Jack Higgins ’ journey from school dropout to one of the world’s most successful thriller writers is the most enthralling story of all.
Higgins, who was best known for his 1975 novel The Eagle Has Landed, died yesterday at the age of 92.
The author, whose real name was Henry Patterson, published 85 books in his lifetime, most in the spy genre, and sold more than 250 million copies worldwide, reportedly earning more than £4million a year.
Publisher HarperCollins referred to him simply as “The Legend” and chief executive Charlie Redmayne said: “He was a classic thriller writer: Instinctive, tough, relentless.
“Being part of his publishing for even part of his career has been a privilege – his passing marks the end of an era.”
Literary agent Jonathan Lloyd said: “I look forward now to working with his wife, Denise, and daughter, Hannah, and the family on preserving and promoting his extraordinary legacy.”
Higgins was born on July 27, 1929, in Newcastle upon Tyne to a Northern Irish mother and English father, who left soon after his son was delivered.
He later recalled: “My dad doesn’t exist for me. I know he married again because a relative got in touch, but I’m not interested.”
His mother relocated them to Belfast’s Shankill Road, where he bore the brunt of sectarian tensions.
“As a Protestant, I’d get beaten up by Catholics,” he said. “There was one occasion when shots were fired at the tram we were travelling in and my mother pushed me to the floor and lay on me.”
Despite being apathetic at school, Higgins loved books, recalling that at night he would crouch under a window and read by the light of street lamps.
“I read Oliver Twist when I was six,” he said. “I probably didn’t understand everything in it – but I didn’t care.”
After his mother remarried, the family moved to Leeds. Higgins left Roundhay Grammar School for Boys with few qualifications, and began two years of national service from 1947.
His security work on the East German border would end up as fodder for his espionage thrillers.
He studied Sociology at the London School of Economics while working as a labourer, before qualifying as a teacher and working at Leeds Polytechnic.
He began to write novels in his spare time. His first, Sad Wind From the Sea, was published in 1959 and he received a £75 advance for it – around £1,850 in today’s money.
It came not long after his wedding to first wife Amy Hewitt. Higgins later referred to the advance as “the biggest wedding present we could have had”.
Over the next 10 years, he wrote two or three thrillers a year.
But The Eagle Has Landed, about a fictional German plot to kidnap Winston Churchill, would change his life – even though his agent initially did not like the idea of the book.
It sold 50 million copies and was turned into a successful 1976 Hollywood film starring Sir Michael Caine and Donald Sutherland.
When Higgins joked “it would be nice to make a million by the time I retired,” he was told he had made that from the book in just one week.
Several of his other books were turned into films, including A Prayer for the Dying, To Catch a King and The Windsor Protocol.
He also enjoyed further massive success in 1992 with Eye of the Storm, a fictional retelling of a mortar attack on Prime Minister John Major by a ruthless young Irish gunman-philosopher named Sean Dillon.
Higgins’ prolific output was reportedly fuelled by all-night writing sessions with cigars and champagne.
His final novel, The Midnight Bell, was published in 2017 and was a bestseller.
He recalled his unusual life in one of his later interviews, saying: “I’ve had the chance to do it all.
The car, the driver, Beverley Hills, MGM, the movies, the Carson Show, Larry King, hanging out with Richard Burton, being waited on by a dwarf in a green jacket in the Polo Lounge... the Hollywood dream and the Hollywood weirdness all happened.”
He died at home in Jersey. His cause of death has not yet been revealed.
