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4 unusual facts about Len Deighton


Acoustic Kitty

Although it is not entirely clear on whether he is the originator of the concept, British author Len Deighton prefigured the concept of Acoustic Kitty in his novel, Billion Dollar Brain (1966), where the unnamed hero (Harry Palmer) notes that "Even the cats of East Berlin are wired" for sound recording.

Eva Renzi

Born Evelyn Renziehausen in Berlin, Germany, she was introduced in the 1966 Harry Saltzman film Funeral in Berlin, sequel to The Ipcress File, second in the Len Deighton Harry Palmer trilogy, playing Mossad agent "Samantha Steel" opposite Michael Caine.

Mel Martin

She starred as Fiona Samson, the double agent and wife of Bernard Samson (played by Ian Holm) in the television adaptation of Len Deighton's trilogy Berlin Game, Mexico Set and London Match (broadcast as Game, Set, and Match).

Raymond Hawkey

During his time at the Royal College of Art Hawkey first encountered Len Deighton when Deighton (another RCA scholarship student at that time) gatecrashed a literary party that Hawkey was helping to organise.


And Then We Moved to Rossenara

A number of British writers such as Len Deighton, Frederick Forsyth, and Leslie Charteris, as well as the Americans J. P. Donleavy and Anne McCaffrey, immediately took up residence; Condon asserts, however, that despite moving to Rossenarra about the same time, his own finances and citizenship were such that he never benefitted from living in this tax-free haven.

Bullet to Beijing

Bullet to Beijing is a 1995 made-for-television film that continues the adventures of the fictional spy Harry Palmer, who appeared in the 1960s films The Ipcress File, Funeral in Berlin, and Billion Dollar Brain, based on books by author Len Deighton.

Honeywell 200

Honeywell 200 consoles featured in the graphic design of Len Deighton's Billion-Dollar Brain book jacket and also figured as part of the hall-sized supercomputer complex in the 1967 movie of the book starring Michael Caine and Karl Malden.

Jonathan Ruffle

At one time Steve Wright's and Simon Bates’s radio producer on BBC Radio 1, he left to produce the acclaimed BBC radio drama version of Len Deighton’s Bomber, and the award-winning 1995 Channel 4 documentary Edward VIII: The Traitor King.

The Apocalypse Codex

According to Stross, while the first three books in the series were written in the style of Len Deighton, Ian Fleming and Anthony Price, respectively, the fourth installment is written in the style of a Peter O'Donnell (Modesty Blaise) novel.

The Fuller Memorandum

Where The Atrocity Archives was written in the idiom of Len Deighton and The Jennifer Morgue was a pastiche of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels, The Fuller Memorandum is a homage of sorts to Anthony Price's Dr David Audley/Colonel Jack Butler series of spy thrillers, and features two minor characters named Roskill and Panin, names which appeared as recurring characters in Price's series.

The Jennifer Morgue

Where 2004's The Atrocity Archives is written in the idiom of Len Deighton, The Jennifer Morgue is a pastiche of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels and refers to the real-life Project Azorian (incorrectly named by the press as Project Jennifer); Stross also uses footnotes and narrative causality, two literary devices common in the novels of Terry Pratchett.


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