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Ken Follett

Born June 5, 1949 (1949-06-05) (age 59)
Cardiff, Wales
Occupation Novelist
Genres Thriller, Historical Fiction

Ken Follett (born June 5, 1949) is a British author of thrillers and historical novels. Events 70 - Titus and his Roman Legions breach the middle wall of Jerusalem in the Siege of Jerusalem Year 1949 ( MCMXLIX) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Cardiff ( 'kɑːdɪf) is the Capital and the largest city and county in Wales. Employment is a Contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. A literary genre is a category of literary composition Genres may be determined by Literary technique, tone, Content, or even (as in the case of fiction The thriller is a broad Genre of Literature, Film, Gaming and Television. Historical fiction is a sub-genre of Fiction that often portrays alternate accounts or dramatization of historical figures or events Events 70 - Titus and his Roman Legions breach the middle wall of Jerusalem in the Siege of Jerusalem Year 1949 ( MCMXLIX) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located An author is defined both as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created The thriller is a broad Genre of Literature, Film, Gaming and Television. He has sold a total of 100 million copies

Contents

Life

Ken Follett, the son of Martin and Veenie Follett, was born in Cardiff, Wales, and lived there until the family moved to London at the age of ten. This page provides a list of best-selling Fiction authors to date and in any language Cardiff ( 'kɑːdɪf) is the Capital and the largest city and county in Wales. Barred from watching movies and television by his devoutly Christian parents, he developed an early interest in reading but remained an indifferent student until he entered his teens. Applying himself to his studies, he won admission in 1967 to University College London, where he studied philosophy and became involved in leftist politics. Year 1967 ( MCMLXVII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the 1967 Gregorian calendar. University College London ( UCL) is a multi-faculty university institution based in the United Kingdom and a constituent college of the University of London He married his first wife, Mary, in 1968.

After graduation, in the autumn of 1970 Follett took a three-month post-graduate course in journalism and went to work as a trainee reporter in Cardiff on the South Wales Echo. Year 1970 ( MCMLXX) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link shows full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Cardiff ( 'kɑːdɪf) is the Capital and the largest city and county in Wales. The South Wales Echo is a daily Newspaper distributed in South Wales. After three years in Cardiff, he returned to London as a general-assignment reporter for the Evening Standard. The London Evening Standard is an English Tabloid regional local newspaper published and sold in London and surrounding areas of southeast Finding the work unchallenging, he eventually left journalism for publishing and became, by the late 1970s, deputy managing director of Everest Books. He also began writing fiction on evenings and weekends as a hobby. Success came gradually at first but the publication of Eye of the Needle in 1978 made him both wealthy and internationally famous. Each of Follett's subsequent novels has also become a best-seller, ranking highly on the New York Times best-seller and NovelTracker.com lists; a number have been adapted for the screen. A bestseller is a Book that is identified as extremely popular by its inclusion on lists of currently top selling titles that are based on publishing industry and book trade

Follett became involved, during the late 1970s, in the activities of Britain's Labour Party. The Labour Party is a Political party in the United Kingdom. Founded at the start of the 20th century it has been since the 1920s the principal party of the In the course of his political activities, he met the former Barbara Broer, a Labour official, who became his second wife in 1984. Daphne Barbara Follett (born 25 December 1942 Kingston, Jamaica as Daphne Barbara Hubbard) is a British politician - she is the Labour She was elected a Member of Parliament in 1997, representing Stevenage. The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories Year 1997 ( MCMXCVII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1997 Gregorian calendar Place-name meaning Stevenage may derive from Old English stiþen āc / stiōen āc / stithen ac (various Old English dialects She was re-elected both in 2001 and in 2005. Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar. Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Follett himself remains a prominent Labour supporter and fundraiser.

Work

Follett is widely received as a talented historical/thriller author of fiction, with a long series of international best-sellers to his name.

Leaving aside a series of competent but undistinguished paperback originals written under various pseudonyms, of which The Modigliani Scandal and Paper Money are perhaps the best known, Follett's literary career has gone through four distinct phases.

The first, and most distinguished, phase comprises Eye of the Needle and the five books (four fiction and one non-fiction) that followed it. All are variations of the classic espionage thriller, pitting one or two daring, resourceful agents against a numerous and well-equipped enemy. The settings are both geographically and chronologically diverse, ranging from World War I Europe in The Man from St. Petersburg to (then) present-day Israel, Iran and Afghanistan in Triple, On Wings of Eagles and Lie Down with Lions. On Wings of Eagles is a 1983 thriller novel written by British author Ken Follett. Like the early works of Frederick Forsyth, another journalist-turned-novelist, Follett's early thrillers devote much attention to how things are done. Frederick Forsyth, CBE (born August 25, 1938) is an English author and occasional political commentator The Key To Rebecca, for example, hinges on the workings of a particular type of secret code, the hero of Triple is a master of disguise, and clandestine radio transmitters play a major role in Eye of the Needle. All six books--including On Wings of Eagles, the non-fictional story of the successful attempt to rescue two American employees of Ross Perot's company EDS from Iran after the 1979 Revolution--follow the basic conventions of the thriller genre. On Wings of Eagles is a 1983 thriller novel written by British author Ken Follett. Henry Ross Perot (born June 27 1930 is an American businessman from Texas, who is best known for seeking the office of President of the United States in Electronic Data Systems (EDS is a global Business and technology services company headquartered in Plano Texas that defined the Outsourcing business For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Iran topics. The Iranian Revolution' (mostly known as the Islamic Revolution, Persian: انقلاب اسلامی Enghelābe Eslāmi was the Revolution that transformed All six, however, use those conventions in unconventional ways: making the protagonist of Eye of the Needle a German agent, for example.

The second phase of Follett's career was a conscious departure from the first: a series of four historical novels written in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The Pillars of the Earth, the first of the four, set the pattern for the three that followed. The Pillars of the Earth is a Historical novel by Ken Follett published in 1989 about the building of a Cathedral in Kingsbridge Unlike Follett's earlier thrillers, it featured a large cast, multiple plotlines, occasional outbursts of violence, and extensive use of historical background. Pillars, set mostly in medieval England, followed the building of a cathedral. Night Over Water was a Grand Hotel-style tale that took place aboard a transatlantic seaplane flying from Southampton to New York on the eve of World War II. Night Over Water is a politically-minded novel written by Author Ken Follett and published by William Morrow in 1991. Grand Hotel is a 1932 MGM Pre-Code Art Deco Film that won the Best Picture Oscar. Southampton ( IPA /ˌsaʊθˈhæmptən/ is the largest city in the county of Hampshire, on the south coast of England New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including A Dangerous Fortune revolved around family and business intrigue in a large family of financiers in Victorian-era London, and A Place Called Freedom took place in Britain's North American colonies around the time of the American Revolution. London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. In this article the inhabitants of the thirteen colonies that supported the American Revolution are primarily referred to as "Americans" with occasional references to "Patriots"

Statue dedicated to Ken Follett in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
Statue dedicated to Ken Follett in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain

Follett changed literary gears a third time in the late 1990s, with a pair of books set firmly in the present and using high technology as a plot device. The Hammer of Eden focused on the potential use of earthquakes as a terrorist weapon, and The Third Twin on the darker aspects of biotechnology. The two novels--seemingly an attempt to mine the same fictional vein as Michael Crichton--were comparatively unsuccessful. John Michael Crichton, ˈkraɪtən, (born October 23 1942 is an American author Film producer, Film director, Medical doctor, and Television producer Reviewers, as well as many readers, found the characters shallow and the effort required to suspend disbelief too great.

Follett returned to conventional low-tech thrillers in Code to Zero, an espionage story pitting Soviet and American agents on the eve of America's first satellite launch. This article is about artificial satellites For natural satellites also known as moons see Natural satellite. The World War II adventures Jackdaws and Hornet Flight put Follett firmly back where he began: writing about daring agents operating undercover behind enemy lines, charged with a mission that could change the course of the war. Jackdaws is a World War II spy thriller written by British novelist Ken Follett. Hornet Flight is a World War II based spy thriller written by British author Ken Follett. Some critics and readers hailed them as a welcome and long-overdue return by Follett to the kind of story he writes best. Others regarded them as old wine in new bottles: rehashings of themes and situations he had treated more interestingly in his earlier work.

Barring another radical shift in his literary output, Follett's reputation is likely to rest on his early thrillers (especially Eye of the Needle and The Key to Rebecca) and on The Pillars of the Earth, which he himself is said to regard as his finest work. The Pillars of the Earth is a Historical novel by Ken Follett published in 1989 about the building of a Cathedral in Kingsbridge

His most recent novel is World Without End, a sequel to The Pillars of the Earth, released in October 2007. World Without End is a 2007 Novel by Ken Follett and the Sequel to 1989's The Pillars of the Earth. The Pillars of the Earth is a Historical novel by Ken Follett published in 1989 about the building of a Cathedral in Kingsbridge He was inspired to write this novel in the cathedral of the Spanish-Basque town of Vitoria-Gasteiz, which is why Vitoria has honored him with a sculpture in his likeness.

Bibliography

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c Apples Carstairs series
  2. ^ a b Piers Roper series
  3. ^ Follett rewrote this book after two translators had failed to produce a publishable version of the original French work. The Man from St Petersburg is a thriller novel published in 1982 by Ken Follett. On Wings of Eagles is a 1983 thriller novel written by British author Ken Follett. The Pillars of the Earth is a Historical novel by Ken Follett published in 1989 about the building of a Cathedral in Kingsbridge Night Over Water is a politically-minded novel written by Author Ken Follett and published by William Morrow in 1991. The Third Twin is a suspense thriller authored by the British writer Ken Follett and published by Random House publications in 1996 The Hammer of Eden is a work by Ken Follett. It is about a group of people living together in a commune cut away from the rest of the world Jackdaws is a World War II spy thriller written by British novelist Ken Follett. Hornet Flight is a World War II based spy thriller written by British author Ken Follett. ' Whiteout' is a thriller novel written by British author Ken Follett about the theft of a deadly virus from a lab in snow covered Scotland World Without End is a 2007 Novel by Ken Follett and the Sequel to 1989's The Pillars of the Earth. Follett has tried to keep it from being published under his name and disowns it entirely, entreating readers not to buy it. [1]
  4. ^ Translation from original French version.

External links


Persondata
NAME Follet, Ken
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION British Novelist
DATE OF BIRTH June 5, 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH Cardiff, Wales
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH
The Open Directory Project ( ODP) also known as dmoz (from directory Events 70 - Titus and his Roman Legions breach the middle wall of Jerusalem in the Siege of Jerusalem Year 1949 ( MCMXLIX) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Cardiff ( 'kɑːdɪf) is the Capital and the largest city and county in Wales.
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