Gardner, John, 1926-2007

John Edmund Gardner was born in Northumberland, England on November 20, 1926. In the early years of World War II, he was a drummer boy with the Home Guard and also worked as a magician for the American Red Cross Entertainments Department. When he turned 18 at the end of 1944, he joined the Royal Navy and then was transferred to the Royal Marines, where he served in Asia and the Middle East. During the war, Gardner became an alcoholic. His addiction grew while he attended Cambridge University and then Oxford, where he received a degree in theology. He became an Anglican priest, married, and became the minister of a rural parish. After a few years, he resigned from the Church and renounced religion entirely. He got a job as a drama critic for the local newspaper in Straford-upon-Avon, but was soon forced to face his addiction to alcohol. In 1959, he came under the care of Dr. Lincoln Williams, who had pioneered the use of hypnosis in treating alcoholics. Gardner's struggle to overcome his addiction resulted in his first book, Spin the Bottle, which was published in 1964. He then took to writing novels, creating the character of the bumbling secret agent Boysie Oakes. Gardner was a prolific author, branching out into thrillers and adventure stories, including two popular Sherlock Holmes novels. He also developed the character of police inspector Derek Torry. In 1980, he was offered the James Bond franchise by the publishing firm Glidrose, which owned Ian Fleming's literary estate. His first attempt, Licence Renewed (1981), was successful, and he would go on to write fourteen Bond novels before giving it up in 1996 due to cancer. After 6 years, he resumed writing, producing the spy thriller Day of Absolution (2000) and the detective novel Bottled Spider (2002). He died in Basingstoke, England, on August 3, 2007.

From the description of John Gardner Papers, 1960s. (University of California, Santa Barbara). WorldCat record id: 174117035

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