Inside 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service'

Harry Saltzman: Showman

The Blackheath Poisonings

The Search for Alexander the Great

Love in a Cold Climate

Edward and Mrs Simpson

Edward & Mrs. Simpson

An Unofficial Rose

Unman, Wittering and Zigo

On Her Majesty's Secret Service

First Night

Simon Arthur Noël Raven (28 December 1927 – 12 May 2001) was an English author, playwright, essayist, television writer, and screenwriter. He is known for his louche lifestyle as much as for his literary output.
Expelled from Charterhouse School, he was commissioned in the infantry in National service, before studying at King's College, Cambridge. Unable to earn a living as a writer, he rejoined the Army, but soon resigned, rather than be court-martialled for 'conduct unbecoming' on account of his gambling debts.
Declaring that he wrote only for people who shared his own standards, he never attracted the mass market, and had to be rescued by publisher Anthony Blond, who paid him a regular wage on condition that he stayed out of London and concentrated on his writings, many of which Blond published. The arrangement lasted for over 30 years.
Raven is remembered for his ten-novel sequence Alms for Oblivion and its baroque, supernatural sequels The Roses of Picardie and September Castle; as well as The Feathers of Death, an exploratory early army novel dealing with homosexuality between officers and "other ranks". He also wrote scripts for the television drama series The Pallisers (1974) and Edward & Mrs. Simpson (1978).

Simon Raven