BATTLE OF BRITAIN

Leonard Cyril Deighton ( February 18th, 1929 ) was born in Marylebone ( London, England ). In 1940, at the age of 11, he witnessed the arrest of Anna Wolkoff, a British subject of Russian descent who was detained as a Nazi spy. Observing her arrest was a major factor in his decision to write a spy story at his first attempt at fiction. 

Leonard Deighton was educated at St. Marylebone Grammar School, but was moved to an emergency school for part of the Second World War. After leaving school, he worked as a railway clerk before being conscripted ( aged 17 ) for National Service, which he completed with the R.A.F., trained as a photographer. 

In 1948, he received a demobilisation grant, enabling him to study at the Saint Martin's School of Art where he won a scholarship to the Royal College of Art, graduating from the latter in 1955. He worked as a Flight Attendant for British Overseas Airways Corporation ( B.O.A.C., 1956 - 1957 ) before becoming a professional illustrator. 

Leonard Deighton worked for agencies in New York City ( New York, United States ) and London, but he also illustrated magazines and over 200 book covers, including for the first British edition of Jack Kerouac's work On the Road ( 1957 ). In 1962, his first novel, The IPCRESS File, was published ( written in 1960 while he was staying in the Dordogne, France ). The book was soon a commercial success. 

During the mid - 1960s, Leonard Deighton wrote for Playboy as a travel correspondent. He was the writer and co - producer of Oh ! What a Lovely War ( 1969 ), but did not enjoy the process of making films, and had his name removed from the film's credits. In addition to his novels, Leonard Deighton also has written cookery books and history books as well. 

Several of his novels have been adapted as films including The IPCRESS File ( 1962 ), Funeral in Berlin ( 1964 ), Billion Dollar Brain ( 1966 ) and Spy Story ( 1974 ). Bomber, the third album of the rock group Motörhead, was named after the novel, as the band's singer, Lemmy ( 1945 - 2015 ), was reading it at the time. 

( source : Wikipedia )