Life imitates Frederick Forsyth's art

Frederick Forsyth, author of The Day of the Jackal, is still going strong. And in the research for some of his books, he found himself perilously close to the end of the line. 'A few minutes later, back at his hotel, Forsyth received a phone call warning him that he had 80 seconds to get out of the country. "I left all my clothes, grabbed my money and passport and ran across the square to the train station. There was a train pulling out so I did a parachute roll through the window, landing on a bewildered businessman. The ticket conductor asked me where I was going. I asked him where the train was going and he said Amsterdam. So am I, I said." ' More...