In My Own Words Season 2 Episode 1

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Transcript

00:01So, how would you sum your life up to a stranger?

00:05I know that I have several times been extremely lucky.

00:13They say you make your own luck in life, Freddie.

00:16Some you do, but some you don't.

00:18I've got the bullet in the next door. Do you want me to go get it?

00:30Yeah.

00:31The bullet on the chain.

00:37I mean, if we go back to this, good luck that I could reach for it.

00:42Say, for example, put that in there and reach for it.

00:49I believe very firmly I've had it over my life, extraordinarily good luck.

00:53Oh, yeah.

00:53I'd be the right place, right time, met the right person.

00:58Or occasionally not met, for example, that 7.62 NATO calibre rifle bullet

01:08that went through my hair in an African war.

01:12Actually went through, well, I had more hair then.

01:15But I sometimes think, if the bastards didn't get me with that one, they'll never get me.

01:22Freddie Forsythe is a best-selling author in the Western world

01:25and wrote a book which has sold 6 million copies so far.

01:28It's been translated into over 20 million.

01:30You've discovered the secret of international success.

01:35I wonder if you'd ever been able to analyse exactly what it is

01:38that makes all these people buy your books.

01:40Oh, whoops.

01:40Right.

01:41We're in, so to speak.

01:42When do we begin?

01:43Just bear with us one second.

01:44We just need to adjust something.

01:45I'm glad you weren't in charge of the invasion of Normandy in 1944.

02:01Yeah, it would still be...

02:02Yeah, it would still be...

02:02Yeah, it would still be somewhere on the beach.

02:16OK.

02:37Great.

02:38Right, let's start at the beginning.

02:41Yes, OK.

02:46I came from a very small one-horse town called Ashford in Kent.

02:51In Ashford during the Second World War,

02:54almost all the children had been evacuated.

02:56It's goodbye to the cities and danger areas

02:59and not forgetting their gas masks,

03:00the children head for the special train.

03:03So I had no companions of my own age.

03:06I played, therefore, by myself.

03:09I was also an only child.

03:11If you are an only child, you invent your own games,

03:15which fires imagination.

03:19And you tend to become self-sufficient.

03:23It might have seemed that I would be destined to take over my father's shop.

03:28But my dad said,

03:30don't do what I do for the rest of your life.

03:33Frankly, it's boring.

03:35Go and see the world.

03:38I got a scholarship at the Sunbridge School.

03:41My dad couldn't afford Tunbridge School.

03:44But with the scholarship paying for 95% of it, he could.

03:50Ready?

03:50Yep.

03:51When you're ready, press play.

03:52That's Tunbridge School.

04:01Yep.

04:06I didn't have a very happy experience at Tunbridge.

04:10All my contemporaries were the sons of doctors, surgeons, lawyers, bankers,

04:18and my father was a shopkeeper.

04:23I was relentlessly bullied.

04:28Schoolwork thrown all over the room.

04:30I had bedclothes on the floor.

04:33Pushing and shoving, punching.

04:37I longed to leave.

04:41But back then, it was, sift up a lip, don't make a fuss.

04:47And that caused me to withdraw into myself.

04:53I would shut myself away in my cubicle, close the door.

04:57The habit of solitude became very ingrained in me.

05:09But at 16, I was skipping school,

05:13taking the secret flying classes,

05:15and then a tiger moth.

05:19I'd looping over the Medway Estuary.

05:26And then I would go back to Tunbridge.

05:29Had I been discovered,

05:30I would have been expelled immediately.

05:35Since I was a boy,

05:36I wanted to be a pilot in the Air Force.

05:41It was right underneath the Battle of Britain.

05:46And I remember,

05:47I must have been about three years old,

05:49standing on the lawn of our house,

05:53and my father's khaki-trousered leg next to me.

05:58He was staring upwards.

06:02In the sky were Spitfires of the Hurricanes flying against the Luftwaffe.

06:14My dad revered those young men.

06:18So, naturally, I wanted to fly a Spitfire, too.

06:25My dad was a powerful influence in my childhood.

06:28I thought he was an extraordinary man,

06:30a remarkable man.

06:31I worship my dad's memory to this day.

06:39When I sat at Tunbridge that I was going to leave early and join the Air Force,

06:43I got an awful lot of schoolmasterly opposition,

06:47a lot of pressure.

06:49Eventually, they sent my father to try and talk him into talking me out of it.

06:56And one after another, they lectured him very much from on high to down below.

07:04And Dad, God bless him, just sat there and listened to this.

07:08And when they'd all had their ten minutes each lecturing him,

07:12he delivered one single sentence.

07:14He said, gentlemen, if my son wants to become a British fighter pilot,

07:20I'm going to give him all the help and encouragement that I can.

07:23And then he got up and walked out.

07:31Oh, yeah.

07:32I remember that.

07:34Three years of struggle from 15 to 18,

07:39and I finally got it.

07:40The wings of an RAF pilot on my chest.

07:43My parents were about ten feet away.

07:46I know they were very proud that day.

07:49Dad really was bursting.

07:52Yeah.

07:58I did two years natural service,

08:00and after that, the question arose,

08:03are you going to sign it on in the RAF,

08:06or are you going to leave?

08:08I wanted to be assigned to a supersonic squadron.

08:13I was told rather pityingly that I'd be commanding a desk.

08:17So, I left.

08:21I just want to show you this letter you wrote.

08:23I've completely forgotten this.

08:27Why I do not want to sign on in the Royal Air Force.

08:35Oh, dear.

08:36In the Air Force of today,

08:39as I have seen it,

08:41there is far too little scope for energy,

08:44enthusiasm,

08:46initiative,

08:47drive,

08:48brains,

08:49or talent,

08:50or any of those qualities usually associated with success.

08:57Harsh words.

09:01Yes, they are.

09:07Don't forget why I was an only child,

09:10and only children do tend to be

09:14sometimes a bit self-obsessed

09:16and don't understand why anybody else

09:19should not subscribe to their rules.

09:22So, that can create problems in life.

09:25Is that you, Freddie?

09:26Yep.

09:27Yep.

09:28Definitely.

09:33I thought,

09:34what the hell are you going to do now?

09:38I know,

09:39foreign correspondent.

09:42I'll be like those men that

09:43they used to be in Dad's paper

09:45when I was a boy.

09:46I got a job

09:50on the Eastern Daily Press

09:51in Norfolk.

09:53And there,

09:54I learned journalism.

09:56To keep it accurate,

09:58how to interview,

10:00how to track down sources,

10:02damn good training

10:04in the business of accuracy.

10:08I wanted a much bigger map

10:10of the world.

10:13So, I went down to London

10:15and I walked to myself

10:18around Fleet Street.

10:21I was rebuffed

10:22at every single door.

10:26And they ended up

10:27in a bar

10:29and a middle-aged man

10:31on the same bar

10:32looked at me and said,

10:34you're pretty fed up.

10:35I said, my boy,

10:36what's the matter?

10:37I said, I'm trying to get

10:38into journalism.

10:40I always said,

10:41why don't you come with me

10:42and we'll cross the road.

10:43I'm with the Press Association.

10:45But as soon as he learned

10:46that I spoke French

10:47and German,

10:48he said,

10:49you want Reuters?

10:55And I started in Reuters,

10:57Paris office.

11:02Wow.

11:04This is the French press garden

11:06which I would flash

11:09when I wanted to get access

11:10to somewhere in Paris.

11:17Paris is always very lively.

11:22I'm enjoying life.

11:24My flat was just near

11:26the Moulin Rouge.

11:28I had a girlfriend

11:29after girlfriend

11:29after girlfriend.

11:30What was your brief

11:32for Reuters in Paris?

11:36I was covering

11:37a repeated attempt

11:38to assassinate

11:39the president of France,

11:40Charles de Gaulle.

11:51The extreme right

11:52wanted him dead.

11:53So it was a very tense

11:55time to be in Paris.

11:57I managed to find a bar

12:01the extreme right-wing

12:02frequented

12:03and sat nursing a beer.

12:09They drank too much

12:10and got loose-thunged

12:12and I listened.

12:13And that was plotting

12:15to assassinate the president?

12:16Yeah.

12:17How and when and where

12:20and who.

12:24Reuters

12:25was suddenly advised

12:27that I suspect

12:28by British officialdom

12:29to get me out of Paris.

12:32How old were you

12:33when all this is going on?

12:3422.

12:35That's pretty young.

12:37Yeah.

12:38Yeah.

12:41So I was transferred

12:44to the communist hell

12:45of East Germany.

12:47after the building

12:52of the Berlin Wall

12:56the Reuters man

12:58was the only

12:59Western journalist left

13:01east of the wall.

13:04Room bar,

13:05bedroom bar,

13:06office barred

13:07and my phone was bugged

13:08so I was living

13:09under a microscope.

13:10living under a microscope.

13:12One was followed

13:13everywhere.

13:20How much did you

13:21tell your parents

13:22about what you were

13:23really up to?

13:28Not a lot.

13:29Mother would have worried.

13:30But then mum would worry

13:35about anything.

13:36If I crossed the road

13:37she worried.

13:38I went back to London

13:47to join the BBC

13:49doing reports

13:50for the evening news.

13:52Mr. Joe Mears,

13:54the chairman

13:55of Chelsea Football Club

13:56who's also chairman

13:57of the Football Association

13:58has declined

13:59to be interviewed

14:00about the whole matter.

14:02And someone said,

14:03will you go to Africa for us?

14:04I said,

14:04I don't do Africa.

14:07And they said,

14:07oh come on,

14:08it's only a week.

14:10Maybe 10 days.

14:12Fly down there,

14:13file a report,

14:14fly back.

14:15There's been an outbreak

14:16of civil war in Nigeria.

14:22Five million Igbo tribesmen

14:23in Nigeria's eastern region,

14:25the Afra,

14:26as they now call it,

14:27have declared independence.

14:28This is a cruel war

14:30with modern weapons

14:31in its way

14:32as cruel as the war in Vietnam.

14:34And having got there,

14:45I discovered

14:46that what was going out

14:47on the BBC

14:48was a complete rubbish.

14:50Absolute nonsense

14:51had nothing to do

14:52with the reality

14:53of what was on there

14:54on the ground.

14:55What were they saying

14:56was happening?

14:57Oh, that the Nigerian army

14:58had swept through

14:59the rebel territory

15:00defeating the Biafran army

15:02at every step.

15:03In fact,

15:04it hadn't happened.

15:05Because the British government

15:07was supporting

15:08the Nigerian dictatorship.

15:09So,

15:10if the British government

15:11said,

15:12this isn't happening,

15:13the BBC would say,

15:14it isn't happening.

15:15But I reported

15:16what I found

15:17were a news-gathering

15:19organisation

15:20or were nothing.

15:21This is the town

15:22of Oray

15:23in western Nigeria,

15:24the town

15:25that the federal army

15:26said they thought

15:27couldn't be taken.

15:28Well, it's been taken

15:29by the Biafrans.

15:30They moved in this morning,

15:31consolidated their position

15:32and moved even further west.

15:35And that's what

15:36the BBC didn't want to hear.

15:37They wanted to hear

15:38that Nigeria was winning

15:39hands down.

15:40And that was all

15:41they wanted to hear.

15:43The Foreign Office

15:44accused me of bias.

15:46I was summoned to London

15:48by the BBC.

15:50I said,

15:51I think I'd like

15:52to go back.

15:53He said,

15:54we have a policy

15:56of not covering that story.

15:57I said,

15:58oh,

15:59well,

16:00unfortunately,

16:01I don't.

16:02So,

16:03I'm off.

16:05So,

16:06I resigned.

16:07Very shortly afterwards,

16:09I was sitting at a cafe

16:12in Camden.

16:14A man walked in

16:15and looked around

16:16and looked at me

16:17and then walked over

16:18and then took a chair

16:20to the chair opposite me

16:21and sat down.

16:25He said,

16:26I'm from so-and-so

16:28and we really need a man

16:31or an agent anyway

16:32right in the very heart

16:33of Biafrans.

16:36They wanted to hear

16:37what is going on.

16:39Are they likely

16:40to continue resisting?

16:41Are they collapsing?

16:43You've been a little bit

16:45opaque about this gentleman.

16:46Oh, yes.

16:47I'm talking about MI6.

16:51So, I went back.

16:52As a freelance

16:53Foreign Correspondent

16:55I got myself attached

16:57to the Biafran Army.

16:59Do what I told you.

17:01Cover the story

17:04from the Biafran Army.

17:05from the Biafran side.

17:15But also

17:17as an agent

17:18for MI6.

17:21Getting real information

17:23out of this

17:25now completely surrounded

17:27enclave.

17:31The Nigerian Army

17:32put a circle round

17:33Biafra.

17:35They stopped

17:36all food supplies.

17:44I remember

17:45I was sitting in my hut

17:47in Enugu

17:49the capital of Biafra.

17:51I looked out the window

17:55and there she was

17:56on the lawn

17:57and she had a little brother

18:01by one hand

18:02and she raised her other hand

18:04with a gesture

18:05I'm hungry.

18:06Give me food.

18:07Tapped her mouth.

18:09I tried to explain

18:14I didn't speak a word

18:15of her language

18:16the Igbo language

18:17I hadn't got any food.

18:18And she just nodded

18:21as much as to say

18:22yes I understand.

18:26And turned away

18:27and led her little

18:30three-year-old brother

18:31off into the bush

18:32the jungle

18:34where I knew they would die.

18:36and I just went back

18:39and I just went back

18:40to my chair

18:41and I sat down

18:43I leaned my head forward

18:44and my forearms

18:45had just burst into tears.

18:47It was one of the very

18:48few times

18:48that I'd ever

18:50wept

18:52as an adult.

19:03To be so helpless

19:04it made me angry.

19:06angry with officials

19:10supporting it

19:11as a policy

19:12who could have stopped

19:13if they'd wanted to

19:15and they insisted

19:17that the denial

19:18of food continue.

19:26One has to ask

19:27how the hell

19:28do they sleep at night?

19:35Back in London

19:36they had no flat

19:37they had no car

19:38no money

19:39no savings

19:40nothing.

19:41With a huge

19:42question about it

19:43what the hell

19:44are you going to do

19:45now?

19:46And I didn't know.

19:49And then I hit on

19:50this weird idea

19:53I'll write a novel.

19:56I had an idea in my head

19:57and I'd had it in my head

19:58for seven years

19:59months

20:00since Paris

20:01when I'd covered

20:03those repeated

20:04attempts to assassinate

20:05Charles de Gaulle

20:08and I thought

20:09at the time

20:10if the extreme right-wing

20:12really wants to kill him

20:13they might succeed

20:14thought I

20:15if they brought in

20:16the professional assassin

20:17and paid him

20:19to do what they can't do.

20:21I was crashing on

20:26the sofa

20:27of a friend in Chelsea

20:28when they left

20:29for work

20:30about nine o'clock

20:31I would settle down

20:32at the kitchen table

20:33and I just

20:35tapped and tapped

20:36and tapped

20:37and tapped

20:38and tapped

20:39I gave myself

20:40a ration of ten pages

20:41per day

20:42and I did that

20:43for 35 days

20:44it's a hundred to one chance

20:49that ever could be published

20:50but

20:52the fifth publisher

20:53I approached

20:54Harold Harris

20:55of Hutchinson

20:56he said

20:57it's a bit interesting

20:58I'm prepared to take a risk

21:00and publish it

21:02and he said

21:04I'll offer you

21:05a three novel contract

21:06it's

21:07wow

21:08it's like

21:09paradise

21:10three novel contract

21:11so I thought

21:12wow

21:13this is a writer

21:14who hadn't got

21:15tuppence to rub together

21:16but

21:18there was a problem

21:19I had not

21:21a shred of an idea

21:22to what novel

21:23two or three

21:23would ever be about

21:25I just didn't know

21:26I'd only ever planned one

21:28what I'm writing

21:30tends to be

21:31quasi-factual

21:32and I thought

21:33well I know about it

21:34in post-war Germany

21:35because they've been there

21:37and I know about

21:39in Africa

21:40they've been there

21:41so I wrote a synopsis

21:42on each

21:43the Odessa file

21:45and the dogs of war

21:47the Odessa file

21:49is about

21:50the uncovering

21:51of a Nazi mass murderer

21:53in Germany

21:54by an investigative reporter

21:57and the dogs of war

21:59was about

22:00a mega rich mining magnate

22:03engaging the services

22:04of half a dozen mercenaries

22:05of half a dozen mercenaries

22:06to top

22:07a West African dictator

22:09there were six mercenaries

22:11in Biafra

22:12and I got to know them all

22:15Harold Harris

22:19said I want

22:20Nazis by next year

22:22and dogs of war

22:23the year after

22:24well that was

22:26that was a pretty

22:27tight schedule

22:28so I said

22:30fine I'll get

22:31stuck in immediately

22:32and he gave me

22:33an advance

22:34which I could then use

22:37to fund the research

22:39into a justified

22:40I love accuracy

22:42and so I go through

22:43a lot of time and trouble

22:45traveling and traveling

22:46and traveling

22:47and traveling

22:48in the preparation

22:49of my novels

22:50and if you're going

22:51to describe something

22:52get it right

22:57and I went down to Vienna

23:00and got in touch

23:01with Simon Wiesenthal

23:02the great Nazi hunter

23:06O-D-E-S-S-A

23:10the organization of

23:12former members of the SS

23:16and I said I'm writing

23:18a fictional Nazi

23:19concentration camp

23:20commander

23:21who vanished

23:22in 1945

23:23and has never been

23:24seen since

23:25and I remember

23:27Simon saying

23:28why invent one

23:29I've got real ones

23:31which one

23:33would suit you

23:35and eventually

23:36I arrived

23:37at

23:38Roshman

23:43Edward Roshman

23:44the butcher of Riga

23:45there was an extreme

23:48right-wing movement

23:49in Germany

23:50and the Odessa

23:51had penetrated

23:52the establishment

23:53it had members

23:55high in the police force

23:56and in the Ministry of Justice

23:58and the civil service

24:00and many of them

24:01had been involved

24:02in mass murder

24:04so I went undercover

24:06in Germany

24:07to pretend

24:08to be a young

24:09Nazi fanatic

24:10and I went to secret

24:13meetings

24:17that's a kind of a dangerous

24:19place to put yourself

24:20yes

24:21did you enjoy it?

24:26it's challenging to pretend

24:28to be what you're not

24:29or not to be what you are

24:30but while I was researching

24:34and writing

24:35the Odessa file

24:36they launched

24:38the day of the jackal

24:39with a print of 5,000 copies

24:41and it just exploded

24:47it just went completely crazy

24:49the re-orders came in

24:53in buckets

24:59we got to a point

25:00where they had a backlog

25:01of orders

25:02they couldn't fulfill

25:03the printing machines

25:04wouldn't work any faster

25:07and then the Americans came in

25:09the Japanese came in

25:10with huge numbers

25:22so how did you feel

25:23about that?

25:25bewildered

25:27bewildered, yeah

25:29but by then

25:30I was so deeply involved

25:31in the subsequent novels

25:33researching and writing

25:35the Odessa file

25:36and the dogs of war

25:37Frederick Forsyth

25:39developed in the Jackal

25:40the magic formula

25:41of mixing fact

25:42with fantasy

25:43the Odessa file

25:44and the hunt

25:45for Nazi war

25:46the Odessa file

25:47is Frederick Forsyth's

25:48immensely successful

25:49follow-up

25:50to the day of the Jackal

25:54very shortly after

25:55they made a film

25:56of the Jackal

26:00the director

26:01stuck to the story

26:02absolutely

26:04like glue

26:07they retained the title

26:09and

26:10since then

26:11it's become

26:12embedded in the lingo

26:14as an assassin

26:18oh yes

26:19the watermelon

26:27then

26:28the checks began

26:29rolling in

26:30rumor has it

26:31that you've made

26:32your first million

26:33is that true?

26:34hmm

26:35so it's

26:36it's rather

26:37large amount of money

26:38I'm afraid

26:39it's not afraid

26:40I shouldn't be afraid

26:41it's a large amount of money

26:45I'd never need to work again

26:46if I didn't want to

26:49but I was still writing

26:50all the time

26:52to finish dogs of war

26:57I bought a farm in Spain

26:58and then

27:00and then

27:01I married

27:02Carrie

27:07she was 27

27:08came from

27:09Northern Ireland

27:14the precise hour in a way

27:15just the sort of couple

27:16that Freddie might have

27:17invented

27:18good-looking

27:19bronzed

27:20for the war correspondent

27:21good god

27:22married to a very attractive model

27:23and both ideally happy

27:24and then

27:29my wife being Irish

27:30she said

27:31why don't we go

27:32and sell in Ireland

27:35so I bought a house

27:36at Inniskiri

27:37in County Wicklow

27:41both my sons were born there

27:44and Carrie and I

27:45lived there for five years

27:46there aren't lots of female characters in your books

27:55no

27:56that's true

27:57it's a diversion

27:59if it was absolutely necessary

28:01for the development of the plot

28:02that X and Y and Z happened

28:03then I would say

28:04this and that

28:05this and that happened

28:06but where the hero or villain

28:07is simply taking an afternoon off

28:09I mean I feel I can go on to

28:11when he takes up

28:12his real activity

28:13which is probably killing somebody

28:14again

28:15and as for the

28:17the women characters

28:18they've quite rightly been described

28:19as cardboard cutout figures

28:20and

28:21and this is true also

28:22I can't describe women

28:24I see

28:25why is that?

28:26I don't understand

28:27we've got that much in common

28:29at least

28:30you do?

28:31absolutely

28:32yeah

28:36do you know who you were

28:37actually writing for?

28:40I possibly do

28:41he's probably

28:42probably a middle-aged man

28:43I'm not being sexist

28:45I just

28:47think that if

28:48if there's someone out there

28:49saying

28:50that's what I want to hear about

28:51tell me about this

28:53it'd probably be

28:54a 47, 48 year old

28:57business executive

29:00who's getting home

29:01tired at night

29:02and wants all his feet up

29:04and a nice cup of tea

29:06and

29:07read a story

29:08that will interest him

29:10that will interest him

29:11because it's reasonably

29:12factual

29:14and hopefully accurate

29:16now

29:17Miles Copeland

29:18you helped to set up the CIA

29:19and how close did

29:20Frederick Forsyth come

29:22to the literal truth

29:23well

29:24first let me say that

29:25I think it's a first rate novel

29:26I couldn't

29:27put it down

29:28a little short on sex there Freddie

29:29but

29:30we can't have everything

29:31he did some research on this

29:32which I just don't believe

29:33because

29:34I don't understand

29:35in fact I think I'm going to

29:36take this up when I go home

29:37some of my old colleagues

29:38must have told him things

29:39I had no business telling him

29:40some of the things

29:41that he had to say

29:42about how these things are run

29:44are absolutely

29:45100% authentic

29:50I want to talk a bit more

29:51about your relationship

29:52with MI6

29:53yeah

29:55I imagine it worked both ways

30:00uh... yes

30:01how often did you carry out

30:04these kind of errands

30:05for MI6

30:08can't say

30:09sorry

30:10can't say

30:11really I can't say

30:12really I can't say

30:21we were in Ireland for five years

30:23and then returned

30:24to London

30:27but I couldn't work at home

30:29I'd be constantly disturbed

30:30interrupted

30:33if I'm trying to write something

30:34I mean

30:35that involves a lot of

30:37of

30:39inner thoughts

30:43and sometimes just

30:44just sitting staring

30:45at the paper

30:46or the typewriter

30:48getting those thoughts

30:50and then someone comes

30:51bursting in

30:52oh shut up

30:54gone now

30:55it's gone

30:59is being a writer

31:00compatible

31:01with family life

31:02Freddie?

31:05Writers have a part

31:06of themselves

31:07that is shut away

31:08and not available

31:10locked in this

31:11thing

31:12this bone

31:13dome

31:14called the cranium

31:18and

31:19even in company

31:20there's part of you

31:21that's still detached

31:22not easy

31:25to cope

31:26with someone like that

31:27and

31:31Carrie and I grew apart

31:32and

31:35she eventually said

31:36this isn't working

31:37would you

31:38would you leave?

31:39your first wife

31:40parted with you

31:41partly because of your

31:42your writing?

31:43well

31:44I don't know

31:45whether it was that

31:46it wasn't

31:47I mean

31:48I've never tried

31:49to be obsessive

31:50about writing

31:51and I think really

31:52I didn't probably

31:53put in more than

31:54nine to five

31:55but anyway

31:56no

31:57there were other

31:58one grew apart

31:59so what

32:00what do you think

32:01you've been like

32:02to live with

32:03down the years?

32:04I don't know

32:05it's a judgement

32:06only other people

32:07could make

32:08someone looking at you

32:09but you've talked about

32:10a certain requisite

32:11detachment

32:13that writers have

32:14yeah

32:15I think you have it

32:16if you want to be a writer

32:17you must have it

32:18one might

32:19someone might say

32:20that's a very cold

32:21sort of attitude to life

32:23I think

32:24for a writer

32:25I don't think

32:26it's an option

32:32so I moved

32:33from London

32:34to the country

32:35in one fell swoop

32:37but

32:39alas

32:40wife number one

32:41didn't like the country

32:42at all

32:43so

32:44it

32:45it didn't work

32:46and the boys would come out

32:51to visit me weekends

32:53and

32:55I mean

32:56it must be very very dramatic

32:58for

32:59children to see their parents part

33:01I'd been apart

33:13with my first wife for a year

33:15when I met

33:16the lady who became

33:17my second wife

33:18and her name was Sandy

33:20and within

33:21I sort of thought

33:23by it

33:24she'd come out

33:25to share my life

33:26at the farm

33:27so she moved in

33:28and we'd married

33:29four years later

33:40what are those?

33:41these?

33:42yeah

33:43I've sucked little tablets

33:44to remind me not

33:46to shove a cigarette in there

33:48my wife

33:50Sandy

33:51disliked it

33:52she said

33:53you've got to stop

33:54you've got to stop

33:55were you a big smoker?

33:57yeah

33:58about 30 a day

33:59yes exactly

34:01I was lucky to escape

34:02with no

34:03no shadows on lungs

34:04no

34:05no

34:06cancer

34:13in 1991

34:14dad was

34:17he was ailing

34:19but

34:21my mother had died

34:23so he'd been alone

34:24so he'd been alone

34:25for two years

34:27and very much

34:28feeling alone

34:30because they were

34:31very deeply devoted

34:33for so 45

34:3550 years

34:43I had planned to go on

34:45with my then

34:46very young wife

34:47Sandy

34:49to the Caribbean

34:51to the Caribbean

34:52for a holiday

34:53and he said

34:54you will absolutely

34:55not counsel

35:00anyway we went

35:01and I think

35:02the third or fourth day

35:03there

35:04a voice came on the phone

35:06and it was

35:07his living carer

35:09to say that he'd just died

35:12it was not unexpected

35:22but it was a wrench

35:31I wouldn't have gone if he hadn't begged me to go

35:33I hope I was a good son

35:38because he was serving me

35:39a bloody good father

35:41but I think

35:43I think he

35:44I think he

35:45I think he

35:46I think he was

35:47that I was

35:48and certainly

35:49we both

35:51had a very

35:52very good relationship

35:54very close

35:56so

35:59anyway

36:00all families

36:01have losses

36:12what am I going to see?

36:17A man who pleaded guilty

36:18to forgingly misleading

36:19financial regulators

36:21before his company

36:22collapsed

36:2334 million pounds

36:24has walked free

36:25from court

36:26Roger Levitt

36:27was ordered to do

36:28180 hours

36:29community service

36:30and banned from being

36:31a company director

36:32for seven years

36:33among his clients

36:34the author

36:35Frederick Forsyth

36:36disgraced investment advisor

36:37Roger Levitt

36:38left court

36:39after admitting

36:40lying

36:41in a vain attempt

36:42to keep his company

36:43from collapsing

36:44with debts

36:45of 34 million pounds

36:46he said he was

36:47he was an investment broker

36:48he informed me

36:50that I now had

36:51a big holding

36:52here

36:53with here

36:54and there

36:55with that company

36:56that company

36:57it was all fiction

36:58he'd forged all the documents

36:59as a bankrupt

37:00I am unable

37:02to repay anybody

37:03at this time

37:04but it is in my mind

37:06to morally see

37:08if I am able

37:09to assist

37:10any

37:11of these losses

37:12lying as shite

37:13three years ago

37:14the flamboyant salesman

37:15was listed among

37:16Britain's wealthiest people

37:17never the slightest intent

37:20on his part

37:21to reimburse anybody

37:22so how much did you lose

37:24Freddie?

37:25everything I had

37:26about four and a half mil

37:27which was about

37:30everything I had

37:31so hindsight's a wonderful thing

37:35but

37:36he does look a bit dodgy

37:38doesn't he?

37:39oh yeah

37:40slimy bastard

37:41yes

37:42but I don't

37:43you know

37:44I trusted him

37:45I thought he was a friend

37:46there's an irony there isn't there?

37:49yes

37:50I mean for someone

37:51who's

37:52been involved in a few

37:54deceptions

37:55albeit hopefully always

37:57of bad guys

37:58I am

38:00have been in my life

38:02much too trusting

38:03silly

38:04not very clever

38:07thought crossed my mind

38:09to use my dubious contacts

38:11to get him punished

38:13but then I thought

38:14no it's not mine

38:15I'm not that tight

38:16at 50

38:19I was bankrupt again

38:21everything I'd done

38:23was gone

38:25and I had to start all over again

38:28travelling and travelling and travelling

38:32researching and writing novels

38:54I visited an extraordinary number of places

38:56until the last time

38:58which was Mogadishu

39:08after that

39:09Sandy

39:10said

39:11enough's enough

39:12well you're 75

39:13you should not be visiting

39:14any more of these

39:15insane places

39:17where you could get your head blown off

39:19so

39:20kindly stay at home

39:24so have you given up writing now?

39:25have you retired?

39:28I have retired

39:29yes

39:30but you have said

39:31you've retired many times before

39:32no I haven't actually

39:34are you going to retire from writing

39:36as you could well do?

39:37no I'm not a work on another one

39:38no

39:39no

39:40I said I've no intention of writing anymore

39:41than three

39:42I was contracted to write three

39:43and I've written three

39:44and that was all I ever wanted to do

39:46you have said to me before

39:47that the next novel

39:48will be the last one

39:49but I said it to my publisher

39:50they still don't believe me

39:51how firm a resolve is that?

39:53no it's absolutely firm

39:55the prospect of the next 40 years

39:56bottled up in a small

39:57whitewash room

39:58tapping away

39:59two forefingers

40:00at a typewriter

40:01appalls me

40:02but I'm sure what most people

40:03watching will want to know

40:04are you going to write

40:05another book

40:06another thriller?

40:07ah well that's a different

40:08board game

40:09I don't think so

40:10as far as I'm concerned

40:11it's been ten

40:12ten's a nice round number

40:13ten's

40:14I think

40:15when the curtain comes down

40:16as far as I'm concerned

40:17Frederick Forsyth

40:18thank you for the good books

40:20um

40:21I've said I'm thinking of it

40:23many times

40:24mulling it over

40:26but I think

40:27the last novel

40:28oh

40:29seven years ago

40:30I hadn't thought

40:32to write that

40:33but

40:34I could stay

40:35in this country

40:36to research

40:37and write it

40:38but now

40:40I have retired

40:41I can't stress that enough

40:45I'm retired

40:46socialising

40:48uh

40:49is

40:50pretty restrained

40:51I do occasionally

40:53go out

40:54but

40:55there's got to be a good reason

40:58now

41:05unfortunately

41:06just lost my wife

41:08after 36 years of marriage

41:18in recent times

41:19she'd been unwell

41:20I think

41:21yes

41:23she's became very dependent

41:24on medication

41:27and

41:28she's simply suffered

41:29a health collapse

41:35and

41:36the downward spiral

41:37just refused

41:38to reverse itself

41:42and

41:43she finally passed away

41:58I can get emotional

41:59about those things

42:00but

42:01I take them

42:02for my privacy

42:03if I'm going to be emotional

42:04shut myself away

42:07shut myself away

42:11they're not going to go

42:12and blub on the eye street

42:18Sandy

42:19wanted a very quiet

42:20cremation

42:21very

42:22short

42:23and dignified

42:24and it was

42:25she wanted it actually

42:26scattered

42:27where her babies

42:28were scattered

42:29the only babies she ever had

42:36were Jack Russell's

42:37she had no children

42:39didn't want children

42:40it was here

42:44underneath this tree

42:46Sandy

42:47is here

42:49how does it feel to be on your own again?

43:01lonely?

43:03well I have lots of friends

43:04and people have written and emailed and telephoned and sent their commiserations

43:09and so I think I'm not alone in the world it's just that I live alone obviously

43:20and I shall not change that now until the day I die

43:28perhaps you could write again?

43:30I might

43:31I might

43:32I might

43:33I need peace and quiet

43:34which I get too little of

43:35um

43:37I'm going to have to sit down soon

43:41can you give me a hand back?

43:42give me a hand back

43:47wha

43:48the year 2025

44:00yawns before us

44:06I've got the story in my head

44:11and it's yearning to get out

44:18and unfortunately

44:23the only way to do that

44:25is to write

44:26is to write

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