a><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/29/books/29hoax.html?_r=1">usually</a> gets any <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1580357/Wolf-woman-invents-Holocaust-survival-tale.html">attention</a>, is <a href="http://www.bu.edu/bostonia/summer09/hoax/">it</a>?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">Notes</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">1. </span>Imperial War Museum Sound Archive, Interview with Denis Avey, 16 July 2001, Accession number 22065. Available from: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80020527 Accessed October 17 2011.</span></span> <br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">2. <i>The Man Who Broke Into Auschwitz </i>by Denis Avey and Rob Broomby, Hodder & Stoughton, March 2011, </span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">p164. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">3. Ibid., p165.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">4. </span>Imperial War Museum Sound Archive interview.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">5. Ibid.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">6. Quoted in </span>Konrad Kwiet, <span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">‘A</span>NZAC and Auschwitz: The Unbelievable Story of Donald Watt<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">’,</span> <i>International Network on Holocaust and Genocide</i>, 12, no. 3, pp. 13–18.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">7. Ibid.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">8. Ibid.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">With many thanks to Guy Walters and Adrian Weale. </span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138728502354978457.post-83079272514957349732011-09-15T01:26:00.037+02:002013-03-07T01:21:39.150+01:00Johann Hari’s latest apology: some thoughts<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">I’ve written a few articles on this blog about Johann Hari recently. Hari has now, after several months of outright denial and two rather self-serving articles claiming very limited wrongdoing, finally </span><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-a-personal-apology-2354679.html"><span lang="EN-US">admitted</span></a><span lang="EN-US"> that he is a plagiarist:</span></span></span><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">‘</span><span lang="EN-US">I’ve written so many articles over the years laying bare and polemicising against the errors and idiocies of other people. This time, I am writing an article laying bare and polemicising against the errors and idiocies of myself. If you give it out, you have to take it. If you demand high standards of others, you have to be just as damning when you fail to uphold them yourself.’</span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">I’ve been hoping he would do this for some time, so it’s refreshing to see him finally step up to the plate, give a full account of everything he’s done wrong and apologize for it wholeheartedly.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Except... has he?</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Hari starts his article with a bold and emotive claim that he is going to lay bare all his failures, but he immediately steps back from doing just that:</span></span></span><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">‘</span><span lang="EN-US">I did two wrong and stupid things. The first concerns some people I interviewed over the years. When I recorded and typed up any conversation, I found something odd: points that sounded perfectly clear when you heard them being spoken often don’t translate to the page. They can be quite confusing and unclear. When this happened, if the interviewee had made a similar point in their writing (or, much more rarely, when they were speaking to somebody else), I would use those words instead. At the time, I justified this to myself by saying I was giving the clearest possible representation of what the interviewee thought, in their most considered and clear words.</span></span></span> </blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">But I was wrong. An interview isn’t an X-ray of a person’s finest thoughts. It’s a report of an encounter. If you want to add material from elsewhere, there are conventions that let you do that. You write “she has said,” instead of “she says”. You write “as she told the New York Times” or “as she says in her book”, instead of just replacing the garbled chunk she said with the clear chunk she wrote or said elsewhere. If I had asked the many experienced colleagues I have here at The Independent – who have always been very generous with their time – they would have told me that, and they would have explained just how wrong I was. It was arrogant and stupid of me not to ask.’</span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Sadly, I think Hari has completely missed the point here, or pretended to. First of all, what he describes having done </span><span lang="EN-US">– </span><span lang="EN-US">though he avoids using the word </span><span lang="EN-US">– </span><span lang="EN-US">is quite simply plagiarism, of the kind that any journalist would usually be sacked for on the spot. But he hasn’t been sacked by <i>The Independent</i>, or chosen to resign. Instead, he’s off to the States for a four-month journalism course, after which he will be welcomed back to his old job. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Secondly, he has by omission minimized what he has done wrong, conveniently not mentioning some of the </span><a href="http://web.mac.com/guywalters/Site/Blog/Entries/2011/7/12_Johann_Hari_should_be_stripped_of_the_Martha_Gellhorn_Award.html"><span lang="EN-US">accusations</span></a><span lang="EN-US"> that he invented episodes in his articles from whole cloth. I think he has chosen instead to admit to only what he feels has been proven beyond any doubt, and is hoping enough people will say </span><span lang="EN-US">‘</span><span lang="EN-US">Leave him alone now’ that he’ll get away with the much more serious stuff.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">But even if he is only guilty of what he now admits to, the arrogant and stupid thing wasn’t neglecting to ask his colleagues about this practice of his – it was arrogant and stupid (and dishonest) to do it at all. It’s not some mysterious journalistic </span><span lang="EN-US">‘</span><span lang="EN-US">convention’ that you don’t pretend words others have written or said elsewhere were said to you, and you don’t need to ask other journalists about it to be let in on the secret. Anyone over the age of five knows that copying others’ work is wrong. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">It also looks like Hari is not going to explain precisely what he did in which articles, and that neither will <i>The Independent</i>. Compare this to the <i>New York Times</i>’ reaction when they discovered what Jayson Blair had been up to: a very thorough investigation and explanation to their readers of what he had done, published in full within a fortnight. You can read it </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/11/us/correcting-the-record-times-reporter-who-resigned-leaves-long-trail-of-deception.html"><span lang="EN-US">here</span></a><span lang="EN-US"> – and yes, that’s 18 pages. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">In continuing to claim that he was only trying to clarify the positions of </span><span lang="EN-US">‘</span><span lang="EN-US">some people’ he had interviewed over the years, has Johann Hari really laid bare what he has done? Was this, as he seems to suggest, an occasional pecadillo done through ignorance of obscure journalistic practices, or has he plagiarised on a much greater scale, in many articles, for years? His interviews with </span><a href="http://deterritorialsupportgroup.wordpress.com/2011/06/17/hari-karihackery/"><span lang="EN-US">Antonio Negri</span></a><span lang="EN-US">, </span><a href="http://brianwhelan.net/post/6972324037/is-johann-hari-a-copy-pasting-churnalist"><span lang="EN-US">Gideon Levy</span></a><span lang="EN-US">, </span><a href="http://brianwhelan.net/post/7039951732/time-to-come-clean-johann-hari"><span lang="EN-US">Gareth Thomas</span></a><span lang="EN-US">, </span><a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/guy-walters/2011/06/chavez-hari-interview-goodbye"><span lang="EN-US">Hugo Chavez</span></a><span lang="EN-US">, </span><a href="http://jeremyduns.blogspot.com/2011/07/johann-hari-should-admit-he-is.html"><span lang="EN-US">Malalai Joya</span></a><span lang="EN-US">, </span><a href="http://jeremyduns.blogspot.com/2011/07/taking-johann-hari-on-faith.html"><span lang="EN-US">George Michael</span></a><span lang="EN-US"> and </span><a href="http://jeremyduns.blogspot.com/2011/07/johann-hari-plagiarizes-daily-mail.html"><span lang="EN-US">Ann Leslie</span></a><span lang="EN-US"> all have quotes lifted verbatim or near-verbatim from other sources – and those are just the examples that have been discovered by bloggers and others so far. (None by <i>The Independent</i>, who only opened their investigation once several of these examples came to light.) </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">In a few of those cases, Hari plagiarized articles that had been written by his subjects. In others, he plagiarized previous interviews with them by other journalists. And in none of the cases does it look like this was something he did simply because his interviewees did not express an occasional point clearly enough: there’s far too much plagiarized material for that to be plausible. Let’s take his </span><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/george-michael-talk-without-prejudice-519207.html"><span lang="EN-US">interview with George Michael</span></a><span lang="EN-US">. Here are a few quotes Hari has from Michael:</span></span></span><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">‘</span><span lang="EN-US">He leans forward on the virgin-white sofa in his Highgate office and teases open his childhood scars. “It’s only when the kids are in their late twenties that families really face up to what they are. You’ve gone out into the world – you’ve probably got a family of your own – and you’re finally in a position to look back and see if your own family was normal. I suppose enough of the damage your parents have done to you has left you by then too. It was at that age I realised how dysfunctional my childhood was.” </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">His mother toiled 24/7 at two kids and three jobs, and George remembers her searing, bitter hated at having to work in a chip shop because “she was obsessively clean and she could never get the smell of fish out of her hair or off her skin, no matter how hard she scrubbed.”’</span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">That’s a vivid memory of his mother, articulately expressed. But here’s what George Michael said on camera in an interview for the documentary <i>A Different Story</i>, which had just been released:</span></span></span><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">‘</span><span lang="EN-US">Mum and Dad worked in a fish and chip shop along here. My mum said it was the most disgusting period of her life, because you know how clean Mum was. She said you just couldn’t get the smell of the fish out of your hair, off your skin.’ </span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Spot the difference. It’s possible that this is one of those occasions Hari mentions in his latest apology. George Michael could have repeated this about his mother but said it in a more confusing way, and so Hari went back to the documentary. But that would be slightly odd because, as the quote from the documentary shows, George Michael is very capable of giving good unconfusing quotes spontaneously in face-to-face interviews. The lifted quote is not a </span><span lang="EN-US">‘</span><span lang="EN-US">garbled chunk’. And it seems that several of the quotes in Hari’s interview are taken from ones shown in the documentary. <i> </i></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span lang="EN-US">A Different Story</span></i><span lang="EN-US">:</span></span></span><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">‘</span><span lang="EN-US">I’m not presuming that cruising is dysfunctional, ’cause I don’t think it is as a gay man. But cruising as George Michael – there’s something vaguely dysfunctional about that!’</span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Hari’s article:</span></span></span><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">‘</span><span lang="EN-US">“I don’t think there’s anything inherently dysfunctional about cottaging – but cottaging as George Michael? Yeah, there’s something pretty dysfunctional about that,” he says, laughing.’</span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span lang="EN-US">A Different Story</span></i><span lang="EN-US">:</span></span></span><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">‘It was like, “Oh my God, I’m a massive star, and I think I may be a poof. What am I going to do? This is not going to end well!”’ </span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Hari’s article:</span></span></span><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">‘“I am becoming one of the biggest stars in the world </span><span lang="EN-US">– </span><span lang="EN-US"> and I think I might be a poof. This cannot end well.”’ </span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Either George Michael coincidentally said almost precisely the same things in several previous interviews, but for some unknown reason when he said them to Johann Hari it was in such a garbled way that Hari felt he had to go back and plagiarize the previous interviews. Or Hari is lying in his latest apology, and George Michael didn’t tell him these anecdotes at all, but Hari just took them from the documentary, changing a few words here and there to try to digsuise his plagiarism.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">If this had happened in one interview, with only three quotes, the first option might be just about plausible. But the sheer scale of stolen quotes in Hari’s work suggests otherwise. Here’s an excerpt from Jon Lee Anderson’s </span><a href="http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2001/09/10/010910fa_fact_anderson?currentPage=5"><span lang="EN-US">2001 interview</span></a><span lang="EN-US"> with Hugo Chavez in the <i>New Yorker</i>:</span></span></span><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">‘</span><span lang="EN-US">“It is possible I have something of this . . . tragic sense of life,” he [Chavez] acknowledged. He recalled that on the eve of the 1992 rebellion he had said goodbye to his wife and three children, and led his soldiers out of their barracks. He was the last to leave. After locking the big front gate, he threw away the key. “I realized at that moment that I was saying goodbye to life,” Chávez said. “So it is possible that one has been a bit . . . imbued with that . . . ever since, no?”’</span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">And here’s Hari’s </span><a href="http://johannhari.com/2006/05/14/hugo-chavez-an-exclusive-interview/"><span lang="EN-US">‘</span><span lang="EN-US">exclusive interview’</span></a><span lang="EN-US"> with Chavez from 2006:</span></span></span><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">‘</span><span lang="EN-US">The spectre haunting Latin America – the spectre of Hugo Chavez – furrows his big, broad brow, pats my knee, and tells me about the night he knew he was going to die. “I will never forget – in the early hours, I said goodbye to my wife and three little children. I kissed them goodbye and blessed them.” He knew in his gut he was not going to survive that long, bloody day in 1992, when he and his allies finally decided to stage a revolution against the old, rotten order loathed by the Venezuelan people. “I realized at that moment that I was saying goodbye to life,” he says, looking away. “So it is possible that, after surviving, one has been a bit... imbued with that sense ever since, no?”’</span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Are we expected to believe that Hugo Chavez told Johann Hari the same story about </span><span lang="EN-US">‘</span><span lang="EN-US">the night he knew he was going to die’ as he told the <i>New Yorker</i>’s Jon Lee Anderson five years earlier, but that for some reason he suddenly became so much less articulate when talking to Hari that Hari had no option but to plagiarize Anderson’s article to get a cleaner rendition of it?</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">This is implausible for several reasons, not least of which the fact that in both Anderson and Hari’s articles the quote in question has ellipses, indicating hesitancy on Chavez’s part. But Hari claims he only did this when he was looking for clean, ungarbled quotes. This raises several questions, none of which Hari addresses in his latest apology. Why is it that his interview subjects express themselves so well when interviewed by others, and yet seem to become so garbled when he speaks to them that he needs to plagiarize other journalists’ work?</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">And, more importantly, what about Hari’s accounts <i>can </i>we trust? If some of the quotes in his articles are not the words Hugo Chavez or George Michael or Ann Leslie or Malalai Joya said to him, which ones are? How do we know that the bits in between the quotes are accurate? If Hugo Chavez gave Hari a garbled version of the same thing he said to Anderson, did he also look away when doing so, as Hari claims he did? How about the part when Chavez patted Hari on the knee – did that really happen, or is it simply dramatic effect to heighten the interesting quotes he has stolen? Once you start reading Hari’s interviews and taking away the plagiarized quotes, you realize that there’s very little of substance left to the articles, but much melodramatic looking away, cigarette-smoking and knee-patting from the subjects. The details of body language he uses to surround so many of his plagiarized quotes don’t suggest a writer searching for clarity in order to offer an X-ray of his subjects’ </span><span lang="EN-US">‘</span><span lang="EN-US">finest thoughts’, but rather one who has deliberately and systematically misled his readers. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">I fear Johann Hari’s latest apology is, rather like his last two, both manipulative and self-serving. If he is serious about regaining the respect and trust of his readers perhaps he should start by detailing, in <i>The Independent </i>or elsewhere, precisely which articles he did this with, to what extent, and be honest about why he did it. Taken as a whole, the plagiarism that has been discovered so far points to far worse than the occasional theft of prior quotes for the sake of clarity, but instead someone who has plagiarized major parts of many of his interviews, for over a decade. There are also still serious unanswered questions about whether he has <i>fabricated </i>quotes and even entire incidents in his articles on <a href="http://web.mac.com/guywalters/Site/Blog/Entries/2011/7/12_Johann_Hari_should_be_stripped_of_the_Martha_Gellhorn_Award.html">Dubai</a>, <a href="http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/damianthompson/100097915/johann-hari-invented-quotes-in-report-from-central-african-republic-says-charity-that-took-him-there/">the Central African Republic</a>, <a href="http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/cristinaodone/100096260/i-fell-out-with-johann-hari-%E2%80%93-then-david-rose-started-tampering-viciously-with-my-wikipedia-entry/">Iraq</a>, <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2006/nov/06/opinion/oe-hari6">Afghanistan</a> and <a href="http://student.cs.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/articles/article0003736.html">elsewhere</a>.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">I think Johann Hari’s latest apology is unconvincing and less than completely honest. He’s still trying to cover his back and minimise what he’s done, but I don’t think it is going to help him in the long term. I think it’s time he stopped dodging the most serious questions about his work and came clean about all of it, with an apology that does more than make himself out to be a naive soul whose only error was to care too much about clarity. His readers, and those whose work he has stolen, deserve a complete and genuinely remorseful account of his actions.</span></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138728502354978457.post-55116272688934771472011-08-01T16:45:00.002+02:002013-03-07T00:57:48.733+01:00The Debrief Recommends: Existential Ennui<span style="font-size: large;">A few months ago, I chanced across the blog <a href="http://existentialennui.blogspot.com/">Existential Ennui</a> because it contained a very interesting <a href="http://existentialennui.blogspot.com/2011/01/guest-post-dennis-wheatley-devils.html">guest essay about Dennis Wheatley</a> by literary critic Michael Barber (whose excellent <i>Paris Review</i> interview with Kingsley Amis from 1975 can be read <a href="http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/3772/the-art-of-fiction-no-59-kingsley-amis">here</a>). I was intrigued not just by the essay but by the subject matter of the blog, which seemed to range over a great deal of British and American fiction, including some rather obscure thriller-writers. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The site is run by editor and bibliophile Nick Jones. And as Nick has since very generously <a href="http://existentialennui.blogspot.com/2011/02/spy-fiction-fortnight-free-agent-by.html">reviewed my own work</a>, so I thought it was high time I pointed out his own. Today he has posted the first part of an exclusive interview with spy novelist <a href="http://existentialennui.blogspot.com/2011/08/interview-with-anthony-price-author-of.html?spref=tw">Anthony Price</a> - this is a real coup, as to my knowledge there are no other interviews with Price online, which is somewhat surprising considering how prolific he was. Price, like Joseph Hone, Adam Hall, Geoffrey Rose and several other brilliant British thriller-writers, has been sadly rather forgotten since the end of the Cold War, and it's fascinating to read his thoughts on publishing days gone by. Price also holds a secondary role in the thriller genre, I think, as a reviewer: I have dozens of books that have quotes from his <i>Oxford Mail</i> reviews on the covers. Indeed, as he tells Nick, it was through his reviewing that he came to fiction. Price's novels were, I've always felt, very English, and Nick's interview with him almost reads like a scene from one of his novels. In the second part, he has some great stories about the likes of Kingsley Amis and Terence Stamp.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Anyway, bookmark Existential Ennui if you're interested in thoughtful reviews, interviews and insights into book collecting and 20th-century publishing and design. You won't regret it.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0