The Last Frontier (novel)
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The Last Frontier (novel)
''The Last Frontier'' is a 1959 novel written by Scottish author Alistair MacLean. It was released in the United States under the title ''The Secret Ways''. This novel marks MacLean's first foray into the espionage thriller genre, and was inspired by the events surrounding the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. Writing in the third person narrative, MacLean described the physical and political surroundings with more attention than he has in previous novels, and there are moments when MacLean purposely slows the action down to build character development. Plot Michael Reynolds, MacLean's protagonist, is a British secret agent on a wintertime mission inside Hungary at the height of the Cold War. Reynolds must rescue Professor Jennings, an elderly British scientist who is held by the communist government against his will. Reynolds is no James Bond and does not have any fancy gadgets but he is highly resourceful. His biggest advantages against the sometimes cruel and highly efficient ...
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Alistair MacLean
Alistair Stuart MacLean ( gd, Alasdair MacGill-Eain; 21 April 1922 – 2 February 1987) was a 20th-century Scottish novelist who wrote popular thrillers and adventure stories. Many of his novels have been adapted to film, most notably '' The Guns of Navarone'' (1957) and ''Ice Station Zebra'' (1963). In the late 1960s, encouraged by film producer Elliott Kastner, MacLean began to write original screenplays, concurrently with an accompanying novel. The most successful was the first of these, the 1968 film ''Where Eagles Dare'', which was also a bestselling novel. MacLean also published two novels under the pseudonym Ian Stuart. His books are estimated to have sold over 150 million copies, making him one of the best-selling fiction authors of all time. According to one obituary, "he never lost his love for the sea, his talent for portraying good Brits against bad Germans, or his penchant for high melodrama. Critics deplored his cardboard characters and vapid females, but readers ...
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Phil Karlson
Phil Karlson (born Philip N. Karlstein; July 2, 1908 – December 12, 1982) was an American film director. Karlson directed '' 99 River Street'', ''Kansas City Confidential'' and ''Hell's Island'', all with actor John Payne, in the early 1950s. Other films include '' The Texas Rangers'' (1951), ''The Phenix City Story'' (1955), '' 5 Against the House'' (1955), ''Gunman's Walk'' (1958), ''The Young Doctors'' (1961) and '' Walking Tall'' (1973). Biography Early life Karlson was the son of Irish actress Lillian O'Brien. His father was Jewish. He attended Marshall High School and studied painting at Chicago's Art Institute. He tried to make a living as a song and dance man but was unsuccessful. Then he studied law, at his father's request, at Loyola Marymount University in California. He took a part-time job at Universal Pictures "washing toilets and dishes and whatever the hell they gave me" according to Karlson. He also sold some gags to Buster Keaton. Eventually he decided ...
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Novels Set In Hungary
A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itself from the la, novella, a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ''novellus'', diminutive of ''novus'', meaning "new". Some novelists, including Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Ann Radcliffe, John Cowper Powys, preferred the term "romance" to describe their novels. According to Margaret Doody, the novel has "a continuous and comprehensive history of about two thousand years", with its origins in the Ancient Greek and Roman novel, in Chivalric romance, and in the tradition of the Italian renaissance novella.Margaret Anne Doody''The True Story of the Novel'' New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1996, rept. 1997, p. 1. Retrieved 25 April 2014. The ancient romance form was revived by Romanticism, especially the historica ...
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British Spy Novels
British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, the English language as spoken and written in the United Kingdom or, more broadly, throughout the British Isles * Celtic Britons, an ancient ethno-linguistic group * Brittonic languages, a branch of the Insular Celtic language family (formerly called British) ** Common Brittonic, an ancient language Other uses *''Brit(ish)'', a 2018 memoir by Afua Hirsch *People or things associated with: ** Great Britain, an island ** United Kingdom, a sovereign state ** Kingdom of Great Britain (1707–1800) ** United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801–1922) See also * Terminology of the British Isles * Alternative names for the British * English (other) * Britannic (other) * British Isles * Brit (other) * Briton (d ...
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Novels By Alistair MacLean
A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itself from the la, novella, a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ''novellus'', diminutive of ''novus'', meaning "new". Some novelists, including Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Ann Radcliffe, John Cowper Powys, preferred the term "romance" to describe their novels. According to Margaret Doody, the novel has "a continuous and comprehensive history of about two thousand years", with its origins in the Ancient Greek and Roman novel, in Chivalric romance, and in the tradition of the Italian renaissance novella.Margaret Anne Doody''The True Story of the Novel'' New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1996, rept. 1997, p. 1. Retrieved 25 April 2014. The ancient romance form was revived by Romanticism, especially the historica ...
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1959 British Novels
Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of Earth's Moon, and was also the first spacecraft to be placed in heliocentric orbit. * January 3 ** The three southernmost atolls of the Maldive Islands, Maldive archipelago (Addu Atoll, Huvadhu Atoll and Fuvahmulah island) United Suvadive Republic, declare independence. ** Alaska is admitted as the 49th U.S. state. * January 4 ** In Cuba, rebel troops led by Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos enter the city of Havana. ** Léopoldville riots: At least 49 people are killed during clashes between the police and participants of a meeting of the ABAKO Party in Kinshasa, Léopoldville in the Belgian Congo. * January 6 ** Fidel Castro arrives in Havana. ** The International Maritime Organization is inaugurated. * January 7 – The United States reco ...
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Lee Child
James Dover Grant (born 29 October 1954), primarily known by his pen name Lee Child, is a British author who writes thriller novels, and is best known for his ''Jack Reacher'' novel series. The books follow the adventures of a former American military policeman, Jack Reacher, who wanders the United States. His first novel, '' Killing Floor'' (1997), won both the Anthony Award and the Barry Award for Best First Novel. Early life and education Grant was born in Coventry. His Northern Irish father, who was born in Belfast, was a civil servant who lived in the house where the singer Van Morrison was later born. He is the second of four sons; his younger brother, Andrew Grant, is also a thriller novelist. Grant's family relocated to Handsworth Wood in Birmingham when he was four years old so that the boys could receive a better education. Grant attended Cherry Orchard Primary School in Handsworth Wood until the age of 11. He attended King Edward's School, Birmingham. In 1974, at ...
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Jean Hazelwood
Ora Jean Hazlewood (August 4, 1916 – March 2, 1997) was an American screenwriter, and wife of actor Richard Widmark for 55 years. They met while they were both attending Lake Forest College. She adapted the Alistair MacLean novel '' The Secret Ways'' for the 1961 film version. Hazlewood married Widmark on April 5, 1942. They had a daughter, Anne Heath Widmark (born July 25, 1945), who later married baseball legend Sandy Koufax in January 1969, divorcing in 1982. Jean Hazlewood died of Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ... in Santa Barbara, California, at the age of 80.Scott, Walter (April 17, 2005)Q&A. ''Parade Magazine'' References External links * 1916 births 1997 deaths Deaths from dementia in California Deaths from Alzheim ...
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Tongue-in-cheek
The idiom tongue-in-cheek refers to a humorous or sarcastic statement expressed in a serious manner. History The phrase originally expressed contempt, but by 1842 had acquired its modern meaning. Early users of the phrase include Sir Walter Scott in his 1828 ''The Fair Maid of Perth''. The physical act of putting one's tongue into one's cheek once signified contempt. For example, in Tobias Smollett's ''The Adventures of Roderick Random,'' which was published in 1748, the eponymous hero takes a coach to Bath and on the way apprehends a highwayman. This provokes an altercation with a less brave passenger: The phrase appears in 1828 in ''The Fair Maid of Perth'' by Sir Walter Scott: It is not clear how Scott intended readers to understand the phrase. The more modern ironic sense appeared in the 1842 poem "The Ingoldsby Legends" by the English clergyman Richard Barham, in which a Frenchman inspects a watch and cries: The ironic usage originates with the idea of suppressed mirt ...
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Cinema Retro
''Cinema Retro'' is an English magazine devoted to "celebrating films of the 1960s & 1970s". Founded in 2005 by Lee Pfeiffer and Dave Worrall, it is subtitled "the Essential Guide to Cult and Classic Movies". The 64-page full-colour magazine is published three times a year with a wide range of rare or previously unseen press photographs. Guest columnists As well as regular columns from the founders, ''Cinema Retro'' features guest columnists including: * Christopher Lee * Richard Kiel * Jeremy Slate * Madeline Smith * David McCallum * Raymond Benson Cover stories ''Cinema Retro'' cover stories have included exclusive interviews with William Shatner, Jack Cardiff, Elke Sommer, Ray Harryhausen, Richard Johnson, Luciana Paluzzi, Norman Jewison, John Phillip Law, Michael York and Hugh Hefner. It also features "lost" interviews with Steve McQueen and Lee Marvin, a day with Roger Moore, and an interview with composer Lalo Schifrin. Cover stories include the 1966 film '' Bat ...
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Euan Lloyd
Euan Lloyd (6 December 1923 – 2 July 2016) was a British film producer. Biography He began his career directing short travelogue documentaries, starting with '' April in Portugal'' in 1954 (not released until 1956). He worked in publicity, giving away Anita Ekberg at her wedding to Anthony Steel. Lloyd befriended Alan Ladd while making ''The Red Beret'' (1953) and Ladd gained Lloyd a job on production for Warwick Productions. He worked for that company for several years, then went to work for Carl Foreman. Lloyd's first credit as producer came when Richard Widmark, with whom he had made ''A Prize of Gold'' (1955), asked him to co produce ''The Secret Ways'' (1961). He went on to produce ''The Poppy Is Also a Flower'' (1966), ''Murderer's Row'' (1966), and westerns such as ''Shalako'' (1968) ''Catlow'' (1971) and ''The Man Called Noon'' (1973). Lloyd obtained finance from international sources. In the 1970s, Lloyd went independent, but his first effort, ''Paper Tiger'' (19 ...
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The Guns Of Navarone (film)
''The Guns of Navarone'' is a 1961 Adventure film, adventure war film directed by J. Lee Thompson from a screenplay by Carl Foreman, based on Alistair MacLean's 1957 novel The Guns of Navarone (novel), of the same name. Foreman also produced the film. The film stars Gregory Peck, David Niven and Anthony Quinn, along with Stanley Baker, Anthony Quayle, Irene Papas, Gia Scala, James Darren and Richard Harris. The book and the film share a plot: the efforts of an Allies of World War II, Allied commando unit to destroy a seemingly impregnable German fortress that threatens Allied naval ships in the Aegean Sea. Plot In 1943, the Axis powers plan an assault on the island of Leros, where Battle of Leros, 2,000 British soldiers are marooned, to display their military strength and convince neutral Turkey to join them. Rescue by the Royal Navy is prevented by two massive radar-directed large-calibre artillery, large-calibre guns on (fictional) nearby Navarone Island. When aerial bombing e ...
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