Joseph Marlow Hone (1937 - 2016)

Ancestors

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Irish Author

Biography

Joseph Hone is Notable.

He was educated at St. Columba's College, Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland. He was a writer.

His most famous novels featured a British spy called Peter Marlow. The first of the series was The Private Sector (1971), set in the Six Day War. Marlow's story continues in The Sixth Directorate (1975), The Flowers of the Forest (a.k.a. The Oxford Gambit) (1980), and The Valley of the Fox (1982). During his heyday, in the 1970s, Hone was favourably compared with writers such as Len Deighton, Eric Ambler and John le Carré. Whilst some spy novels, such as those of le Carré are often set mainly inside the offices of the spy department, and attract praise for the depth of their characterization and plotting, others (such as the James Bond series) are set in the field, and provide explosive action. Joseph Hone's stories by contrast, have a foot in both camps, and he has become renowned amongst aficionados of the spy genre for both the quality of his writing, and the excitement of his plots. He released his memoir, Wicked Little Joe in 2009.

Hone has had a varied career including working as an assistant in a second-hand bookshop in London, as a teacher at Drogheda Grammar School in Ireland and with the Egyptian Ministry of Education in Cairo, Heliopolis and Suez. He has also worked for a publishing firm, and in radio and television. In 1960 he became co-founder of Envoy Productions, Dublin and has co-produced a number of plays and musicals at the Theatre Royal, Stratford, East London. His wide experience in radio and television resulted in an appointment as Radio and Television Officer with the United Nations Secretariat in New York in 1968 and for the next two years he travelled far and wide, making documentary programmes based on trips to Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, India, Pakistan and the Far East. Out of these experiences came The Dancing Waiters (1975). He produced a number of radio programmes for UN radio, later broadcast by the BBC.

Joseph Hone held a variety of positions in radio and television, including radio and then television critic for "The Listener" (1971-1980). His background also includes an overseas posting with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

Since 2000, Hone had been teaching creative writing as well as a Core course which looked at the history and culture of various countries, including India and China. He taught at Wroxton College in Oxfordshire; Wroxton College is part of Fairleigh Dickinson University based in New Jersey, USA.

For a story on Joseph's connection to Pamela Travers the creator of Mary Poppins listen to an interview with Joe Duffy on Irish National radio (RTÉ1) which went out live on Monday 2 December 2013. The interview starts about 1/3rd of the way into the program. In particular he tells of his brother, Camillus who was adopted by Pamela. Camillus was one of twin boys living in Kiliney, Dublin when he was adopted. Hone also wrote an article about Camillus and P.L. Travers which appeared in the Times 2 section of the Times newspaper, Friday 29 November 2013.

Hone's books, including his last novel have been translated into various languages including French.

Hone reviewed books for the New York Times Book Review, The Spectator, The New Statesman, and the Daily Telegraph

Sources

• http://www.thepeerage.com/p68657.htm#i686570
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Hone