Tag Archives: Eric Ambler

Journey Into Fear by Eric Ambler

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I had forgotten about Eric Ambler despite the fact that he was one of the authors that my Dad enjoyed reading, along with the likes of Alistair MacLean and Dennis Wheatley. But yet again I was in the kitchen, making soup I think, and listening to Radio 4 extra when a dramatised episode of one of Ambler’s books came on and jogged my memory. So when I was at the library recently Journey Into Fear jumped out at me from the edge of one of those book carousel thingys, it was obviously time to give him a go.

It’s a Penguin Modern Classic which was first published in 1940 and as always with these books I avoid the introduction until I’ve finished the book because they always give crucial details of the storyline, right to the very end, which I would rather find out for myself as I read the book – why do they do that? It’s SO ANNOYING!

It’s World War 2 and Mr Graham is an engineer and an arms expert and because of his quiet and amiable personality he has become useful to his employers as a negotiator of contracts abroad. He has just been having high-level talks with the Turkish government in Istanbul and it’s time for him to make the journey back to England.

Unfortunately someone has a different idea and is determined to kill him before he can leave Istanbul. How can Graham get back home in one piece?

I did enjoy this one and I’ll read more of his books. If you like reading John Buchan then you’ll probably like this too, it’s quite similar in style. In fact the introduction, which I read after I’d finished the book does mention that Ambler is a sort of combination of Buchan and Ian Fleming, but I’ve never read anything by Ian Fleming, other than Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

It was made into a film in 1943, which you can read about here. In the film Mr Graham’s nationality is changed from English to American, as often happened in films.

BBC Radio 4 extra on the iPlayer

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I was listening to Radio 4 Extra this afternoon whilst making a pot of lentil soup, as you do, well it has suddenly got really cold, I got caught in a hailstorm today and it’s going to be icy overnight apparently, so soup is a necessity!

Anyway, at the end of ahem Dick Barton Special Agent, the presenter mentioned some of the up and coming attractions in the shape of an Eric Ambler thriller, Sherlock Holmes and much more. I’ve just realised that I missed a Jill Paton Walsh thing so I’ll be listening to that via the iPlayer soon too. Have a look here if you haven’t already!

I also saw an episode of the Martin Clunes programme Islands of Britain on the telly last night and wondered if some of it might be on You Tube and sure enough it is. I thought it might be of interest to some people who can’t get it on their TV.

The other thing which I thought folks might like to see is good old Tom Weir. I think I saw that Peggy Ann was watching him. You might never have heard of him before, he died a couple of years ago but he was a good age and about 30 or 40 years ago his short TV programmes used to be on a lot. I was amazed when I looked in on my insomniac then teenage son some years ago to see that he was watching an ancient Weir’s Way at about 3 o’clock in the morning. Tom had a big following with the insomniacs I think.

Although Tom had climbed all over the world, even up the Himalayas, it was always the hills of home which were his favourites and they happened to be in the area which I grew up, he was a a bit of a local hero and could often be seen on the hills. If you’re interested in some Scottish scenery there are loads of clips of Tom. Here’s one for a starter!