Some 60 years ago,
Desmond Cory wrote the first of a series of thrillers
that helped spawn one of Britain's most popular
fictional genres - the 20th Century "Spy
Novel".
Sometimes referred to as "Brit
Grit", this phenomenon comprised several
well-known characters such as Ian Fleming's
James Bond, and Len Deighton's Harry
Palmer. At its peak, the genre sold
several million books across the world,
and was watched by even greater numbers
on the Big Screen, due to the immense
popularity of James Bond, as incarnated
by the incomparable Sean Connery. Preceding
the now legendary 007 was Desmond Cory's
Johnny Fedora, "the thinking man's James
Bond".
This Web site is dedicated to Shaun
McCarthy (aka Desmond Cory) - the author, the
characters he created, the novels he wrote, and
his other literary achievements.
Achievements
- over 45 thriller /detective novels
published in over 10 languages (winning
accolades such as the Sunday Times'
Best Crime novel of the year, and
Crime Critic’s choice of the year.
- "Deadfall" was made into a film by 20th Century
Fox, starring Michael Caine
- "The Circe Complex" was televised
in a 6 part series by Thames Television
- screen-plays for the movie adaptation
of Graham Greene’s novel "England
Made Me".
- radio scripts for the BBC
- small number of children's books
- interviews with well known British
actors such as Michael York
- As a Professor of English Literature,
he wrote academic papers on modern
English literature, and taught at
a number of international Universities.
The Man Behind the
Books
Desmond Cory was born in Lancing,
Sussex on February 16th 1928. He was
educated at Steyning Grammar School,
and after serving as a commando in the
Royal Marines immediately after World
War II, he studied English literature
at St Peter's College, Oxford, graduating
with Honours in 1951. He pursued an
academic and literary career for the
next forty-five years, and in 1976 was
awarded a Ph. D. from the University
of Cardiff, Wales.
Starting as a freelance writer,
he moved in 1953 to Cordoba, Spain,
where he served as a technical translator
and began teaching for the Academia
Britanica. In Spain he married Blanca
Rosa Poyatos, and became father to 4
boys.
Cory taught throughout most of his life,
first at the University of Cardiff,
and then enjoyed a series of associate
professorships of English Literature
in Arabic-speaking countries such as
Qatar, Bahrain, and Yemen. He then became
an advisor to the Ministry of Education
in Salalah, Oman before leaving the
Arabian Gulf in 1990 to take up a university
position in Famagusta, Cyprus. In 1996
he retired with Blanca Rosa to their
home in the province of Malaga in Southern
Spain.
Despite his very busy professional
life as an academic, Cory was a prolific writer
whose work evolved and matured throughout the
years, culminating in "The Dobie trilogy"
published between 1991 and 1993. At the time of
his death in January 2001, he left several manuscripts,
some of which are being edited and published for
the first time.
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