July 7th 1975

“Came 3rd in TD with 56%. Started reading Spy Story – not bad”

Len Deighton may have been one of the first spy fiction writers to have come up with what we now refer to as a ‘police procedural’ style, one which hones in – with exacting detail – on every aspect of a crime.

Deighton’s first four novels revolved around a popular anti-hero named Harry Palmer, later brought to life by actor Michael Caine in film adaptations such as “The Ipcress File”

His 1972 novel “Spy Story” did feature some of the minor characters from his earlier works but had a new protagonist, Pat Armstrong, who also works in British intelligence, investigating Soviet warfare risks.

Needless to say I had to look that up as I can’t remember a thing about this book other than, for whatever reason, I held onto it for years (and years) afterwards, only getting rid of it when I was ready to ship my belongings to the USA in 2005. Maybe I thought it was a ‘belter’ or maybe I just thought it was cool to have it on my bookshelves. Who knows why we hang on to books?

In other news, a mere 56% was good enough to place me third in my Technical Drawing class. I’m not sure if that says more about me or my fellow students?

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