JOHN PEARSON 1930-2021

ovelist and biographer John Pearson became the next author to tackle a James Bond book after Ian Fleming and was written under the pen name Robert Markham). Pearson had been Fleming’s assistant at the and wrote the first biography of Bond’s creator, , published to acclaim and controversy in 1966 (Fleming’s widow disdained it, calling him “a ferret”, a putdown he happily owned). He followed this in 1973 with , a fictional life story that attempted to weave all of the superspy’s backstory into a cohesive whole. “James Bond was the alter ego of Ian,” Pearson recalled. “And having written a book about Ian I was superbly placed to write about James Bond.” Pearson wrote an equally playful biography of fictional air ace Biggles – and a grittier take on true life gangsters the Krays.