Ken Follett
Born	June 5, 1949 (1949-06-05) (age 58) Cardiff, Wales
Occupation	Novelist
Genres	Thriller, Historical Fiction

Ken Follett (born June 5, 1949) is a British author of thrillers and historical novels. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 450 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (768 × 1024 pixels, file size: 517 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ... is the 156th day of the year (157th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1949 (MCMXLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the capital city of Wales. ... This article is about the country. ... This article is about work. ... A literary genre is one of the divisions of literature into genres according to particular criteria such as literary technique, tone, or content. ... The thriller is a broad genre of literature, film, and television. ... Look up historical fiction in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... is the 156th day of the year (157th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1949 (MCMXLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see Author (disambiguation). ... The thriller is a broad genre of literature, film, and television. ...

Life

Ken Follett, the son of Martin and Veenie Follett, was born in Cardiff, Wales and lived there until the family moved to London ten years later. Barred from watching movies and television by his devoutly Christian parents, he developed an early interest in reading but remained an indifferent student until he entered his teens. Applying himself to his studies, he won admission in 1967 to University College London, where he studied philosophy and became involved in leftist politics. He married his first wife, Mary, in 1968. This article is about the capital city of Wales. ... This article is about the country. ... Year 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the 1967 Gregorian calendar. ... Affiliations University of London Russell Group LERU EUA ACU Golden Triangle G5 Website http://www. ...

After graduation, in the autumn of 1970 Follett took a three-month post-graduate course in journalism and went to work as a trainee reporter in Cardiff on the South Wales Echo. After three years in Cardiff, he returned to London as a general-assignment reporter for the Evening Standard. Finding the work unchallenging, he eventually left journalism for publishing and became, by the late 1970s, deputy managing director of Everest Books. He also began writing fiction on evenings and weekends as a hobby. Success came gradually at first but the publication of Eye of the Needle in 1978 made him both wealthy and internationally famous. Each of Follett's subsequent novels has also become a best-seller, and a number have been adapted for the screen. Year 1970 ([[Rf 1970 == January 1 - The Unix epoch begins at 00:00:00 UTC January 2 - The last studio performance of The Beatles oman numerals|MCMLXX]]) was a common year starting on Thursday (link shows full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the capital city of Wales. ... The South Wales Echo is the top-selling evening newspaper in Wales. ... Headlines of the Evening Standard on the day of London bombing on July 7, 2005, in Waterloo Station The Evening Standard is a British tabloid newspaper published and sold in London and surrounding areas of southeast England. ... Eye of the Needle is a spy thriller novel written by British author Ken Follett. ...

Follett became involved, during the late 1970s, in the activities of Britain's Labour Party. In the course of his political activities, he met the former Barbara Broer, a Labour official, who became his second wife in 1984. She was elected a Member of Parliament in 1997, representing Stevenage. She was re-elected both in 2001 and in 2005. Follett himself remains a prominent Labour supporter and fundraiser. The Labour Party is a political party in the United Kingdom. ... Daphne Barbara Follett (born 25 December 1942, Kingston, Jamaica as Daphne Barbara Hubbard) is a British politician - she is the Labour Member of Parliament for Stevenage, which she first won at the 1997 general election. ... Type Bicameral Houses House of Commons House of Lords Speaker of the House of Commons Michael Martin MP Lord Speaker Hélène Hayman, PC Members 1377 (646 Commons, 731 Peers) Political groups Labour Party Conservative Party Liberal Democrats Scottish National Party Plaid Cymru Democratic Unionist Party Sinn Féin... For the band, see 1997 (band). ... For other uses see Stevenage (disambiguation) Stevenage is a town and district in Hertfordshire, England. ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Work

Follett is widely received^{[attribution needed]} as a talented historical/thriller author of fiction, with a long series of international best-sellers to his name.

Leaving aside a series of competent but undistinguished paperback originals written under various pseudonyms, of which The Modigliani Scandal and Paper Money are perhaps the best known, Follett's literary career has gone through four distinct phases.

The first, and most distinguished, phase comprises Eye of the Needle and the five books (four fiction and one non-fiction) that followed it. All are variations of the classic espionage thriller, pitting one or two daring, resourceful agents against a numerous and well-equipped enemy. The settings are both geographically and chronologically diverse, ranging from World War I Europe in The Man from St. Petersburg to (then) present-day Israel, Iran and Afghanistan in Triple, On Wings of Eagles and Lie Down with Lions. Like the early works of Frederick Forsyth, another journalist-turned-novelist, Follett's early thrillers devote much attention to how things are done. The Key To Rebecca, for example, hinges on the workings of a particular type of secret code, the hero of Triple is a master of disguise, and clandestine radio transmitters play a major role in Eye of the Needle. All six books--including On Wings of Eagles, the non-fictional story of the successful attempt to rescue two American employees of Ross Perot's company EDS from Iran after the 1979 Revolution--follow the basic conventions of the thriller genre. All six, however, use those conventions in unconventional ways: making the protagonist of Eye of the Needle a German agent, for example. Eye of the Needle is a spy thriller novel written by British author Ken Follett. ... Frederick Forsyth. ... Henry Ross Perot (born June 27, 1930) is an American businessman from Texas, who is best known for seeking the office of President of the United States in 1992 and 1996. ... Electronic Data Systems (EDS) (NYSE: EDS, LSE: EDC) is a global business and technology services company that defined the outsourcing business when it was established in 1962 by Ross Perot. ... After Islamic Conquest  Modern SSR = Soviet Socialist Republic Afghanistan  Azerbaijan  Bahrain  Iran  Iraq  Tajikistan  Uzbekistan  This box:      The Iranian Revolution (also known as the Islamic Revolution,[1][2][3][4][5][6] Persian: انقلاب اسلامی, Enghelābe Eslāmi) was the revolution that transformed Iran from a monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza...

The second phase of Follett's career was a conscious departure from the first: a series of four historical novels written in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The Pillars of the Earth, the first of the four, set the pattern for the three that followed. Unlike Follett's earlier thrillers, it featured a large cast, multiple plotlines, occasional outbursts of violence, and extensive use of historical background. Pillars, set mostly in medieval England, followed the building of a cathedral. Night Over Water was a Grand Hotel-style tale that took place aboard a transatlantic seaplane flying from Southampton to New York on the eve of World War II. A Dangerous Fortune revolved around family and business intrigue in a large family of financiers in Victorian-era London, and A Place Called Freedom took place in Britain's North American colonies around the time of the American Revolution. The cover art of Pillars of the Earth, US edition The Pillars of the Earth is a historical novel by Ken Follett about the building of a cathedral in Kingsbridge (an ancient town located between Plymouth, Torbay, and Dartmoor in Southern England). ... Night Over Water is a politically-minded novel written by author Ken Follett and published by William Morrow in 1991. ... Grand Hotel is a 1932 art deco movie, and is considered as a classic of the sort. ... For other uses, see Southampton (disambiguation). ... This article is about the state. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... John Trumbulls Declaration of Independence, showing the five-man committee in charge of drafting the Declaration in 1776 as it presents its work to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia The American Revolution refers to the period during the last half of the 18th century in which the Thirteen...

Follett changed literary gears a third time in the late 1990s, with a pair of books set firmly in the present and using high technology as a plot device. The Hammer of Eden focused on the potential use of earthquakes as a terrorist weapon, and The Third Twin on the darker aspects of biotechnology. The two novels--seemingly an attempt to mine the same fictional vein as Michael Crichton--were comparatively unsuccessful. Reviewers, as well as many readers, found the characters shallow and the effort required to suspend disbelief too great. Michael Crichton, pronounced [1], (born October 23, 1942) is an American author, film producer, film director, and television producer. ...

Follett returned to conventional low-tech thrillers in Code to Zero, an espionage story pitting Soviet and American agents on the eve of America's first satellite launch. The World War II adventures Jackdaws and Hornet Flight put Follett firmly back where he began: writing about daring agents operating undercover behind enemy lines, charged with a mission that could change the course of the war. Some critics and readers hailed them as a welcome and long-overdue return by Follett to the kind of story he writes best. Others regarded them as old wine in new bottles: rehashings of themes and situations he had treated more interestingly in his earlier work. For other uses, see Satellite (disambiguation). ... Jackdaws is a World War II spy thriller written by British novelist Ken Follett. ... Hornet Flight is a World War II based spy thriller written by British author Ken Follett. ...

Barring another radical shift in his literary output, Follett's reputation is likely to rest on his early thrillers (especially Eye of the Needle and The Key to Rebecca) and on The Pillars of the Earth, which he himself is said to regard as his finest work. Eye of the Needle is a spy thriller novel written by British author Ken Follett. ... The cover art of Pillars of the Earth, US edition The Pillars of the Earth is a historical novel by Ken Follett about the building of a cathedral in Kingsbridge (an ancient town located between Plymouth, Torbay, and Dartmoor in Southern England). ...

His most recent novel is World Without End, a sequel to The Pillars of the Earth, released in October 2007. For the movie of the same name, see World Without End. ... The cover art of Pillars of the Earth, US edition The Pillars of the Earth is a historical novel by Ken Follett about the building of a cathedral in Kingsbridge (an ancient town located between Plymouth, Torbay, and Dartmoor in Southern England). ...

Bibliography

• The Big Needle (1974) (as Simon Myles) (apa The Big Apple - U.S.)^[1]
• The Big Black (1974) (as Simon Myles)^[1]
• The Big Hit (1975) (as Simon Myles)^[1]
• The Shakeout (1975)^[2]
• The Bear Raid (1976)^[2]
• Amok: King of Legend (1976) (as Bernard L. Ross)
• The Modigliani Scandal (1976) (as Zachary Stone)
• The Mystery Hideout (1976) (as Martin Martinsen) (apa The Secret of Kellerman's Studio)
• The Power Twins (1976) (as Martin Martinsen)
• Paper Money (1977) (as Zachary Stone)
• Capricorn One (1978) (as Bernard L. Ross) (based on screenplay by Peter Hyams)
• Eye of the Needle (1978) (apa Storm Island) (Edgar Award, 1979, Best Novel)
• Heist of the Century (1978) (with Rene Louis Maurice, others) (apa The Gentleman of 16 July - U.S.) (apa Under the Streets of Nice) (apa Robbery Under the Streets of Nice)^[3][4]
• Triple (1979)
• The Key to Rebecca (1980)
• The Man from St. Petersburg (1982)
• On Wings of Eagles (1983) ISBN 0-451-16353-2
• Lie Down with Lions (1986)
• The Pillars of the Earth (1989)
• Night Over Water (1991)
• A Dangerous Fortune (1993)
• A Place Called Freedom (1995)
• The Third Twin (1996)
• The Hammer of Eden (1998)
• Code to Zero (2000)
• Jackdaws (2001)
• Hornet Flight (2002)
• Whiteout (2004)
• World Without End (2007)

Eye of the Needle is a spy thriller novel written by British author Ken Follett. ... The Edgar Allan Poe Awards (popularly called the Edgars), named after Edgar Allan Poe, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America. ... The introduction to this article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject matter. ... The cover art of Pillars of the Earth, US edition The Pillars of the Earth is a historical novel by Ken Follett about the building of a cathedral in Kingsbridge (an ancient town located between Plymouth, Torbay, and Dartmoor in Southern England). ... Night Over Water is a politically-minded novel written by author Ken Follett and published by William Morrow in 1991. ... The Third Twin is a suspense thriller authored by the British writer Ken Follett and published by Random House publications in 1996. ... The Hammer of Eden is a work by Ken Follett. ... Jackdaws is a World War II spy thriller written by British novelist Ken Follett. ... Hornet Flight is a World War II based spy thriller written by British author Ken Follett. ... For the movie of the same name, see World Without End. ...

Footnotes

1. ^ ^{a b c} Apples Carstairs series
2. ^ ^{a b} Piers Roper series
3. ^ Follett rewrote this book after two translators had failed to produce a publishable version of the original French work. Follett has tried to keep it from being published under his name and disowns it entirely, entreating readers not to buy it. [1]
4. ^ Translation from original French version.

External links

• Ken Follett's Website
• Ken Follett Dutch fansite with covers

• 1983 interview with Ken Follett by Don Swaim at Wired for Books.
• Ken Follett at the Open Directory Project