Frederick Forsyth: Pilot, writer, spy, walks into the sunset

Did the English thriller writer Frederick Forsyth really hire a group of mercenaries to stage a coup in an African country? Was he collecting first-hand material for one of his novels by arranging such an event? Intriguing information like these floated around in our so-called reading circle in our youth. 

Later, when I first arrived in New York City in the early 1990s, among the many culture shocks I experienced was the sight of a distinctive symbol affixed to the exterior walls of public schools and some other buildings in the city. It was a square steel plate, approximately 12 by 12 inches, featuring a trefoil symbol printed on a yellow background.

Large uppercase letters identified the building as a 'FALLOUT SHELTER'. The trefoil symbol itself was familiar to me; I had seen it at radiation treatment laboratories at Dhaka Medical College. 

However, the 'Fallout Shelter' designation was something I was not familiar with. Having grown up in the 1960s under the looming threat of nuclear war, with global superpowers locked in a tense standoff just beyond the horizon, I quickly deduced that these signs were relics of the post-World War II Cold War era, intended to guide the hapless targets of a nuclear armageddon to safety.

This immediately brought to mind Frederick Forsyth's thriller, 'The Fourth Protocol'. The novel's storyline involved renegade elements of the Soviet Union plotting to detonate a smuggled nuclear device within the UK to influence an upcoming British election and install a pro-Soviet government.

Forsyth consistently demonstrated extensive knowledge of international intrigue, geopolitical events, and the inner workings of government and spy agencies, including how civil bureaucracies often prioritise self-preservation. 

It's no surprise that Forsyth achieved this repeatedly throughout his decades-long career as an author of thrillers such as 'The Day of the Jackal', 'The Odessa File', and my personal favourite, 'The Dogs of War.' 

His first thriller, The Day of the Jackal, was published in 1971, and his last, co-authored with Tony Kent, is scheduled for release in September of this year. This extensive career saw him draw upon his experiences as a Royal Air Force pilot, a reporter for Reuters and the BBC, and even, by his own admission, an MI5 operative. Amusingly, he claims he never intended to be a writer, but penned The Day of the Jackal simply because he was "skint, stony broke."

Forsyth's journalistic career took him to Africa to cover the Nigerian civil war between Biafra and Nigeria for the BBC. This experience formed the basis of his first book, 'The Biafra Story'. 

While The Day of the Jackal is arguably Forsyth's most renowned thriller, The Dogs of War, where a group of European mercenaries are hired by a British industrialist to overthrow the government of a fictional African country, remains my personal favourite. 

There has been speculation that Forsyth personally hired mercenaries for a coup or at least possessed knowledge of actual coup attempts, but there is no confirmed evidence of his direct involvement in any such operation. Regardless, at that age, the thrilling allure of his storytelling captivated me for hours, and his works remain as dear to me as ever.

Frederick Forsyth passed away on Monday, 9 June, at the age of 86 in Buckinghamshire, England. Many of his books achieved bestseller status, and over a dozen of his works have been adapted into films. His books have sold 70 million copies in 30 languages worldwide. 

In Bangladesh, fans of the Masud Rana series have vicariously enjoyed his narratives through adaptations such as 'Sei U Sen', based on 'The Day of the Jackal', and several other titles.