25 August 1938 – 9 June 2025) was an English novelist and journalist. He was best known for thrillers such as The Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File, The Fourth Protocol, The Dogs of War, The Devil’s Alternative, The Fist of God, Icon, The Veteran, Avenger, The Afghan, The Cobra and The Kill List. Forsyth’s works frequently appeared on best-sellers lists and more than a dozen of his titles have been adapted to film. By 2006, he had sold more than 70 million books in more than 30 languages.[3] He also worked as a journalist, first joining Reuters in 1961 before serving as an assistant diplomatic correspondent in 1965 for the BBC. He also frequently wrote a column for the middle market newspaper Daily Express often regarding political issues, such as his scepticism on the subject of anthropogenic climate change.
The Biafra Story however, is the book which marked Frederick Forsyth’s transition from journalist to author. It is a record of one of the most brutal conflicts the Third World has ever suffered and now regarded as a classic of modern war reporting. But it is more than that. It voices one man’s outrage not only at the extremes of human violence, but also at the duplicity and self-interest of the Western Governments – most notably, the British, who tacitly accepted or actively aided that violence.
The Nigerian civil war of the late 1960s was one of the first occasions when Western consciences were awakened and deeply affronted by the level of the suffering and the scale of the atrocity being played out in the African Continent.
The combination of the dramatic events and the shocking exposures combined with the author’s forthright and perceptive style makes The Biafra Story as compelling a read today as when it was first written.
He had never been to Africa until reporting on the Nigerian Civil War between Biafra and Nigeria as a BBC correspondent.[10] He was there for the first six months of 1967, but few expected the war to last long considering the poor weaponry and preparation of the Biafrans when compared to the British-armed Nigerians.[11]
After his six months were over, however, Forsyth—eager to carry on reporting—approached the BBC to ask if he could have more time there. He noted their response:
I was told quite bluntly, then, “it is not our policy to cover this war”. This was a period when the Vietnam War was front-page headlines almost every day, regarded broadly as an American cock-up, and this particularly British cock-up in Nigeria was not going to be covered. I smelt news management. I don’t like news management. So I made a private vow to myself: “you may, gentlemen, not be covering it, but I’m going to cover it”. So I quit and flew out there, and stayed there for most of the next two years.
Forsyth thus returned to Biafra as a freelance reporter, writing his first book, The Biafra Story, in 1969.[12]
In August 2015, Forsyth revealed that in Biafra he was an informant for MI6,[13] a relationship that continued for 20 years. According to Forsyth, he was not paid.[14]
The exit of this friend of the Biafrans, instead of marking an end to an era, has really invogorated and inspired the peoples of that land to continue and persistently demand for their autonomy and freedom from the British controlled Nigeria0
The Biafra Story: The Making of an African Legend. This is the book which marked Frederick Forsyth’s transition from journalist to author. A record of one of the most brutal conflicts the Third World has ever suffered, it has become a classic of modern war reporting.
The Biafra Story: The Making of an African Legend. This is the book which marked Frederick Forsyth’s transition from journalist to author. A record of one of the most brutal conflicts the Third World has ever suffered, it has become a classic of modern war reporting.
The Biafra Story: The Making of an African Legend. This is the book which marked Frederick Forsyth’s transition from journalist to author. A record of one of the most brutal conflicts the Third World has ever suffered, it has become a classic of modern war reporting.
