Charles Cumming (born April 5, 1971, Ayr, Scotland) is a British writer of spy fiction. The son of Ian Cumming (1938-) and Caroline (Ramsay) Pilkington (1943-), he was educated at Ludgrove School (1979-1984), Eton College (1985-1989) and the University of Edinburgh (1990-1994), where he graduated with 1st Class Honours in English Literature. The Observer has described him as "the best of the new generation of British spy writers who are taking over where John le Carré and Len Deighton left off". is the 95th day of the year (96th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the 1971 Gregorian calendar, known as the year of cyclohexanol. ... For the video game, see Spy Fiction (video game). ... Year 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1943 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Main School Ludgrove School is a private boarding preparatory school for about 200 boys aged 8 to 13. ... Also: 1979 by Smashing Pumpkins. ... This article is about the year. ... The Kings College of Our Lady of Eton beside Windsor, commonly known as Eton College or just Eton, is a public school (privately funded and independent) for boys, founded in 1440 by King Henry VI. It is located in Eton, near Windsor in England, north of Windsor Castle, and... This article is about the year. ... Year 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar). ... The University of Edinburgh (Scottish Gaelic: ), founded in 1582,[4] is a renowned centre for teaching and research in Edinburgh, Scotland. ... This article is about the year. ... Year 1994 (MCMXCIV) The year 1994 was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by the United Nations. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... John le Carré is the pseudonym of David John Moore Cornwell (born October 19, 1931 in Poole, Dorset, England), an English writer of espionage novels. ... Len Deighton (left) teaches Michael Caine how to break an egg on the set of The IPCRESS File. ...

In 1995, Charles Cumming was approached for recruitment by the United Kingdom's Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). A Spy By Nature, a novel partly based on his experiences with MI6, was published in the UK in June 2001. The novel's hero, Alec Milius, is a flawed loner in his early 20s who is recruited by MI6 to sell doctored research data on oil exploration in the Caspian Sea to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Film rights to A Spy By Nature are owned by Kudos, the creators of Spooks and Hustle. A screenplay adaptation has been written by Howard Brenton. Year 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday. ... The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 (Military Intelligence, Section 6)[1] is the United Kingdoms external intelligence agency. ... The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), more commonly known as MI6 (originally Military Intelligence Section 6), or the Secret Service, is the United Kingdom external security agency. ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), more commonly known as MI6 (originally Military Intelligence Section 6), or the Secret Service, is the United Kingdom external security agency. ... The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the worlds largest lake or a full-fledged sea. ... CIA redirects here. ... The CIA Seal The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is an American intelligence agency, responsible for obtaining and analyzing information about foreign governments, corporations, and individuals, and reporting such information to the various branches of the U.S. Government. ... Kudos Film & Television is a British television production company, which has produced drama series for most of the major television networks in the UK. Its best-known series are the spy drama Spooks (known as MI5 in the United States) and con-artist thriller series Hustle for BBC One and... For the music band, see The Spooks. ... Hustle is a British television comedy-drama series made by Kudos Film & Television for BBC One in the United Kingdom. ... Howard Brenton (born December 13, 1942) is an English playwright, who was educated at St Catharines College, Cambridge. ...

In August 2001, Charles Cumming moved to Madrid. His second novel, The Hidden Man (2003), tells the story of two brothers investigating the murder of their father, a former SIS officer, at the hands of the Russian mafia. The Hidden Man also examines the clandestine role played by SIS and the CIA during the Soviet war in Afghanistan. This article is about the Spanish capital. ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 (Military Intelligence, Section 6)[1] is the United Kingdoms external intelligence agency. ... The Russian Mafia or Russkaya Mafiya, Red Mafia, Krasnaya Mafiya or Bratva (slang for brotherhood), is a name given to a broad group of organized criminals of various ethnicity which appeared in the former Soviet Union territories after its disintegration in 1991. ... Belligerents DRA USSR Mujahideen of Afghanistan al-Qaeda supported by[1] United States United Kingdom Pakistan Saudi Arabia Commanders Soviet forces: Sergei Sokolov Valentin Varennikov Boris Gromov DRA: Babrak Karmal Mohammad Najibullah Abdul Rashid Dostum Abdul Haq Jalaluddin Haqqani Gulbuddin Hekmatyar Ismail Khan Ahmad Shah Massoud Strength Soviet forces: 80...

Charles Cumming's third novel, The Spanish Game (2006), marks the return of anti-hero Alec Milius, who becomes involved in a plot by the paramilitary Basque nationalist organization ETA to bring down the Spanish government. The Spanish Game was described by The Times as one of the six finest spy novels of all time, alongside Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, Casino Royale, Funeral in Berlin and The Scarlet Pimpernel. Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... In literature and film, an anti-hero is a central or supporting character that has some of the personality flaws and ultimate fortune traditionally assigned to villains but nonetheless also have enough heroic qualities or intentions to gain the sympathy of readers or viewers. ... Political Spain in 1854, after the first Carlist War The Arrano beltza (black eagle) flag is waved by radical Basque nationalists, mainly supporters of ETA and HB, along the Ikurriña and the Navarrese flag as a claim of unity of the Basque lands. ... For other uses, see ETA (disambiguation). ... The Times is a national newspaper published daily in the United Kingdom (and the Kingdom of Great Britain before the United Kingdom existed) since 1788 when it was known as The Daily Universal Register. ... Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is a spy novel by John le Carré, first published in 1974. ... Casino Royale can refer to: In fiction: Casino Royale (novel), the first James Bond novel by Ian Fleming. ... Funeral in Berlin is a a spy novel by Len Deighton. ... For the eponymous flower, see Scarlet pimpernel. ...

Typhoon, due for UK publication in 2008, is a political thriller about a CIA plot to destablise China on the eve of the Beijing Olympics. The story spans the decade from the transfer of the sovereignty of Hong Kong in 1997 to present-day Shanghai. In particular, the author highlights the plight of the Uyghur Muslim population in Xinjiang, a semi-autonomous region of The People's Republic of China. 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Anno Domini (or common era), in accordance to the Gregorian calendar. ... The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, will be held in Beijing in the Peoples Republic of China from August 8, 2008 to August 24, 2008, with the opening ceremony to take place at 8 p. ... The transfer of the sovereignty of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to China, often referred to as The Handover, occurred on July 1, 1997. ... For the band, see 1997 (band). ... For other uses, see Shanghai (disambiguation). ... The Uyghur (Uyghur: ئۇيغۇر; Uighur Simplified Chinese: 维吾尔; Traditional Chinese: 維吾爾; Pinyin: Wéiwúěr; Turkish: Uygur) are a Turkic people, forming one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the Peoples Republic of China. ... For the county in Shanxi province, see Xinjiang County. ... In the technical terminology of political science the PRC was a communist state for much of the 20th century, and is still considered a communist state by many, though not all, political scientists. ...

In March 2008, Charles Cumming published an interactive online story, The 21 Steps, as part of a Penguin We Tell Stories project. Readers follow the protagonist's travels through google earth. It has been suggested that Penguin Modern Poets, Penguin Great Ideas be merged into this article or section. ...

Charles Cumming is a contributing editor of The Week, and regularly writes book reviews for The Mail on Sunday. He is one of the trustees of The Pierce Loughran Memorial Scholarship fund which provides tuition fees for the Yeats Summer School in Sligo, Ireland. He is also the founder and President of the Jose Raul Capablanca Memorial Chess Society and, along with fellow author Boris Starling, was part of the gold medal-winning team at the 2008 World Poohsticks championships held in Oxfordshire, England. He is married with two children and lives in London. Cover of U.S. edition from December 16, 2005. ... The Daily Mail and its Sunday edition the Mail on Sunday are British newspapers, first published in 1896. ... Yeats is the surname of a notable Irish family: John Butler Yeats (1839-1922), Irish artist and portrait painter William Butler Yeats (1865-1939), Irish poet and playwright, Nobel prize winner Susan Yeats, also known as Lily, (1866-1949), active in the Arts and Crafts movement and Dun Emer Guild... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: , Irish Grid Reference G685354 Statistics Province: Connacht County: Elevation: 13 m Population (2006)  - Town:  - Rural:   17,892 [1]  24,096[1] Website: www. ... José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera (November 19, 1888 - March 8, 1942) was a famous Cuban chess player in the early to mid twentieth century. ... Boris Starling is a British novelist. ... Poohsticks Bridge, Ashdown Forest Poohsticks is a game first mentioned as being played by Winnie the Pooh and friends in the book The House at Pooh Corner by A. A. Milne, as well as in the animated featurette Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore. ...

Bibliography

• A Spy By Nature (2001), ISBN 0-14-029476-7
• The Hidden Man (2003), ISBN 0-14-029476-7
• The Spanish Game (2006), ISBN 0-14-101783-X
• Typhoon (2008), ISBN 0-14-101802X

External links

• Charles Cumming's official site