Robert Louis Constantine Lee-Dillon Fitzgibbon (Massachusetts 8 June 1919 - Dublin 25 March 1983) was a historian and novelist.

Birth, family and marriage

Constantine Fitzgibbon was born in the United States in 1919. He was raised and educated in France before moving to England. His father, Commander Francis Lee-Dillon FitzGibbon, RN, was Irish, his mother, Georgette Folsom, from Lenox, Mass, USA. He married his wife Marjorie (née Steele) in 1967. He had one daughter, named Oonagh, born February 6, 1968 for whom he wrote the book Teddy in the Tree in 1977. By a previous marriage to Marion (née Gutmann) he had one son, born 1961. He was half-brother of Louis Fitzgibbon, author of Katyn. The family resided in Killiney

Killiney

Killiney is a suburb of Dublin in south County Dublin, Ireland. It is within the administrative area of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County. The area is by the coast, south of neighbouring Dalkey, and north to Shankill area in the most southern outskirt of Dublin....

 in south County Dublin.

Education

Wellington College

Wellington College, Berkshire

-Former pupils:Notable former pupils include historian P. J. Marshall, architect Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, impressionist Rory Bremner, Adolphus Cambridge, 1st Marquess of Cambridge, author Sebastian Faulks, language school pioneer John Haycraft, political journalist Robin Oakley, actor Sir Christopher...

; University of Munich; University of Paris

University of Paris

The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...

. Fitzgibbon attended Exeter College, Oxford

Exeter College, Oxford

Exeter College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England and the fourth oldest college of the University. The main entrance is on the east side of Turl Street...

 with a modern languages scholarship but left without a degree just before the outbreak of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 in 1939.

Career

Fitzgibbon served in the British Army, in the Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry, from 1939 to 1942, before transferring to the United States Army as a staff officer in military intelligence from 1942-46. He worked as a schoolmaster for a short time in Bermuda from 1946–47, at Saltus Grammar School

Saltus Grammar School

Saltus Grammar School, founded in 1888, is an independent school in Hamilton, the capital of Bermuda. It was a boys' school until 1992 when it became fully co-educational. It has two campuses, one for the Preparatory Department and one for the Junior Department, Senior Department and Graduate...

, then as an independent writer. It was here he wrote his first two novels. He lived in Italy and spent many years in England before moving to Ireland in 1965.

Fitzgibbon has written a number of books, including nine novels. One of the recurring subjects in his work was Nazi Germany.

FitzGibbon said he was offered, but refused, a job with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) when it was created following World War II. His play, The Devil at Work was produced by the Abbey Theatre

Abbey Theatre

The Abbey Theatre , also known as the National Theatre of Ireland , is a theatre located in Dublin, Ireland. The Abbey first opened its doors to the public on 27 December 1904. Despite losing its original building to a fire in 1951, it has remained active to the present day...

 in 1971.

FitzGibbon was a member of the Council of the Irish Academy of Letters and an honorary fellow of the Royal Society of Literature

Royal Society of Literature

The Royal Society of Literature is the "senior literary organisation in Britain". It was founded in 1820 by George IV, in order to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". The Society's first president was Thomas Burgess, who later became the Bishop of Salisbury...

 and a Guggenheim Fellow. He later became an Irish citizen and lived in County Dublin.

Publications

• The Arabian Bird (1949)
• The Iron Hoop (1950)
• Dear Emily (1952)
• Miss Finnigan's Fault (1953)
• Norman Douglas (1953)
• The Holiday (1953)
• The Little Tour (1954)
• The Shirt of Nessus (1955)
• In Love and War (1956)
• The Blitz (1957)
• Paradise Lost and More (1959)
• Watcher in Florence (1959) The Vine Press
• When the Kissing had to Stop (1960) new edition (posthumous), (1989)
• Adultery Under Arms (1962)
• Going to the River (1963)
• Random Thoughts of a Fascist Hyena (1963)
• The Life of Dylan Thomas
  Dylan Thomas
  Dylan Marlais Thomas was a Welsh poet and writer, Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 11 January 2008. who wrote exclusively in English. In addition to poetry, he wrote short stories and scripts for film and radio, which he often performed himself...
  
  (1965 ed.)
• Selected Letters of Dylan Thomas (1966 ed.)
• Through the Minefield (1967)
• Denazification (1969)
• High Heroic (a novel about the life of Michael Collins
  Michael Collins (Irish leader)
  Michael "Mick" Collins was an Irish revolutionary leader, Minister for Finance and Teachta Dála for Cork South in the First Dáil of 1919, Director of Intelligence for the IRA, and member of the Irish delegation during the Anglo-Irish Treaty negotiations. Subsequently, he was both Chairman of the...
  
  ) (1969)
• Out of the Lion's Paw (1969)
• London's Burning (1970)
• Red Hand: The Ulster Colony (1971)
• The Devil at Work (1971) (play)
• A Concise History of Germany (1972)
• In the Bunker (1973)
• The Life and Times of Eamon de Valera
  Éamon de Valera
  Éamon de Valera was one of the dominant political figures in twentieth century Ireland, serving as head of government of the Irish Free State and head of government and head of state of Ireland...
  
  (1973)
• The Golden Age (1976)
• Secret Intelligence (1976)
• Man in Aspic (1977)
• Teddy in the Tree (1977)
• Drink (1979)
• The Rat Report (1980)
• The Irish in Ireland (1982)
• and trans from French, German and Italian. Translator of the Rudolf Höß
  Rudolf Höß
  Rudolf Franz Ferdinand Höss was an SS-Obersturmbannführer , and from 4 May 1940 to November 1943, the first commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp, where it is estimated that more than a million people were murdered...
  
   "autobiography". Contributor to Encyclopædia Britannica, newspapers and periodicals in Britain, America and elsewhere

When the Kissing Had to Stop

This novel was filmed 1962, directed by Bill Hitchcock

Bill Hitchcock

William Frederick "Bill" Hitchcock was a professional American football player who played offensive lineman for four seasons for the Seattle Seahawks.-References:...

 and starring Denholm Elliott

Denholm Elliott

Denholm Mitchell Elliott, CBE was an English film, television and theatre actor with over 120 film and television credits...

, Peter Vaughan

Peter Vaughan

Peter Vaughan is an English character actor, known for many supporting roles in a variety of British film and television productions. He has worked extensively on the stage, becoming known for roles such as police inspectors, Soviet agents and similar parts...

 and Douglas Wilmer

Douglas Wilmer

-Early life:Wilmer was born in London and educated at King's School, Canterbury and Stonyhurst College. He trained at RADA but was called up to the Army in World War II. Posted to an antitank battery in the Royal West African Frontier Force, he was invalided out after he acquired tuberculosis. He...

.