Simon Raven

In 1957 he resigned his commission and turned to book reviewing. His first novel The Feathers of Death, brought instant recognition and his popular First Born of Egypt series encompasses seven volumes. His books are often exotic thrillers with strange subject matter and stylish characters, for example vampirism and ritual in Doctors Wear Scarlet and cursed rubies in The Roses of Picardie.

His TV and radio plays, of which Royal Foundation is the best known, are classics. Raven also wrote the scripts for the Pallisers series and Edward and Mrs Simpson.