FREDERICK Forsyth, the author of The Day of The Jackal, has died at the age of 86 after a brief illness, his literary agents Curtis Brown said.

The best-selling author was surrounded by his family as he died at home on Monday morning, the firm added.

His novel The Day of the Jackal was so popular it sparked a Bafta-winning film and a series featuring Eddie Redmayne.

Jonathan Lloyd, his agent, said: “We mourn the passing of one of the world’s greatest thriller writers.

“Only a few weeks ago I sat with him as we watched a new and moving documentary of his life – In My Own Words, to be released later this year on BBC1 – and was reminded of an extraordinary life, well lived.

“After serving as one of the youngest ever RAF pilots, he turned to journalism, using his gift for languages in German, French and Russian to become a foreign correspondent in Biafra.

“Appalled at what he saw and using his experience during a stint as a secret service agent, he wrote his first and perhaps most famous novel, The Day of the Jackal (1972), and instantly became a global bestselling author.

He leaves behind a peerless legacy which will continue to excite and entertain for years to come.

Bill Scott-Kerr, Freddie’s publisher

“He went on to write more than 25 books (many of which were made into films) that have sold over 75 million copies.

“He will be greatly missed by his family, his friends, all of us at Curtis Brown and of course his millions of fans around the world – though his books will of course live on forever.”

Tributes for the much-loved author have begun pouring in with his publisher, Bill Scott-Kerr calling his time spent with Frederick – affectionately known as Freddie – “one of the great pleasures of my professional life”.

He said: “Having long held The Day of the Jackal as the blueprint of the modern thriller, I was honoured to become his editor for Avenger in 2002 and have remained so ever since.

“Working with Freddie has been one of the great pleasures of my professional life.

“He leaves behind a peerless legacy which will continue to excite and entertain for years to come.”

Born in Ashford, Kent in 1938, Frederick flew fighter jets during his national service before turning to a career in journalism.

Working with Freddie has been one of the great pleasures of my professional life.

Bill Scott-Kerr

After just a short period working at the news agency Reuters, he got his lucky break and was sent to Paris.

It was during this time that he made a name for himself- getting the inside scoop after then-President Charles de Gaulle’s assassination.

Following a brief sting in Germany he moved to the BBC in 1967 where he was sent to Nigeria to cover the Biafran war.

His adventures as a journalist soon became the inspiration behind his thriller novels, such as The Odessa File which tells the story of a young German reporter on the hunt for a Nazi war criminal.

Here began a sprawling career in fiction writing, seeing Frederick amass numerous accolades and praise for his work along the way.

Over the course of his life, he wrote more than 25 books that have sold a staggering 75 million copies and have won him honours, including a CBE in 1997.

But despite his rolling literary success, the author admitted on several occasions he had lost interest in the work.

In 2018, following the launch of the novel The Fox, he told The Times: “The interest has gone”.

He added: “I’ve got three unused typewriters in a cupboard at home.”

Life of adventures

Last year, The Sun spoke to the best-selling author whose debut thriller The Day of The Jackal sparked a Bafta-winning film.

The story follows the professional killer, who works for Organisation Armée Secrète (Secret Army Organisation), a dissident political group.

Freddie said: “There definitely was an OAS trying to assassinate President de Gaulle. I was there covering it as a Reuters reporter in 1962 to ’63.

“I thought to myself that they probably would fail because they were so penetrated by French counter-intelligence.

“But I thought if they were ever to call in an outsider who’s not on the radar at all, he might get away with it.”

During his year in Soviet East Germany, as the official correspondent for Reuters and he revealed he worked as a “bag carrier” for Britain’s MI6.

He said: “I call it running errands. You pop over to someone’s house and pick up something and bring it back.

“I got a lot of attention from the secret police, the Stasi. I was followed all over the place.

“I thought the only way to survive is to take the mickey. They had no sense of humour, so I would do stupid things.

I knew my apartment was bugged, so I would go into the bedroom and have a passionate orgy with a non-existent female.

Frederick Forsyth

“I knew my apartment was bugged, so I would go into the bedroom and have a passionate orgy with a non-existent female.

“Knowing every word was being recorded I used two or three voices and then there would be a knock on the door. ‘Mein Herr, your gas is leaking’.

“They would search the flat and discover I had an invisible mistress. I am bilingual in ­German but whenever I was up against officialdom, I’d become a bumbling idiot who hardly spoke a word of the language.

“Terrible grammar, appalling pronunciation, thick as a plank.

“I was once picked up in Magdeburg by the Stasi and interrogated through the night.

“I was like the PG Wodehouse character Bertie Wooster. Eager to please, helpless, hopeless, hapless and therefore harmless.

“Having shouted at me all night, they took me down a long corridor to a door. I didn’t know whether it was the execution chamber or what it could be.

“Turned out to be the car park. They were chucking me out.

“As I was getting in the car, I heard one of them say ‘He’s too stupid to be an agent’. I drove out of the car park and gave them an elegant two fingers.”