Frederick Forsyth, Day of the Jackal author, dies at 86

The novelist and journalist was also a former MI6 agent

- INGA PARKEL

Prolific novelist Frederick Forsyth, best known for 1971’s The Day of the Jackal, which was adapted for the screen in 1973 and again in 2024, has died. He was 86.

Forsyth died at home yesterday after a brief illness, his literary agent Jonathan Lloyd confirmed. He was surrounded by his family at the time of his death.

“We mourn the passing of one of the world’s greatest thriller writers,” Lloyd said in a statement, reported in The Times. “Only a few weeks ago I sat with him as we watched a new and moving documentary of his life – In My Own Words, to be released later this year on BBC1 – and was reminded of an extraordinary life, well lived.”

Born on 25 August 1938 in Ashford, Kent, Forsyth served as a pilot in the RAF before becoming a journalist. He was hired by Reuters in 1961 before moving over to the BBC in 1965, where he worked as an assistant diplomatic correspondent.