John Gardner (British writer)
| John Gardner | |
|---|---|
John Gardner, circa 1984
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| Born |
20 November 1926 Seaton Delaval, Northumberland, England |
| Died | 3 August 2007 (aged 80) Basingstoke, Hampshire, England |
| Occupation | Author |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | St John's College, Cambridge |
| Period | 1964–2007 |
| Genre | Spy fiction, crime fiction |
| Notable works |
Boysie Oakes novels; continuation James Bond novels |
| Spouse | Margaret Mercer (1952–97, her death) |
| Children | Alexis Walmsley, Simon Gardner, Miranda Candelaria Evans |
John Edmund Gardner (20 November 1926 – 3 August 2007) was an English spy and thriller novelist, best known for his James Bond continuation novels, but also for his series of Boysie Oakes books and three continuation novels containing Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional villain, Professor Moriarty.
Gardner, an ex-Royal Marine commando, worked for a period as an Anglican priest, but he lost his faith and left the church after a short time. After a battle with alcohol addiction he wrote his first book, the autobiographical Spin the Bottle, published in 1964.
Gardner went on to write over fifty works of fiction, including fourteen original James Bond novels, and the novel versions of two Bond films. He died from suspected heart failure on 3 August 2007.
John Edmund Gardner was born on 20 November 1926 in Seaton Delaval, a small village in Northumberland. His parents were Cyril Gardner, a London-born Anglican priest who had been ordained in Wallsend in 1921, and Lena Henderson, a local girl; the couple were married in 1925. In 1933 the family moved to the market town of Wantage in what was then Berkshire, where Cyril took up the position of Chaplain at St Mary's, Wantage and Gardner was educated at the local King Alfred's School.
During the Second World War he joined the Home Guard, despite being only 13 at the time. Gardner subsequently served in the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm, before transferring to the Royal Marines 42 Commando for service in the Middle and Far East. Gardner considered himself "the worst commando in the world" and, despite being "a small-arms expert ... [who] also knew a lot about explosives", he admitted that "I bent an aeroplane I was learning to fly".
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