The Day of the Jackal author Frederick Forsyth has revealed that he worked for British intelligence agency MI6 for more than 20 years.
Forsyth's spy novels are noted for their realism, and the confirmation of his involvement with MI6 comes with the publication of the author's autobiography The Outsider: My Life.
Fans have long suspected that the 77-year-old was involved with British Intelligence, and he told the BBC it started when he was asked to send information from the Biafran War in Nigeria.
He said he was approached by an intelligence officer who asked him to "tell us what's going on" during the civil war, which lasted from 1967 to 1970.
"For the last year of the Biafran War I was sending . . . both journalistic reports to the media and other reports to my new friend," he said.
"The Foreign Office was denying that there were any dying children and they were passionate in supporting the dictatorship in Lagos, and it was, oddly enough, MI6 that had a different viewpoint."
Forsyth added that he saw "no harm" in confirming the truth that "children were dying like flies" in Biafra.
"It was controversial . . . but not about the security of our country," he said, before noting that he was never paid for his work. "There was a lot of volunteer assistance that was not charged for," he said.
"The zeitgeist was different . . . the Cold War was very much on. If someone asked 'Can you see your way clear to do us a favour?' It was very hard to say no."
