Len Deighton was born in London on February 18, 1929. "My father was a chauffeur in London, in Marylebone, and my mother was a cook--sort of upstairs-downstairs scene you know."¹

"Even as a child I knew it was the last glimpse of a world that was about to vanish for ever."²

At the age of eleven Deighton passed the entrance exam for Marylebone Grammar School. "That was the last exam I passed. Then the war came along and I was a messenger at my father's first- aid [civil defense] post. School was knocked out, but then they continued it for a day a week in a vicar's front room, or somewhere. I stayed in school until I was 16, but I couldn't understand what they were talking about--chemistry, algebra, physics and that."3 Deighton was to later regret the gaps in his education and worked hard to close them.

"My smartest days...