And as a reader, I want to read what the author wrote. I don't want to read what someone thinks I should read. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Spy (aka Catch a Falling Spy) The narrator and his CIA partner manage the defection of a Soviet scientist, only for a string of murder attempts and investigations to reveal that a senior US official they know is in fact a KGB agent, leading to a messy shootout at Washington airport, and then to an unlikely showdown in the Algerian desert. Any collector of first edition or out-of-print books might think their hobby is immune to the ravages of the "culture wars" which are infecting the body politics on both sides of the Atlantic. A lot of effort is gone into puzzling and confusing the reader. Puzzles, like the crossword clues. Deighton gives description instead of exposition. Much of this description is vivid and brilliant, sharp snapshots of people and places and scenes. Long Distance Relationship with a Mountain David Hawkins 2nd Prize, National Poetry Competition 2015

For the scenes in Gdansk Railway Station, Manchester's Victoria Station (now majorly different in layout) stood in, thanks to the addition of some Polish signage and Eastern Bloc cars. The plot involves a sunken Nazi sub lying off the south coast of Portugal and various things that may or may not be interred inside. British intelligence sends the supremely cool and jaded Harry Palmer on a Royal Navy diving course just so he can participate in the effort to retrieve them. Rivals are on the scene, including a sinister Portuguese aristocrat and an expat American jazz critic with mysterious sources of wealth. Allies include a former Italian navy diver and the obligatory enticing female ("She was cleaning fish in the kitchen. She wore a microscopic white bikini.") In my view, Deighton’s first few spy novels are by far his best: “The Ipcress File”; “Horse Under Water”; and “Funeral in Berlin”. I feel that after this period Deighton went downhill, losing the lightness of touch and sharpness that characterise these early books. Fear also has a big influence on whether a horse will go into water or not. The horse can be scared of the unknown, not being able to judge what is below the water’s surface. The noise of waves crashing can also cause fear.He closed his eyes, gulped down his claret and leaned against the wall like a worn-out roll of line. (Ch 50) Americanisms Rehab and fitness training uses both pools and water treadmills. Some equine hospitals also use pools for waking up a horse after surgery, a process that can result in serious injury.

I watched the waves moving down on to the shore. Each shadow darkened until one, losing its balance, toppled forward. It tore a white hole in the green ocean and in falling brought its fellow down, and that the next, until the white stuffing of the sea burst out of the lengthening gash. (Ch 15) There are lots of paragraphs worth reading and rereading and savouring for the pure pleasure of their prose. In these early books Deighton is a wonderful stylist. Repartee Present from my son. He’s very fond of quotations by Wellington. Each year on the anniversary of the battle of Waterloo we have a little party, and all the guests have to have an anecdote or quotation ready.’Deighton's fiction has stood the test of time. His habitually acerbic narrative voice still has much to say to contemporary readers ... Now a fresh generation have the chance to sample Deighton's wares as Penguin republishes many of his books. Vanessa Thorpe, The Observer Deighton was born in Marylebone, London, in 1929. His father was a chauffeur and mechanic, and his mother was a part-time cook. After leaving school, Deighton worked as a railway clerk before performing his National Service, which he spent as a photographer for the Royal Air Force's Special Investigation Branch. After discharge from the RAF, he studied at St Martin's School of Art in London in 1949, and in 1952 won a scholarship to the Royal College of Art, graduating in 1955. The airport bus dredged through the sludge of traffic as sodium-arc lights jaundiced our way towards Slough. (Ch 6) Having watched the three Michael Caine movies of the "unnamed British agent" (affectionately known as Harry Palmer) I started to make my way through the books, and after listening to Funeral in Berlin and Billion Dollar Brain, I turned my attention to Horse Under Water.

Slid the narrow glance’ has Raymond Chandler’s feel for exotic ways of describing looks, his obsession with eyes. Similarly, Deighton’s snappy take on the trials and tribulations of everyday life, such as gas meters and payphones.In general no, but once again every horse is different. Besides not having an innate love to go deep into water for a swim, horses may hesitate for several reasons. Peter Philips’ Part Book Talks to Brueghel Simon Jenner Commended, National Poetry Competition 2015 crepuscule with nellie (take six) Ken Taylor Commended, National Poetry Competition 2013. Plus filmpoem This is a new phenomenon - the whole sensitivity industry (for that's what it is) has grown up maybe in just the last decade. But it is affecting many authors that readers of this blog will be familiar with.