Giles Alexander Esmé Gordon (23 May 1940 – 14 November 2003) was a Scottish

literary agent A literary agent is an agent who represents writers and their written works to publishers, theatrical producers, film producers, and film studios, and assists in sale and deal negotiation. Literary agents most often represent novelists, screenwr ...

and writer, based for most of his career in London.

Early life and education

The son of Esmé Gordon (1910–1993), an architect and Honorary Secretary (1973–1978) of the

Royal Scottish Academy The Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) is the country's national academy of art. It promotes contemporary art, contemporary Scottish art. The Academy was founded in 1826 by eleven artists meeting in Edinburgh. Originally named the Scottish Academy ...

, and his wife Betsy,Obituary: "Giles Gordon"
''The Times'', 15 November 2003. Retrieved 19 January 2008. Giles Gordon was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, Scotland, and was educated at the

Edinburgh Academy The Edinburgh Academy is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day school in Edinburgh, Scotland, which was opened in 1824. The original building, on Henderson Row in Stockbridge, Edinburgh, Stockbridge, is now part of the Senior Scho ...

,David Hughes
Obituary: "Giles Gordon"
''The Independent'', 17 November 2003. Retrieved 17 January 2009. an independent day school. Here he acted in school productions, including ''

Iolanthe ''Iolanthe; or, The Peer and the Peri'' () is a comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, first performed in 1882. It is one of the Savoy operas and is the seventh of fourteen operatic collaborations by Gilbert ...

'', with future broadcaster Gordon Honeycombe, among others. After school, where Giles persistently failed examinations, he attended, for a time,

Edinburgh College of Art Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) is one of eleven schools in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. Tracing its history back to 1760, it provides higher education in art and design, architecture, histor ...

, where his father lectured on architecture.Dennis Barker
"Obituary:Giles Gordon"
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', 17 November 2003. Retrieved 17 January 2009.

Publishing career

In 1959, Gordon joined the Edinburgh publisher Oliver and Boyd as a trainee; he remained as their employee for nearly four years. In 1961 and 1962, he edited the first four issues of the

Saltire Society The Saltire Society is a membership organisation which aims to promote the understanding of the culture and heritage of Scotland, founded in 1936. The society organises lectures and publishes pamphlets, and presents a series of awards in the fiel ...

's quarterly magazine ''New Saltire''. In 1962, he moved to London,Obituary: "Giles Gordon"
''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'', 14 January 2003. Retrieved 19 January 2009. and was advertising manager for

Secker & Warburg Harvill Secker is a British publishing company formed in 2005 from the merger of Secker & Warburg and the Harvill Press. History Secker & Warburg Secker & Warburg was formed in 1935 from a takeover of Martin Secker, which was in receivership, ...

for a year, editor at Hutchinson in 1966, and then of the plays list at

Penguin Penguins are a group of aquatic flightless birds from the family Spheniscidae () of the order Sphenisciformes (). They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere. Only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is equatorial, with a sm ...

, where he launched the Penguin Modern Playwrights series. He became editorial director at Gollancz in 1967 and stayed for five years, abolishing the uniform style in which the company's books had previously appeared. At this time, he interviewed playwrights for '' Transatlantic Review''. In 1972, he clashed with the directors at Gollancz over their desire to remove some of the sex from a novel by Dennis Potter, and joined agent Anthony Sheil, later Sheil Land Associates, aiming to improve the terms for authors. Among the writers he represented at one time or another were

Peter Ackroyd Peter Ackroyd (born 5 October 1949) is an English biographer, novelist and critic with a specialist interest in the history and culture of London. For his novels about English history and culture and his biographies of, among others, William ...

, Allan Massie, Penelope Mortimer,

Vikram Seth Vikram Seth (born 20 June 1952) is an Indian people, Indian novelist and poet. He has written several novels and poetry books. He has won several awards such as Padma Shri, Sahitya Akademi Award, Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, WH Smith Literary Awar ...

Sue Townsend Susan Lillian Townsend (; 2 April 194610 April 2014) was an English writer and humorist whose work encompasses novels, plays and works of journalism. She was best known for creating the character Adrian Mole. After writing in secret from the a ...

, Barry Unsworth and Fay Weldon. He recognised the merits of an early Adrian (then Nigel) Mole sketch by Townsend, and persuaded her to turn it into a full-length book, which together with its sequel sold more copies than any other two books by the same author during the 1980s. Of wider significance, he suggested ''

Spycatcher ''Spycatcher: The Candid Autobiography of a Senior Intelligence Officer'' (1987) is a memoir written by Peter Wright, former MI5 officer and assistant director, and co-author Paul Greengrass. Wright drew on his experiences and research into ...

'' by Peter Wright, with

Paul Greengrass Paul Greengrass (born 13 August 1955) is an English film director, film producer, screenwriter and former journalist. One of his early films, '' Bloody Sunday'' (2002), won the Golden Bear at 52nd Berlin International Film Festival. Other f ...

, be written. The book, which the British government attempted to ban internationally, detailed allegations of a criminal activity by the security services in which the principal author had directly participated. As an agent, he was successful in securing larger fees for his clients, including a £650,000 advance for Peter Ackroyd's biographies of Blake and

Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by many as the great ...

and a £250,000 advance for Vikram Seth's first novel and later £1.3 million for ''Two Lives'', a memoir of Seth's great-uncle and aunt. He returned to his love of the theatre as drama critic for ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British political and cultural news magazine. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving magazine in the world. ''The Spectator'' is politically conservative, and its principal subject a ...

'' (1983–1984) and the ''

London Daily News The ''London Daily News'' was a short-lived London newspaper owned by Robert Maxwell. It was published from 24 February to 23 July 1987. it was designed to challenge the local dominance of the ''Evening Standard'' in the London market. Despite s ...

'' briefly published by

Robert Maxwell Ian Robert Maxwell (born Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch; 10 June 1923 – 5 November 1991) was a Czechoslovakia, Czechoslovak-born British media proprietor, politician and fraudster. After escaping the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, ...

in 1987. He also leaked bookish gossip to the satirical magazine ''

Private Eye ''Private Eye'' is a British fortnightly satirical and current affairs (news format), current affairs news magazine, founded in 1961. It is published in London and has been edited by Ian Hislop since 1986. The publication is widely recognised ...

'' and wrote their "Bookworm" column. Breaking with his employer Sheil Land in 1994, he was prevented by a court order from contact with his clients lest he poach them. He set up the Scottish office of

Curtis Brown Curtis Lee "Curt" Brown Jr. (born March 11, 1956) is a former NASA astronaut and retired United States Air Force colonel. Background Colonel Brown was born March 11, 1956. He graduated from East Bladen High School in Elizabethtown, North Carolin ...

in 1994. The offshoot was quietly closed after Gordon's death.

Writing

In 1966, he released a collection of poems, ''Two & Two Make One'', which was published by Akros on a print run of 350 copies. He also wrote half a dozen novels between 1971 and 1980, and later a memoir ''Aren't We Due a Royalty Statement'' (1993), a title that caused accusations of impropriety by quoting a comment from one of his clients, the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales (, ; ) is a title traditionally given to the male heir apparent to the History of the English monarchy, English, and later, the British throne. The title originated with the Welsh rulers of Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd who, from ...

Personal life

He married Margaret Eastoe in 1964; they had two sons and a daughter. His daughter Hattie had, at the time of her father's death, just published a memoir of her brother Gareth, who had died by suicide in 1994 at the age of 24.Tom Peterkin
"Giles Gordon, top literary agent, dies fortnight after fall"
''

Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was foun ...

'', 14 November 2003. Retrieved 17 January 2009. His wife Margaret died of an incurable illness in 1989. Gordon's second marriage was to Maggie McKernan in 1990, with whom he had a son and two daughters. Gordon died aged 63, from injuries sustained in a fall a fortnight earlier outside his home in Edinburgh. His funeral took place at

St Giles' Cathedral St Giles' Cathedral (), or the High Kirk of Edinburgh, is a parish church of the Church of Scotland in the Old Town, Edinburgh, Old Town of Edinburgh. The current building was begun in the 14th century and extended until the early 16th century; ...

, Edinburgh, and later a memorial service was held in London at the church of St-Martin-in-the-Fields"Memorial service - Giles Gordon"
''The Times'' (Court & Social), 19 March 2004. on 17 March 2004. He has a small marker stone at the foot of his parents' grave, where he is buried, against the north wall of the south-western extension of

Grange Cemetery The Grange (originally St Giles' Grange) is an affluent suburb of Edinburgh, just south of the city centre, with Morningside and Greenhill to the west, Newington to the east, The Meadows park and Marchmont to the north, and Blackford Hi ...

in Edinburgh.

Selected bibliography

Novels

* ''The Umbrella Man''. London: Allison and Busby, 1971. * ''About a Marriage''. London: Allison and Busby; and New York:

Stein and Day Stein and Day, Inc. was an American publishing company founded by Sol Stein and his wife Patricia Day in 1962. Stein was both the publisher and the editor-in-chief. The firm was based in New York City, and was in business for 27 years, until cl ...

, 1972. * ''Girl with Red Hair''. London: Hutchinson, 1974. * ''100 Scenes from Married Life: A Selection''. London: Hutchinson, 1976. * ''Enemies: A Novel about Friendship''. Hassocks, Sussex: Harvester Press, 1977. * ''Ambrose's Vision: Sketches Towards the Creation of a Cathedral''. Brighton: Harvester Press, 1980.

Short stories

* ''Pictures from an Exhibition''. London: Allison and Busby; and New York: Dial Press, 1970. * ''Farewell, Fond Dreams''. London: Hutchinson, 1975. * ''The Illusionist and Other Fictions''. Hassocks, Sussex: Harvester Press, 1978. * ''Couple''. Knotting, Bedfordshire: Sceptre Press, 1978.

Reviews

* Sawday, Jonathan (1980), review of ''Ambrose's Vision: Sketches Towards the Creation of a Cathedral'', in '' Cencrastus'' No. 4, Winter 1980-81, pp. 46–47,

References

External links

"Giles Gordon"
Fellows Remembered, The Royal Society of Literature {{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, Giles 1940 births 2003 deaths 20th-century Scottish novelists Alumni of the Edinburgh College of Art British literary agents People educated at Edinburgh Academy Scottish magazine editors Scottish writers Scottish short story writers