Frederick Forsyth: The slowest way to a million

Frederick Forsyth began the 1970s unemployed, broke and homeless. With no prospect of a job, he started work on the novel that was to make him his first million.

It was 1 January 1970. Frederick Forsyth was down on his luck. An out-of-work war correspondent, he had just fled the collapsing Republic of Biafra "with a price on my head". He had no money, no car, no job or prospects of a job, and he was sleeping on a friend's sofa in London. With nothing else in the pipeline, "I thought, why don't you write that bloody novel?" says the 71-year-old author.

It was a pretty long shot. Sure, as a journalist, he could write news stories. But he didn't know the first thing about novel writing. "So I thought, why don't you write it as a newspaper dispatch?"

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Jody Clarke

Jody studied at the University of Limerick and was a senior writer for MoneyWeek. Jody is experienced in interviewing, for example digging into the lives of an ex-M15 agent and quirky business owners who have made millions. Jody’s other areas of expertise include advice on funds, stocks and house prices.