Len Deighton RIP : EI Weekend 3587
Len Deighton redefined the spy novel and helped define Swinging Sixties London, while bringing a better understanding of fine food to the UK.
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LAST WEEK
Last week was our 13th birthday, we celebrated with all things 13 - EI and Triskaidekaphobia included.
On this day in 1922, Walt Disney incorporated his first company, Laugh-O-Gram films, in Kansas City Missouri. The company would produce several short films before declaring bankruptcy a year later.
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MACRO THOUGHTS
Len Deighton Obituary: How A Cookery Cartoonist Became A Master Spy Writer
BBC
Len Deighton, British Author Of Bestselling Spy Thrillers, Dies At 97
PBS
Obituary: Len Deighton, Novelist And Cookery Writer
Observer
A slight change of pace this week as we look at somebody who took his experience as an air steward back as jet flight took off and turned corporate politics into spy novels.
The epitome of the 1960s in so many ways, Len Deighton’s “Harry Palmer” novels created a series of films which ended, like the decade in a slightly OTT rendition of “Billion Dollar Brain” where the new Ford Escort skated across ice as director Ken Russell created his usual unique view of the world. Of course this was back in the day when a billion dollars was a lot of money and indeed bought… er, about as much computing power as a decent Apple Macbook about a decade ago (if even that).
Deighton was a magnificent writer, an excellent WW2 historian and a fine examiner of the human condition in every respect. From creating the anti-Bond who was brought to the silver screen by one half of the original 007 production duo, Deighton encapsulated a fascinating world view which in its own way helped redefine the spy novel and much more besides, including popularising a new dimension to the British diet for those with foodie inclinations.
IN BIGWORLD
Fun fact that once you read it you will both never forget AND you won’t hesitate to share at the watercooler in ULL mode:
Bloomberg’s annual revenue as a corporation is $12 billion.
$10 billion of that revenue comes from the terminal business.
No prizes for guessing what must loom large on the Risk Matrix in the board papers, I suppose.
IPO-VID LIVESTREAM: NOW ONLINE!
“Understanding the IPO Market”
Guest: Jay Ritter
May 19th, 2026
1200 EST, 1700 UK, 1800 CET
Jay Ritter is the Director of The IPO Initiative at the University of Florida’s Warrington College of Business Administration. He has been writing on initial public offerings (IPOs)
BITCARNAGE
Juggling?
CFTC’s Ex-Leaders Doubt It Can Juggle Crypto, Prediction Markets (Bloomberg Law). True it seems to be those from the other party discussing the issues here but nonetheless there is a fair point to be made. The CFTC had a terrible spell under Chairman Behnam and now it is suddenly going from low morale and a lot of staff departures to a YUGE! - no other way to term it - expansion in remit with the addition of crypto and prediction markets.
If you enjoyed this excerpt you may be interested to know that you can read Bitcarnage every day in Exchange Invest.
Alternatively, if you want to follow Bitcarnage - the daily update on happenings in the world of crypto and digital assets, then you can find Bitcarnage as a standalone on Substack.
OF INTEREST
In 1965, Several James Bond Veterans Made An Anti-James Bond Spy Film
SlashFilm
The Ipcress File: The Rebel Spy Who Is The Anti-James Bond
BBC
Spies Like Us: Harry Palmer, The Everyday Hero Of ‘The Ipcress File’ At 60
Cinephilia & Beyond
Brainwashing The Cybernetic Spectator: The Ipcress File, 1960s Cinematic Spectacle And The Sciences Of Mind
Marcia Holmes, Sage Journals
PLY: The Ipcress File, a spy novel for the anti-Bond where the most exotic sports car was a Mark 1 MGB (the 3 bearing car so a fine set of wheels), not even driven by the spy Harry Palmer himself. This and the follow up film Funeral in Berlin remain classics of the genre as both novels and movies. They were directed respectively by Sydney J. Furie and Guy Hamilton. Hamilton had also directed Goldfinger in the 007 canon and went on to direct 3 more Bond films including Live and Let Die.
Len Deighton Books In Order | Full List Of 25+ Novels
Dead Good
The Deighton Dossier
Deighton Dossier
The Deighton File: An Interview With Edward Milward-Oliver
Jeremy Duns
The Lively Arts: Len Deighton 1977
John Salisbury Youtube
Interview With Len Deighton
Telegraph UK
EXCHANGE INVEST WEEKLY PODCAST
On Data Moats,
Up & Attia!
IBKR Predicts,
Parish In The Wake of Airforce One,
Hong Kong Leads In IPO
LAST WORD
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