The ‘Endless’ inspiration

Press, 22 April 1986, Page 8

The ‘Endless’ inspiration

By

DAVID WILSON

What does the colourful pop star, Elton John, have to do with a spy novel? It was Elton John’s inspired genius for producing a catchy phrase that gave the actor, film director, and now author, Bryan Forbes, the title for his latest thriller, “The Endless Game.” Mr Forbes was in Christchurch last evening with his wife, Nanette Newman, also an actor and author, to promote their respective latest books. Mr Forbes explained how his novel came to be dedicated to the singer-songwriter. “My publisher and I had been trying to think of a suitable title for months. There had been hundreds of suggestions but none had struck the right note. “Then we were having dinner with Elton one evening — he is our neighbour — and I told him the problem. Quick as a flash he said, ‘Why not call it ‘The Endless Game?’ “There was a stunned silence, then we all said, ‘That’s it, he’s got it’!” said Mr Forbes. It was a far cry from the world of zany, soccerloving pop stars when Mr Forbes first whetted his appetite for the written word. That was all thanks

to a Cornish clergyman. As a Cockney kid in his teens he was evacuated from London during World War II and found himself being cared for by the Canon of Truro. “He had a marvellous library. For me, it was like finding Tutankhamun’s tomb, and it began a lifetime’s passion for books,” said Mr Forbes. “Now the walls of our house are lined with books,” said his wife. “Only the bidet has escaped.” In addition, Mr Forbes owns a bookshop at fashionable Virginia Water, Surrey, where they live, and at one time he also owned the bookshop in London’s Dorchester Hotel. However, it was the theatre rather than the printed word that first brought him to the public’s attention. He served in British Intelligence during the latter part of World War II before becoming a small-part actor. In 1959, he formed a production company with Sir Richard Attenborough, and went to Hollywood in 1963 to write and direct the film, “King Rat.” From 1969 to 1971 he was head of production for E.M.I. Film Productions at Elstree Studio. His published fiction in-

eludes a collection of short stories, “Truth Lies Sleeping,” “The Distant Laughter,” “Familiar Strangers,” and “The Rewrite Man.” His latest novel is a spy thriller, but Mr Forbes quickly dispels any thought that it is based on his experiences with British Intelligence. “I was not in any way engaged in espionage. I was no more than a callow youth with a field security unit. We had shoulder flashes proclaiming British Intelligence for all to see. “I had more spying experience as a nine-year-old when a friend and I painted on false moustaches and pretended to be middle-aged defectives and followed people,” he said. In “The Endless Games” Mr Forbes alludes frequently to the pervasive moral and material decay endemic in Britain today. "But it is not peculiar to Britain,” he said. “There is a profound change in the climate of violence all over the world. All countries are less safe than they used to be.” He puts forward his theory of the cause of this present climate: “We have lived through the socalled permissive society and the pendulum has been allowed to swing too

far in one direction too quickly. “We had the permissive age of the ’6os, the pill, abortion on demand, the tyranny of the minority groups ... all these factors led to the lowering of old values. Not all of those old values were good, but most were. “Everything was relaxed too much at once. The moral floodgates were opened wide and we are paying the price now,” he said. But when his perception of declining values is in danger of inducing in Mr Forbes a state of melancholia, his wife of 28 years has a wonderful antidote — her latest book. Entitled “The Best of Love,” it is the sixth in the “Love” series which began 12 years ago with “God Bless Love,” and which edition so far has raised about $150,000 for charity. The latest in this series of often funny, sometimes sad, children’s sayings is likely to be the last she will compile, said Nanette Newman. “They are selling really well all over the world, but I think six is enough,” she said. “But it has been marvellous fun and so very revealing of a child’s view of the world.”