Frederick Forsyth, Day of the Jackal author and former MI6 agent, dies at 86

Frederick Forsyth, the author of The Day Of The Jackal and prolific British thriller writer, died at the age of 86 after a brief illness, his literary agents said. The best-selling author was surrounded by his family as he died at home on Monday morning, Curtis Brown said.

"We mourn the passing of one of the world's greatest thriller writers," his agent Jonathan Lloyd was qupted by AFP as saying.

Who was Frederick Forsyth?

Born in Ashford, Kent, in 1938, Forsyth began his career in the Royal Air Force (RAF) in 1956 before leaving after two years to pursue a career in journalism.

He covered international stories and the attempted assassination of French general Charles de Gaulle which provided inspiration for his best-selling novel,

Frederick Forsyth was the author that turned his adventures as a journalist and work with MI6 into bestselling thrillers.

The former journalist and pilot wrote over 25 books including "The Odessa File" (1972) and "The Dogs of War" (1974) and sold over 75 million copies worldwide.

The former RAF pilot and investigative journalist went on to write novels including The Fox, The Kill List, and The Afghan. Many of his novels were also turned into films.

"The Day of the Jackal", in which an English assassin, played in the film by Edward Fox, is hired by French paramilitaries angry at de Gaulle's withdrawal from Algeria, was published in 1971 after Forsyth found himself penniless in London.

Written in just 35 days, the book was rejected by a host of publishers who worried that the story was flawed and would not sell as de Gaulle had not been assassinated. De Gaulle died in 1970 from a ruptured aorta while playing Solitaire.

But Forsyth's hurricane-paced thriller complete with journalistic-style detail and brutal sub-plots of lust, betrayal and murder was an instant hit, Reuters reported.

The once poor journalist became a wealthy writer of fiction.

The isolated Forsyth also discovered a talent for languages: he claimed to be a native French speaker by the age of 12 and a native German speaker by the age of 16, largely due to exchanges.