Lionel Davidson
Encyclopedia
Lionel Davidson was an English
novelist who wrote a number of acclaimed spy thrillers
.
, Yorkshire
, one of nine children of an immigrant Jewish tailor. He left school early and worked in the London offices of the Spectator
magazine as an office boy. Later, he joined the Keystone Press Agency. During World War II
, he served with the Submarine Service of the Royal Navy
.
When the war ended, he returned to the Keystone Agency and travelled all over Europe as a freelance reporter. It was during one of these trips that he got the idea for his first thriller. The Night of Wenceslas
was published in 1960. Set in Czechoslovakia
during the Cold War
, the novel tells the story of young Nicolas Whistler, a 24-year-old Londoner whose business trip to Prague
goes horribly awry. Its taut prose and masterful plot made The Night of Wenceslas an instant, massive success, and immediately pushed Davidson into the front ranks of the genre, inviting favourable comparisons with such luminaries as Eric Ambler
, Graham Greene
and John le Carré
. Davidson became one of the handful of living writers to have their first novel appear in a green Penguin
jacket. The book won the Crime Writers' Association
's Gold Dagger
Award (the top prize for crime and spy fiction in Britain) as well as the Author's Club First Novel Award
. It was filmed in 1964 as Hot Enough for June
, with Dirk Bogarde
in the role of Whistler.
His second novel The Rose of Tibet
(1962) was equally well-received. A Long Way to Shiloh
(1966) won Davidson his second Gold Dagger, and he achieved a third with The Chelsea Murders
(1978). The Chelsea Murders was also adapted for television as part of Thames TV's Armchair Thriller
series in 1981.
Davidson then went into an extended hiatus after the publication of The Chelsea Murders. He was not to write another thriller for the next sixteen years. Kolymsky Heights
appeared in 1994 to international acclaim and introduced its author to a new generation of readers.
Davidson never quite managed to fulfil his early promise to become a giant of British spy fiction, although his best novels are of high quality. In 2001, he was awarded the CWA's Cartier Diamond Dagger
lifetime achievement award, for making "a significant contribution to crime fiction published in the English language".
Davidson wrote a number of children's novels under the pseudonym
David Line. Run For Your Life
is an outstanding example of writing which creates suspense from the opening page.
Lionel Davidson died on 21 October 2009 in north London after suffering a long illness. He is survived by his second wife, Frances Ullman, and two sons, Nicholas and Philip.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
novelist who wrote a number of acclaimed spy thrillers
Spy fiction
Spy fiction, literature concerning the forms of espionage, was a sub-genre derived from the novel during the nineteenth century, which then evolved into a discrete genre before the First World War , when governments established modern intelligence agencies in the early twentieth century...
.
Life and career
Lionel Davidson was born in 1922 in HullKingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...
, Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
, one of nine children of an immigrant Jewish tailor. He left school early and worked in the London offices of the Spectator
The Spectator
The Spectator is a weekly British magazine first published on 6 July 1828. It is currently owned by David and Frederick Barclay, who also owns The Daily Telegraph. Its principal subject areas are politics and culture...
magazine as an office boy. Later, he joined the Keystone Press Agency. During 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...
, he served with the Submarine Service of the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
.
When the war ended, he returned to the Keystone Agency and travelled all over Europe as a freelance reporter. It was during one of these trips that he got the idea for his first thriller. The Night of Wenceslas
The Night of Wenceslas
The Night of Wenceslas is the debut novel of British thriller and crime writer Lionel Davidson. It describes the reluctant adventures of Nicolas Whistler, a dissolute young man of mixed English and Czech parentage who finds himself caught up against his will in Cold War espionage...
was published in 1960. Set in Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
during the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, the novel tells the story of young Nicolas Whistler, a 24-year-old Londoner whose business trip to Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
goes horribly awry. Its taut prose and masterful plot made The Night of Wenceslas an instant, massive success, and immediately pushed Davidson into the front ranks of the genre, inviting favourable comparisons with such luminaries as Eric Ambler
Eric Ambler
Eric Clifford Ambler OBE was an influential British author of spy novels who introduced a new realism to the genre. Ambler also used the pseudonym Eliot Reed for books co-written with Charles Rodda.-Life:...
, Graham Greene
Graham Greene
Henry Graham Greene, OM, CH was an English author, playwright and literary critic. His works explore the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world...
and John le Carré
John le Carré
David John Moore Cornwell , who writes under the name John le Carré, is an author of espionage novels. During the 1950s and the 1960s, Cornwell worked for MI5 and MI6, and began writing novels under the pseudonym "John le Carré"...
. Davidson became one of the handful of living writers to have their first novel appear in a green Penguin
Penguin Books
Penguin Books is a publisher founded in 1935 by Sir Allen Lane and V.K. Krishna Menon. Penguin revolutionised publishing in the 1930s through its high quality, inexpensive paperbacks, sold through Woolworths and other high street stores for sixpence. Penguin's success demonstrated that large...
jacket. The book won the Crime Writers' Association
Crime Writers' Association
The Crime Writers Association is a writers' association in the United Kingdom. Founded by John Creasey in 1953, it is currently chaired by Peter James and claims 450+ members....
's Gold Dagger
Gold Dagger
The Gold Dagger Award was an award given annually by the Crime Writers' Association for the best crime novel of the year.For its first five years, the organization's top honor was known as the Crossed Red Herring Award....
Award (the top prize for crime and spy fiction in Britain) as well as the Author's Club First Novel Award
Author's Club First Novel Award
Authors' Club Best First Novel Award is awarded by the Authors' Club to the most promising first novel of the year, written by a British author and published in the UK during the calendar year preceding the year in which the award is presented....
. It was filmed in 1964 as Hot Enough for June
Hot Enough for June
Hot Enough for June is a 1964 British spy comedy film directed by Ralph Thomas and featuring Dirk Bogarde, Sylva Koscina, Robert Morley, Leo McKern, John Le Mesurier and Roger Delgado. It was based on the 1960 novel "The Night of Wenceslas" by Lionel Davidson and directed by Ralph Thomas. It was...
, with Dirk Bogarde
Dirk Bogarde
Sir Dirk Bogarde was an English actor and novelist. Initially a matinee idol in such films as Doctor in the House and other Rank Organisation pictures, Bogarde later acted in art-house films such as Death in Venice...
in the role of Whistler.
His second novel The Rose of Tibet
The Rose of Tibet
-Plot summary:Charles Houston makes a perilous and illegal journey from India into the forbidden land of Tibet during the unsettled time 1950/51, in the hope of rescuing his vanished brother...
(1962) was equally well-received. A Long Way to Shiloh
A Long Way to Shiloh
A Long Way to Shiloh is a thriller by Lionel Davidson. The book won the Crime Writers' Association's Gold Dagger Award.-Plot summary:...
(1966) won Davidson his second Gold Dagger, and he achieved a third with The Chelsea Murders
The Chelsea Murders
The Chelsea Murders is a thriller by Lionel Davidson. The book won the Crime Writers' Association's Gold Dagger Award.-Plot summary:...
(1978). The Chelsea Murders was also adapted for television as part of Thames TV's Armchair Thriller
Armchair Thriller
Armchair Thriller is a British television programme, broadcast on ITV in two series in 1978 and 1980. Owing something to some of the off-shoots of the earlier Armchair Theatre, the new series used scripts adapted from published novels and stories. Although not properly a horror series it included...
series in 1981.
Davidson then went into an extended hiatus after the publication of The Chelsea Murders. He was not to write another thriller for the next sixteen years. Kolymsky Heights
Kolymsky Heights
-Plot summary:A coded message is smuggled out of Russia, a plea for help from a supersecret laboratory deep in the frozen wastes of Siberia. The note is addressed to Johnny Porter, a Canadian Indian of the Gitxsan tribe with a genius for languages and disguises, and reluctantly he is forced to...
appeared in 1994 to international acclaim and introduced its author to a new generation of readers.
Davidson never quite managed to fulfil his early promise to become a giant of British spy fiction, although his best novels are of high quality. In 2001, he was awarded the CWA's Cartier Diamond Dagger
Cartier Diamond Dagger
The Cartier Diamond Dagger is an award given by the Crime Writers' Association of Great Britain to authors who have made an outstanding lifetime's contribution to the genre. The 2011 winner is Lindsey Davis.-Winners:* 1986 - Eric Ambler* 1987 - P. D...
lifetime achievement award, for making "a significant contribution to crime fiction published in the English language".
Davidson wrote a number of children's novels under the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
David Line. Run For Your Life
Run for Your Life (children's novel)
Run For Your Life is a children's adventure novel by Lionel Davidson, first published in 1966.-Plot introduction:...
is an outstanding example of writing which creates suspense from the opening page.
Lionel Davidson died on 21 October 2009 in north London after suffering a long illness. He is survived by his second wife, Frances Ullman, and two sons, Nicholas and Philip.
Novels
- The Night of WenceslasThe Night of WenceslasThe Night of Wenceslas is the debut novel of British thriller and crime writer Lionel Davidson. It describes the reluctant adventures of Nicolas Whistler, a dissolute young man of mixed English and Czech parentage who finds himself caught up against his will in Cold War espionage...
(Gold Dagger Award), 1960 - The Rose of TibetThe Rose of Tibet-Plot summary:Charles Houston makes a perilous and illegal journey from India into the forbidden land of Tibet during the unsettled time 1950/51, in the hope of rescuing his vanished brother...
, 1962 - A Long Way to ShilohA Long Way to ShilohA Long Way to Shiloh is a thriller by Lionel Davidson. The book won the Crime Writers' Association's Gold Dagger Award.-Plot summary:...
(US title: The Menorah Men) (Gold Dagger Award), 1966 - Making Good AgainMaking Good Again-Plot summary:In Germany to settle World War II reparations, James Raison is plunged into the old conflict between Jew and Nazi....
, 1968 - Smith's GazelleSmith's Gazelle-Plot summary:An old Bedouin and two boys, one Jewish and the other Arab, have a miraculous adventure in the Israeli desert during the Six-Day War....
, 1971 - The Sun ChemistThe Sun Chemist-Plot summary:Letters in the archive correspondence of Chaim Weizmann, first president of Israel, hint that, in his profession as a distinguished organic chemist, Weizmann had stumbled on a method for the cheap synthesis of petroleum. Now, decades later, a world buffeted by oil shocks and...
, 1976 - The Chelsea MurdersThe Chelsea MurdersThe Chelsea Murders is a thriller by Lionel Davidson. The book won the Crime Writers' Association's Gold Dagger Award.-Plot summary:...
, (US title: Murder Games) (Gold Dagger Award), 1978 - Under Plum LakeUnder Plum LakeUnder Plum Lake is a children's adventure novel by Lionel Davidson, first published in 1980.-Plot introduction:A young boy, Barry, explores a cave on the Cornwall coast and discovers a highly advanced subterranean civilization called Egon....
, 1980 (children's novel) - Kolymsky HeightsKolymsky Heights-Plot summary:A coded message is smuggled out of Russia, a plea for help from a supersecret laboratory deep in the frozen wastes of Siberia. The note is addressed to Johnny Porter, a Canadian Indian of the Gitxsan tribe with a genius for languages and disguises, and reluctantly he is forced to...
, 1994
Books published as "David Line"
- Soldier and Me (UK title: Run for Your LifeRun for Your Life (children's novel)Run For Your Life is a children's adventure novel by Lionel Davidson, first published in 1966.-Plot introduction:...
), 1965 - Mike and Me, 1974. More about Mike and Me at www.LionelDavidson.com/mike.html
- Screaming High, 1985.
Short stories
- Indian Rope Trick - first published in Winter’s Crimes 13, London: Macmillan 1981; reprinted in Mysterious Pleasures London: Little, Brown 2003
- Tuesday's Child - first published in The Verdict of Us All, Crippen & Landru 2006
External links
- Official website, set up by his sons
- Appreciation of Davidson's novels
- Lionel Davidson - Daily Telegraph obituary
- The Independent: Obituary