Alan Williams (novelist)

He was educated at Stowe, Grenoble and Heidelberg Universities, and at King's College, Cambridge, where he graduated in 1957 with a B.A. in modern languages.{{Citation needed|date=October 2020}} His father was the actor and writer Emlyn Williams. Noël Coward was his godfather.Noël Coward and His Friends, by Cole Lesley, Graham Payn, Sheridan Morley. Published 1979, p. 110. His younger brother Brook (1938–2005) was also an actor.

Journalist Philippa Toomey described him as a "talented and funny mimic with a gift for words and a stock of tales from the shaggy Express story to the grimmer side of international journalism."Toomey, Philippa. "Tilting at windmills", London Times, 8 July 1978, p. 12.

He had three children. Owen (born 1977) and Laura (born 1980) with his first wife, Antonia (née Simpson).Leigh, Wendy. True Grace: The Life and Times of an American Princess. London: Macmillan, 2008, p. 214. {{ISBN|9780312381943}} He then married literary agent Maggie Noach and their daughter Sophie was born in 1989.Tucker, Nicholas. "Maggie Noach: Literary agent for children's authors. The Independent, London; 29 November 2006 online edition.His third marriage and her second. Noach's clients included Brian Aldiss, Sam Enthoven, David Almond, Jean Ure, Graham Marks, Linda Newbery, Colin Greenland, Garry Kilworth, Michael Scott Rohan and Geoff Ryman. She was also chair of the Anthony Powell society{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/maggie-noach-426229.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080511194917/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/maggie-noach-426229.html |archive-date=2008-05-11 |url-access=limited |url-status=live|title = Maggie Noach|website = Independent.co.uk|date = 29 November 2006}} Together they compiled The Dictionary of Disgusting Facts.{{Citation needed|date=October 2020}}

Williams' British paperback publishers would claim that his first-hand experience of adventure and intrigue was put to superb use in his novels."About the author". The Widow's War. Panther Granada, UK paperback, 1978.

As a student, he took part in the Hungarian uprising. He took a supply of penicillin to the insurgents in Budapest.Wilkinson, L.P. Kingsmen of a Century, 1873–1972. King's College, 1980, 394 pages. p. 32. He masqueraded his way into East Germany when that country was virtually closed. He was a delegate from Cambridge to the World Festival of Peace and Friendship in Warsaw, where he and some friends smuggled a Polish student to the West.

After graduating from Cambridge, Williams worked for Radio Free Europe in Munich.So do the protagonists in The Beria Papers. He then moved on to print journalism, starting at the Western Mail. He then joined The Guardian before becoming foreign correspondent for The Daily Express, covering international wars and "other horrors".

He covered stories in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union, Israel and the Far East. As a reporter he covered most of the world's trouble spots – Vietnam, the Middle-East, Algeria, Czechoslovakia, Ulster, Mozambique, Cyprus and Rhodesia.

He covered two Israeli–Arab conflicts, including the Six-Day War.Leitch, David. God Stand Up For Bastards. Deutsch, 1973, 231 pages. p. 91.

In Algeria, the Foreign Office received complaints about him from both the French Army and the Arabs. Subsequently, he had to be smuggled out of the country after the word barbouze (spy) had been written on his car, In Beirut, he encountered Kim PhilbyWilliams used this incident in Gentleman Traitor. The protagonist, like Williams, is also a journalist writing a novel about Philby. the day before the latter disappeared to Moscow.

His Vietnam reporting won him much praise. Jon Bradshaw called him "perhaps the best observer of war in England. His articles on Vietnam are far and away the best pieces produced in Britain on the subject."Bradshaw, Jon (editor). Bradshaw's Guide: The Best of Current Magazine Writing. Published 1968. p. 11 According to Phillip Knightley, correspondents sewed their official identification tags – name and organisation – on their jackets.Knightley, Phillip. The First Casualty: From the Crimea to Vietnam: The War Correspondent as Hero, Propagandist, and Myth Maker. Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich. 1975, 465 pages. p. 403. However, Williams' press accreditation tag carried an unintended connotation, which raised eyebrows: Alan Williams, Queen,British euphemism denoting homosexuality. though "it was to the disbelief of most GIs", wrote Phillip Knightley.

Journalist and war correspondent Nicholas Tomalin described Williams as his wildest friend. Williams based a character in The Beria Papers on Tomalin and, upon selling the film rights, told Tomalin that he should play himself in the movie version.Anonymous. "A Spectator's Notebook: Playing ourselves". The Spectator. London. v. 230 pt. 2 1973. p. 516.

Soviet authorities had prohibited Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn from publishing his semi-autobiographical novel Cancer Ward. The notoriety piqued British publishers' curiosity, among them The Bodley Head. Rival attempts were soon under way to obtain a copy of the manuscript. Williams and his friend Nicholas Bethell went behind the Iron Curtain to obtain the manuscript from a go-between who had a signed document attesting that he was acting on Solzhenitsyn's behalf. Both men knew they were risking their lives and time. There was no guarantee they would succeed, be the first to obtain the novel, or that The Bodley Head would purchase the manuscript let alone publish it.Bethell, Nicholas. Spies and Other Secrets: Memoirs from the Second Cold War. Published 1994, 397 pages. p. 22. According to several sources, WilliamsBoth men claim they personally smuggled the manuscript out. smuggled the book out of Czechoslovakia, passing through the frontier post with the leaves spread out on his lap under a road map.Wilkinson, L.P. Kingsmen of a Century, 1873–1972. p. 32. This authority claims Williams smuggled the manuscript out of Russia. The Bodley Head subsequently published the first Russian-language edition of the novelPart I in May 1968. Part II in September 1968. and the English language translation.Part I in 1968. Part II in 1969. Farrar, Straus, Giroux published both parts in a one volume U.S. edition in 1969.Bethell and David Burg translated the novel into English. This text, is the standard British and American edition. Williams dedicated his novel The Beria Papers to David Burg.

Williams used a fictionalised version of this incident as an ironic story element in his novel The Beria Papers. There, the protagonists pretend to smuggle a manuscript from behind the Iron Curtain.A news editor in the novel asks the protagonist Tom Mallory if the manuscript is by next year's Nobel prize-winner for literature.

Williams won immediate acclaim with his first novel: Long Run South was runner-up in the 1963 John Llewelyn Rhys Memorial PrizeIt lost to Peter Marshall's autobiography Two Lives. The award prize for that year was £100.

Noël Coward wrote in his diary, "I have read a thriller by my godson Alan Williams called Long Run South and it is really very good indeed. He is an authentic writer. There is, as with all his generation, too much emphasis on sex, squalor and torture and horror, but it's graphically and imaginatively written."Coward, Noël. The Noël Coward Diaries. 1982. p.504. Coward mistakenly refers to the book as "Long Road South".

His second novel, Barbouze, was even better received. Several critics said that it transcended the genre,No author. Australasian Post review of Barbouze. Quoted in publisher's advert in Bookseller: The Organ of the Book Trade. By Booksellers Association of Great Britain and Ireland, Publishers' Association. 1965, p.102. Alan Williams is a novelist fullblown in his own right, with an original talent. lifting him into the top-most ranks of younger serious British novelists.Pitman, Robert. Sunday Express review of Barbouze. No date. The Sunday Telegraph declared Barbouze a compassionate thriller. The Sunday Times praised the exuberance and poetry in the writing which the reviewer noted was then very rare in British fiction.

Williams remained a favourite of the critics over the years. Books & Bookmen called Williams "the natural successor to Ian Fleming."The quote appeared on the purchase page in Panther and Granada paperbacks. British Book News said "Alan Williams is a thriller writer who has conspicuously succeeded in the rare feat of combining a novelist's art with a journalist's training."Scott-Kilvert, Ian. British Book News. November 1978. p.934. The New York Times critic Martin Levin said, "If you were to ask me who were the top ten writers of intrigue novels, I would list Alan Williams among the first five."Levin Martin. "Paperback Guide". The Victoria Advocate. 10 September 1978; p. 15. [https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=861&dat=19780910&id=I1tTAAAAIBAJ&sjid=WIUDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4553,2649748 Article online.]

His fellow writers also lauded him. Williams was a firm favourite of spy novelist John Gardner who said The Beria Papers and Gentleman Traitor "were both ahead of their time" and described Williams as "one of the important figures in the change and development of the espionage novel."Gardner, John E. The Espionage Novel. Gardner subsequently called The Beria Papers one of the ten greatest spy novels ever written.Sobin, Roger. The Essential Mystery Lists: For Readers, Collectors, and Librarians. Poisoned Pen Press: 2007; pg. 1951 Author and critic H.R.F. Keating praised the "authentic feel" of his novels, adding "their pacy excitement derives from their author's writing skill."Writers and Their Books: A Consumer's Guide. And according to crime author Mike Ripley, "a good thriller can take you to an entirely foreign environment, as in the books of Alan Williams."{{cite web |url=http://archive.shotsmag.co.uk/columns/ripley/ripley1006.html |title=Shots Ezine: Getting Away with Murder, the Mike Ripley Column - Get the Latest Trade News and Gossip from the Crime, Mystery and Thriller genres |website=archive.shotsmag.co.uk |access-date=12 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304031824/http://archive.shotsmag.co.uk/columns/ripley/ripley1006.html |archive-date=4 March 2016 |url-status=dead}} Bestselling author Robert Ludlum was a devotee. He especially admired Holy of Holies, insisting that it "will glue you to your chair with suspense."Cover blurb. Holy of Holies, Granada paperback, 1982.

The Pink Jungle is an adaptation of Snake Water. The film, which starred James Garner, Eva Renzi and George Kennedy was neither a critical or financial success.Variety, the U.S. film trade magazine was one of the few outlets to praise the film, referring to the source novel as "so-so". Variety's Film Reviews: 1968–1970. Bowker, 1983. No page number. Original review appeared 24 July 1968 p. 20. Williams deemed it the worst film he'd ever seen in his life. He complained that the film-makers took the characters' names and nothing else from his novel.

Dirk Bogarde had hoped to make a film of Barbouze co-starring Orson Welles with Bryan Forbes directing, but this came to nothing.Coldstream, John. Dirk Bogarde: The Authorised Biography. Published 2004. p. 301.

A proposed film of Long Run South, to have been filmed on location in 1967, never materialised.

Richard Burton purchased film rights to The Tale of the Lazy Dog.O'Brian, Jack. "High Priced Irritation". The Spartanburg Herald and the Spartanburg Journal (Spartanburg, South Carolina), 7 March 1972; p. A4. [https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1876&dat=19720307&id=pH4sAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1MwEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2835,1647006 Article available online.] Shillingford Productions currently holds film rights.{{cite web |url=http://shillingfordslate.com/page17.htm |title=FILM & VIDEO SHILLINGFORD PROJECTS - THE LAZY DOG CAPER FEATURE |website=shillingfordslate.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716055755/http://shillingfordslate.com/page17.htm |archive-date=2011-07-16}}

• Long Run South [1962]
• Barbouze [1964] US title: "The False Beards"
• Snake Water [1965][http://www.ostarapublishing.co.uk/article-37.html Williams also designed the initial UK edition cover art]
• The Brotherhood [1968] US title and UK paperback reprint title: "The Purity League"
• The Tale of the Lazy Dog [1970]
• The Beria Papers [1973]
• Gentleman Traitor [1975]
• Shah-Mak [1976] US paperback retitled "A Bullet for the Shah"
• The Widow's War [1978]
• Dead Secret [1980]
• Holy of Holies [1981]

From 1991-1992, Boxtree Ltd of London published six paperback tie-ins to the TV series L.A. Law. Numbers 2 through 6 adapted teleplays. Numbers 1 and 2, written under the book series' house pseudonym "Charles Butler", featuring original stories, were written by Williams:

• L.A. Law (#1): The Partnership
• L.A. Law (#2): A Fair Trial

• Williams, Alan. Noach, Maggie. The Dictionary of Disgusting Facts [1986] Foreword by Sir Les Patterson.

• Williams, Alan (as contributor). "Vietnam Views". A magazine article reprinted in Bradshaw's Guide: The Best of Current Magazine Writing compiled by Jon Bradshaw. Leslie Frewin, London, [1968], 208 pages. pp. 86–107. Also features contributions from Tom Wolfe, Anthony Burgess, V. S. Naipaul, and John Mortimer.

• Williams, Alan. The Headline Book of Spy Fiction [1992] Compilation of excerpts from spy novels by himself and other authors. Includes ending from Williams' own novel Gentleman Traitor.

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• [http://shillingfordslate.com/page17.htm film treatment of The Tale of the Lazy Dog] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716055755/http://shillingfordslate.com/page17.htm |date=16 July 2011 }}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20091013164856/http://www.asww.com.au/Emlyn/4.html Family tree]
• [http://taint.org/2001/12/13/041340a.html#substory_2001_12_13_041340a_mail_html The Dictionary of Disgusting Facts excerpt]

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Category:1935 births

Category:2020 deaths

Category:Alumni of King's College, Cambridge

Category:British spy fiction writers

Category:British war correspondents

Category:Daily Express people

Category:Heidelberg University alumni

Category:People educated at Stowe School

Category:Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty people

Category:The Guardian journalists

Category:Grenoble Alpes University alumni