Good information was urgently needed. But once in hand it proved very dangerous indeed.
Here s What You Need to Know: The most dangerous document of the Cold War may also have been its most valuable.
Everyone who has ever read a spy novel knows the basic plot line. A scientist has developed a formula, or intelligence operative has obtained secret plans or a roll or film. Whoever possesses the prize will tip the balance of power or an international confrontation in their favor, and both sides fight to the limits of their ability to obtain it. Virtually every spy novelist has used this scenario, from Alister MacLean to Tom Clancy. Unfortunately, though, such stories are usually the subject of an overactive imagination. The reality of the modern era is that very few documents or other pieces of information are so valuable that they are capable of destabilizing the contemporary world order.
Nathalie Delon, beguiling French actress noted for Le Samouraï, and a fixture in the gossip columns – obituary
She and her former husband, the star of French film Alain Delon, remained close but their marriage was stormy
With Alain Delon boarding the ocean liner France after their wedding, August 1964
Credit: AFP via Getty
Nathalie Delon, the actress, who has died aged 79, was a glamorous, quintessentially French beauty who appeared in more than 30 films in the 1960s and 1970s, but was best-known in France for her tempestuous marriage to its leading film star of the era, Alain Delon.
Their first meeting, in a Paris nightclub in 1962, was not propitious. She asked him to stand up so that she could retrieve her handbag, on which he was sitting.
Storyline: Black love, music and all that jazz in the swinging ‘60s
Run time: 114 minutes
Sylvie and Robert fall in love and just as Sylvie is about to tell Robert a life-changing bit of news, he lands a gig in Paris and the lovers part. Five years on, Sylvie is married, has a daughter and is doing well at her dream job at a television studio when she runs into Robert again outside a theatre. Will the lovers get back together? Will life intervene again?
Lovingly photographed by Declan Quinn, the seduction of
Sylvie’s Love is in the lovely clothes, smooth jazz, the shiny cars and that whole aforementioned Shakti Samanta and Gulzar vibe. The cast is gorgeous from Tessa Thompson as Sylvie to NFL’s Nnamdi Asomugha as Robert. Aja Naomi King as Sylvie’s best friend, Mona, has an interesting arc as she grows from party girl to civil rights activist. Eva Longoria shimmies with the best of them as Carmen while Jemima Kirke as the manager of the band, The Countess, gilds the love
Count me as someone who loves old-fashioned thrillers that feature a potent connection between the past and the present. That explains why I’m such a fan of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, particularly their newest series that continues with “The Scorpion s Tail” (Grand Central, 416 pages, $28), featuring the team of FBI agent Corrie Swanson and archaeologist Nora Kelly.
This time out, the mystery in the past involves a century-old mummified corpse recovered along with a priceless artifact. Has our stalwart pair uncovered a missing ancient treasure? A far more recent murder? A plot of huge proportions? In this case, it’s all of the above, resulting in a devilishly entertaining romp that harks back to the seminal works of Alistair MacLean, as well as the H. Rider Haggard 19th-century classics “King Solomon s Mines” and “She.”
Appreciation: Bestselling author Christopher Reich: How John le Carré changed my life [The San Diego Union-Tribune]
When Encinitas-based bestselling author Christopher Reich heard about the passing of John le Carré, he felt compelled to write an appreciation of the spy thriller master, who died Dec. 12. He shared his thoughts with the Union-Tribune.
John le Carré passed away last weekend, age 89, and writing to the end. No author had so great an influence on my life, as a reader, an aspiring writer, and for a short while when I knew him as “David” as a friend and correspondent.
It’s difficult to express how much his work meant to me. For a time, it was everything. No one starts their reading life picking up “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” or “The Spy Who Came in From the Cold.” Back then, if you loved spy stories and espionage, you began with Alistair MacLean, moved up to Robert Ludlum, then Frederick Forsyth and Len Deighton. Only then, were you ready for le Carr