Patrick Leigh Fermor

Sir

Patrick Leigh Fermor

Leigh Fermor in 1966
Leigh Fermor in 1966
BornPatrick Michael Leigh Fermor
(1915-02-11)11 February 1915
London, England
Died10 June 2011(2011-06-10) (aged 96)
Dumbleton, England
OccupationAuthor, scholar and soldier
NationalityBritish
GenreTravel
Notable worksA Time of Gifts, Abducting a General
Notable awardsKnight Bachelor; Distinguished Service Order; Officer of the Order of the British Empire
Spouse
(m. 1968; died 2003)
Military career
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service/branch British Army
Years of service1940–1946
RankMajor
Battles/warsSecond World War
AwardsDistinguished Service Order
Officer of the Order of the British Empire

Sir Patrick Michael Leigh Fermor DSO OBE (11 February 1915 – 10 June 2011) was an English writer, scholar, soldier and polyglot.[1] He played a prominent role in the Cretan resistance during the Second World War,[2] and was widely seen as Britain's greatest living travel writer, on the basis of books such as A Time of Gifts (1977).[3] A BBC journalist once termed him "a cross between Indiana Jones, James Bond and Graham Greene".[4]

  1. ^ Sir Max Hastings first met Leigh Fermor in his early twenties: "Across the lunch table of a London club, hearing him swapping anecdotes, in four or five languages, quite effortlessly, without showing off. I was just jaw-dropped." bbc.com.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference telegraph-obit was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Smith, Helena "Literary legend learning to type at 92", The Guardian (2 March 2007).
  4. ^ Woodward, Richard B. (11 June 2011). "Patrick Leigh Fermor, Travel Writer, Dies at 96". The New York Times. Retrieved 11 June 2011.

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