Joseph Hone

Joseph Hone (February 25, 1937 – August 15, 2016) was an Irish writer of the spy novel. His most famous novels featured a British spy called Peter Marlow. The first of the series was The Private Sector (1971), set in the Six Day War. Marlow's story continues in The Sixth Directorate (1975), The Flowers of the Forest (a.k.a. The Oxford Gambit) (1980), and The Valley of the Fox (1982). During his heyday, in the 1970s, Hone was favourably compared with writers such as Len Deighton, Eric Ambler and John le Carré. Whilst some spy novels, such as those of le Carré are often set mainly inside the offices of the spy department, and attract praise for the depth of their characterization and plotting, others (such as the James Bond series) are set in the field, and provide explosive action. Joseph Hone's stories by contrast, have a foot in both camps, and he has become renowned amongst aficionados of the spy genre for both the quality of his writing, and the excitement of his plots. He released his memoir, Wicked Little Joe in 2009.

Hone was educated at Kilkenny College and St. Columba's College, Dublin. Hone has had a varied career including working as an assistant in a second-hand bookshop in London, as a teacher at Drogheda Grammar School in Ireland and with the Egyptian Ministry of Education in Cairo, Heliopolis and Suez. He has also worked for a publishing firm, and in radio and television. In 1960 he became co-founder of Envoy Productions, Dublin and has co-produced a number of plays and musicals at the Theatre Royal, Stratford, East London. His wide experience in radio and television resulted in an appointment as Radio and Television Officer with the United Nations Secretariat in New York in 1968 and for the next two years he travelled far and wide, making documentary programmes based on trips to Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, India, Pakistan and the Far East. Out of these experiences came The Dancing Waiters (1975). He produced a number of radio programmes for UN radio, later broadcast by the BBC.

Joseph Hone held a variety of positions in radio and television, including radio and then television critic for "The Listener" (1971-1980). His background also includes an overseas posting with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). He died on August 15, 2016.

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