Ted Allbeury

Theodore Edward le Bouthillier Allbeury (born Stockport, 24 October 1917 – died Tunbridge Wells, 4 December 2005) was a British author of espionage fiction.^[1][2][3] He served as an intelligence officer in the Special Operations Executive between 1940 and 1947, reaching the rank of lieutenant colonel. He is believed to be the only British secret agent who parachuted into Nazi Germany during the war, and he remained there until the Allied armies arrived. During the Cold War he was captured and tortured when running agents across the border between East and West Germany. After running his own advertising agency, he became the managing director of the seafort-based pirate radio station Radio 390 in 1964, later moving to the ship-based Radio 355 (see under Swinging Radio England for details) until its closure in August 1967.^[4][5]

His first novel, A Choice of Enemies, was published in 1972.^[6] Allbeury went on to publish over 40 novels, under his own name as well as Patrick Kelly and Richard Butler.^[7]

Media adaptations

Allbeury's 1984 novel No Place to Hide was filmed as Hostage (1992) and starred Sam Neill, Talisa Soto and James Fox. The 1992 film Blue Ice starring Michael Caine is "based" on Allbeury characters.

BBC Radio 4 broadcast adaptions of The Other Side Of Silence (8-part serial, 1982), Pay Any Price (10-part serial, 1983), No Place To Hide (8-part serial, 1984), The Lonely Margins (1988) and Deep Purple (1993).

Bibliography

Novels

• A Choice of Enemies (1972)
• Snowball (1974) (featuring Tad Anders)
• Palomino Blonde (1975) (featuring Tad Anders) aka Omega-minus
• Where All the Girls Are Sweeter (1975) (writing as Richard Butler) aka Dangerous Arrivals
• The Special Collection (1975) aka The Networks
• The Only Good German (1976) aka Mission Berlin
• Moscow Quadrille (1976) aka Special Forces
• Italian Assets (1976) (writing as Richard Butler) aka Deadly Departures
• The Man with the President's Mind (1977)
• The Lantern Network (1978)
• The Alpha List (1979)
• Consequence of Fear (1979) aka Smokescreen
• The Reaper (1980) aka The Stalking Angel
• The Twentieth Day of January (1980) aka Cold Tactics
• Codeword Cromwell (1981) (writing as Patrick Kelly)
• The Lonely Margins (1981) (writing as Patrick Kelly)
• The Other Side of Silence (1981)
• The Secret Whispers (1981)
• Shadow of Shadows (1982)
• All Our Tomorrows (1982)
• Pay Any Price (1983)
• The Judas Factor (1984) featuring Tad Anders
• The Girl From Addis (1984)
• No Place to Hide (1984) aka Hostage
• Children of Tender Years (1985)
• The Choice (1986)
• The Seeds of Treason (1986)
• The Crossing (1987) aka Berlin Exchange
• A Wilderness of Mirrors (1988)
• Deep Purple (1989)
• A Time Without Shadows (1990) aka Rules of the Game
• The Dangerous Edge (1991)
• Show Me A Hero (1992)
• The Line-Crosser (1993)
• As Time Goes By (1994)
• Beyond the Silence (1995) aka The Spirit of Liberty
• The Long Run (1996)
• Aid and Comfort (1997)
• Shadow of a Doubt (1998)
• The Reckoning (1999)
• Never Look Back (2000)
• The Assets (2000) aka Due Process

Short story collection

• Other Kinds of Treason (1990)

Radio plays

• Long ago & far away (1982)
• The way we live (1983)
• Time spent in reconnaissance (1983) – story later included in Other Kinds of Treason
• Music of a small life (1983)
• There's always tomorrow (1985) – story later included in Other Kinds of Treason as 'The dandled days'

Essays

• "Memoirs of an Ex-Spy," in Murder Ink: The Mystery Reader's Companion, edited by Dilys Winn (New York: Workman, 1977), pp. 164–168.
• "It's the Real Thing," New Statesman (1 July 1977): 27.

References

External links

• WorldCat entries
• Allbeury appears on Desert Island Discs in September 1979.