About this website
The Bagley Brief is an archive resource written and published by researcher Philip Eastwood, which endeavours to promote the memory and literary legacy of the English thriller novelist Desmond Bagley. Bagley died in 1983 at the age of 59 leaving us a literary canon of now seventeen published novels and a handful of short stories, articles and interviews. At the time of his death he was reputed to be one of the highest paid writers of fiction novels in the world. Remarkable considering he left school at the age of fourteen having failed to pass any exams, suffered a life-long speech impairment during an era when it was generally perceived as a social stigma, and was nearly forty years old when his first novel, The Golden Keel, was published.
This site also contains Philip’s Running Blind archive, formerly bagleysrunningblind.info, which launched on 5 January 2015 as a definitive on-line resource for Desmond Bagley’s seventh published novel, a Cold War espionage thriller set in Iceland. Material from bagleysrunningblind.info migrated to The Bagley Brief on 5 September 2016.
This website has been preserved for the future by the British Library’s UK Web Archive, historic web captures of the site are available in the Legal Deposit Library Reading Rooms.
Fellow Bagley enthusiasts should also visit Nigel Alefounder’s Desmond Bagley website, which launched in 1997.
CITATIONS & LINKS
The following publications, blogs & podcasts have kindly cited this website and its author.
All articles, referenced and accredited material on this site is © Philip Eastwood, unless otherwise stated.
philip eastwood
Beyond The Bagley Brief, Philip Eastwood collaborates with archaeologist J. Russell on the following archaeological and research initiatives:
Steyning Rifle Range – The story of a disused rifle range, from its inception in the 19th century, through two world wars, to closure in the 1980s, dereliction and decay in the 2000s and ultimately to its rebirth as a historical asset. The rifle range is located to the west of the town of Steyning, in West Sussex, at the base of the South Downs National Park (NGR 516700,111300).
A Treatise on Projectiles – A website that aims to help identify projectiles fired from small arms that have been recovered archaeologically in the UK.
Philip holds memberships in both the International Ammunition Association and the European Cartridge Research Association. His curated research collections have been donated to prestigious institutions, including the Imperial War Museum, the Royal Armouries, and the Priaulx Library in Guernsey.