Jack Higgins: Best-selling author of ‘The Eagle Has Landed’ dies aged 92

Best-selling author Jack Higgins, best known for the novel ‘The Eagle Has Landed’, passes away aged 92

Jack Higgins, the renowned British best-selling author has passed away this Sunday, April 10, at the age of 92. Confirmed in a statement by his publisher, HarperCollins, the writer died surrounded by his family, at his Jersey home.

During a prolific writing career, using the pseudonym of Jack Higgins – real name, Henry Patterson, born in Newcastle – 85 of his books were published. He will probably be best remembered for the fictional Second World War novel, ‘The Eagle Has Landed’. This classic was released in 1975 and went on to sell more than 50 million copies worldwide.

This brilliant piece of storytelling about a plot by the Nazis to kidnap British Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill, was transformed onto the big screen in 1976. A host of top actors appeared, including Sir Michael Caine, Donald Sutherland, and Robert Duvall.

Higgins was also responsible for ‘To Catch A King’, ‘Hell is Too Crowded’, and ‘Comes the Dark Stranger’, among many others. In 2017 he had his last novel published, with ‘The Midnight Bell’ becoming a Sunday Times bestseller. His collection has sold an estimated 250 million copies, in several languages.

In a statement, Charlie Redmayne, the chief executive of publishers HarperCollins, told how they referred to the great writer simply as ‘The Legend’. He revealed, “I’ve been a fan of Jack Higgins for longer than I can remember. He was a classic thriller writer: instinctive, tough, relentless”.

“The Eagle Has Landed, and his other Liam Devlin books, his later Sean Dillon series, and so many others were, and remain, absolutely unputdownable. Being part of his publishing for even part of his career has been a privilege – his passing marks the end of an era”.

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