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Film option signed for James Leasor’s book on the R101 disaster

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London, 3 October 2018. An option has been signed to make a film out of one of Britain’s greatest air disasters, 88 years ago this week, that killed a cabinet minister and finished off the airship as a viable means of transport. The film rights for the James Leasor book, The Millionth Chance: The Story of the R101, have been purchased by Talking Trees Film, an innovative visual company with a creative team based in London and New York City – drama, reality, documentary… entertainment for both television and the big screen.

The R101 airship was the largest aircraft ever built and was thought to be the model for the future, an amazing design that was ‘as safe as houses. . .’ except for the fact that this huge vessel crashed leaving forty-seven dead, including a cabinet minister – and only six survivors, on its first commercial flight. It is a story of undue political pressure, mismanagement and compromise. It is also a story of great bravery and mystery.

When The Millionth Chance was first published in 1957 it shocked the world. It was the first account of the incident that had revealed the full facts that led up to the disaster, after a whitewashed official enquiry. Written with the benefit of first-hand accounts of many of the people who had been involved, it was a bestseller on both sides of the Atlantic.

Stuart Leasor, publisher of James Leasor’s works, said, “We’re delighted that Talking Trees Film want to make a film of this story. It is one with a terrible place in the history of the aviation industry. It has all the makings of a fascinating film and Talking Trees are just the people to make it.  This film option agreement is the second one we have signed for one of James Leasor’s books in as many months.  We have several more under discussion.”

Tori Rudling and Loe Fahie, co-founders of Talking Trees Film, added, “We are thrilled to bring this epic moment in history back to life on screen, so that it’s not forgotten.”

Below is a link to a short film, title “Little Lantern”, set on the evening of Saturday 4th October 1930 at Cardington Airship Works, England. The ill-fated departure of the largest airship in the world – The R101 to India. Written, photographed, edited and directed by Steve Hilliker, a key member of Talking Tree Films https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9m2VZS6LHw

Film option signed for James Leasor’s ‘Green Beach’

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Days before this weekend’s 76th anniversary of the Dieppe Raid in WW2, when 5,000 Canadians, 1,000 British troops, and 50 United States Army Rangers stormed ashore in Northern France an option has been signed to make a film of one of the most amazing aspects of the raid, when a man went into action knowing he would be killed by his own side if he appeared likely to be captured. The motion picture rights to James Leasor’s Green Beach have been purchased by Jason Delaney, the well-regarded Vancouver-based screenwriter with several produced films to his credit.

Green Beach tells the story of one man’s amazing heroism, on a day of many heroes. RAF radar expert Jack Nissenthall, son of Jewish refugees from Germany, volunteered for a suicidal mission to penetrate a German radar station perched above “Green Beach”. Knowing the secrets of Allied radar technology, he could not fall into Nazi hands. Bodyguards from the South Saskatchewan Regiment had orders to protect him, or kill him in the event of possible capture. What happened to him and his twelve bodyguards in nine hours under fire is one of WW2’s most terrifying true stories of personal heroism. Only he and a single guard made it back to Britain.

When Green Beach was first published in 1975 the media described it as “blowing the lid off one of the Second World War’s best-kept secrets”. It was one of the bestselling books that year.

Stuart Leasor, publisher of James Leasor’s works, said, “Jason saw the potential in the book immediately, and over the course of a few months we’ve hammered out a deal. James Leasor was one of the bestselling British authors of the 20th Century. Books made into major films including: The Sea Wolves, The One that Got Away and Where the Spies Are. We are delighted at the considerable renewed interest in his works and expect to announce further film options  shortly.”

Jason Delaney added, “All of James Leasor’s books have a rich visual quality in their descriptive prose — I’m really excited to be able to adapt Green Beach. I have already encountered substantial external interest in the project.”

4 more titles are now available as paperbacks as well as ebooks

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We are delighted to announce that the process of making James Leasor’s books available again in both ebook and paperback form is well under way. Over the last week we have just published the paperback editions of The Millionth Chance as well as the complete Robert Gunn trilogy – Mandarin-Gold, The Chinese Widow and Jade Gate. All available via Amazon and other good booksellers.

A Week of Love now available as an e-book

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Seven short stories featuring Dr Jason Love, the country doctor, old car lover and sometime spy in which he solves cases in Giglio off Italy, Praia da Luz in Portugal, Amsterdam, the Highlands, Spain, England and at home in Stogumber in Somerset.  Travelling in his famous supercharged Cord again and again battles a range of villains in his efforts to crack a myriad of mysteries.

For more information visit http://www.jamesleasor.com/a-week-of-love/

‘Passport for a Pilgrim’ now available for Kindle and Kobo

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Dr Love’s fourth supersonic adventure.

Dr Jason Love is going to attend a medical conference in Damascus and one of his patients asks him to find out how his daughter died in a car accident on the outskirts of Syria’s capital.  But all is not as it seems.  Fulfilling a simple favour turns into a nightmare for the Somerset doctor, turned part-time secret agent…

‘Super suspense and, as usual, Love finds a way.’ Daily Express

‘Bullets buzz like a beehive kicked by Bobby Charlton’ Sunday Mirror

‘Action is driven along at a furious pace from the moment the doctor sets foot in Damascus.. a quite ferocious climax.  Unputdownable.’ Sheffield Morning Telegraph

‘Thriller rating: High’ The Sun

http://www.jamesleasor.com/passport-for-a-pilgrim/

‘Jade Gate’, the final book in James Leasor’s Robert Gunn trilogy, now available as an ebook

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Robert Gunn, founder of the Mandarin-Gold trading company, had always been quick to seize new opportunities. That had been the making of his vast Far Eastern trading empire. And when the change from sail to steam in the world’s shipping made coal as valuable as gold. Gunn saw his way to another fortune. Vessels on the Eastern seas needed local supplies of fuel — and the man who discovered coal in the East would command the whole area. Enormous power for his country and himself. Gunn believed that Jade Gate Island, off Borneo, hid coal deposits, and there were others who shared his belief. In a land where life was cheap and the prize incalculable, the race for coal was likely to be a fight to the death …
To the powerful and arrogant Dr. Robert Gunn, life ‘might be likened to a fierce race for enormous prizes’. No prize could be richer than the discovery of coal on Jade Gate Island – but then no race could be fiercer, more uncertain, or more violent….
‘Jade Gate’ is the final book in the Robert Gunn trilogy, following on from the acclaimed best-sellers, ‘Mandarin-Gold’ and ‘The Chinese Widow’. Click here

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James Leasor passes 5,000 eBook milestone

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We are pleased to announce that we sold our 5,000th James Leasor eBook today.  Best-sellers are ‘The Red Fort’, which Cecil Woodham-Smith described in the ‘New York Times’ as “a battle piece of the finest kind”, ‘Green Beach’, the amazing secret story behind the Dieppe Raid, and ‘Boarding Party’, the book made into the epic film, ‘The Sea Wolves’, starring Gregory Peck, David Niven and Roger Moore.  Also selling well are ‘The Plague and the Fire’ the definitive story of London’s twin tragedies of the 17th Century, the fictional tales about the East, ‘Follow the Drum’, ‘Mandarin-Gold’ and ‘The Chinese Widow’, as well as the Dr Jason Love case books and the Aristo Auto vintage car thrillers.

25 titles in currently available, with ‘Passport for a Pilgrim’ and ‘Jade Gate’ due to appear soon.

Thank you for your amazing support!  We look forward to maintaining the momentum.

The Chinese Widow – now available in all e-book formats

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James Leasor’s two preceding books in his chronicle of the Far East a century and half ago – FOLLOW THE DRUM and MANDARIN-GOLD were acclaimed by critics on both sides of the Atlantic. THE CHINESE WIDOW is their equal. It combines the ferocious force of the Dutch mercenaries who seek to destroy Gunn’s plan; the pathos of a young woman left alone to rule a fierce and rebellious people; the gawky humour of Gunn’s partner, the rough, raw Scot MacPherson; the mysterious yet efficacious practice of Chinese medicine, handed on through thousands of years…

When doctors in England pronounced his death sentence, Robert Gunn-founder of Mandarin-Gold, one of the most prosperous Far Eastern trading companies of the nineteenth century-vowed to spend his final year in creating a lasting memorial to leave behind him… to pay back, somehow, his debt to the lands of the East that had been the making of his vast fortune. He had a plan – a great plan – but to see it through he had to confront a fierce and rebellious people, a force of Dutch mercenaries and the Chinese Widow. Who was the Widow? What was her past-and her power…?

Action, suspense and the mysterious splendour of the Orient are combined in this exciting and moving novel.  It is has now been published in all e-formats and is available for download.