Gavin Lyall

Gavin Tudor Lyall (9 May 1932 – 18 January 2003) was an English author of espionage thrillers.

Lyall was born in Birmingham, Warwickshire, England, as the son of a local accountant, and educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham. After completing his two years of National Service, 1951 to 1953, as a Pilot Officer in the Royal Air Force flying Gloster Meteors, he went to Pembroke College, Cambridge University, graduating in 1956 with honours in English.

While at Cambridge he wrote regularly for the undergraduate newspaper Varsity and also created a strip cartoon whose hero, "Olly", reflected student life and became a cult figure. He became editor of Varsity in 1956.

After graduating he worked briefly as a reporter for the Birmingham Gazette, Picture Post and Sunday Graphic newspapers and then as a film director for the BBC's Tonight programme. In 1958, he married the author Katharine Whitehorn, with whom he was to have two sons.

Lyall lived at 14 Provost Rd, London NW3 and enjoyed sailing on the Thames in his motor cruiser. From 1959 to 1962 he was a newspaper reporter and the aviation correspondent for the Sunday Times. His first novel, The Wrong Side of the Sky, was published in 1961, drawing from his personal experiences in the Libyan Desert and in Greece. It was an immediate success; P.G. Wodehouse said of it, "Terrific: when better novels of suspense are written, lead me to them." Lyall then left journalism in 1963 to become a full-time author.

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