Cookstrip home as a weekly feature in The Observer. The first cookstrip, "Cooking Beef: Part 1", appeared in The Observer on March 18, 1962 eight months before the release of Deighton's debut novel, The IPCRESS File. The "Len Deighton's Action Cookbook" which expanded these cookstrips into a full-length book was published March 1965, timed to coincide with the release of the film of "The Ipcress File" starring Michael Caine. Deighton chose the menu for the movie's press lunch and everyone was presented with a copy of the book. In the movie, Caine's character, Harry Palmer, is seen cracking eggs with one
The Ipcress File (film) novel was nameless, but in Chapter 5 he remarks, "My name isn't Harry, but in this business it's hard to remember whether it ever had been." In the opening scenes of the film, Palmer is shown to care little for authority, to indulge in quick repartee and to have an interest in good food. Newspaper cuttings shown in Palmer's kitchen are actually cookery articles written for "The Observer" by Deighton, who was an accomplished cook himself. In a scene where Palmer prepares a meal, the hands in close-up are really Deighton's. There were two immediate sequels starring Harry Palmer: "Funeral