Ted Allbeury


Theodore Edward le Bouthillier Allbeury was a British author of espionage fiction. He served as an intelligence officer in the Special Operations Executive between 1940 and 1947, reaching the rank of lieutenant colonel. He is believed to be the only British secret agent who parachuted into Nazi Germany during the war, and he remained there until the Allied armies arrived. During the Cold War he was captured and tortured when running agents across the border between East and West Germany. After running his own advertising agency, he became the managing director of the seafort-based pirate radio station Radio 390 in 1964, later moving to the ship-based Radio 355 until its closure in August 1967.
His first novel, A Choice of Enemies, was published in 1972. Allbeury went on to publish over 40 novels, under his own name as well as Patrick Kelly and Richard Butler.

Early life

Allbeury was born in Stockport, Cheshire, and educated at King Edward VI Aston School, Birmingham.

Media adaptations

Allbeury's 1984 novel No Place to Hide was filmed as Hostage and starred Sam Neill, Talisa Soto and James Fox. The 1992 film Blue Ice starring Michael Caine is "based" on Allbeury characters.
BBC Radio 4 broadcast adaptions of The Other Side Of Silence, Pay Any Price, No Place To Hide, The Lonely Margins and Deep Purple.

Personal life

He was married to Grazyna, who died in 1999, and they had a son and three daughters.

Novels