Tim Hayward meets the man who changed the whole way he approached food. Someone who inspired Tim, and many others, to look at food and the techniques of cooking in a completely new way.

A surprising food figure perhaps, he is a best-selling author, writer of "The IPCRESS File", creator of Harry Palmer (played by Michael Caine). He is also an illustrator, and pioneering food writer. He rarely gives interviews. He is Len Deighton.

Leonard Cyril Deighton - now 86 - has had a fascinating life - and as he explains, food has always been at its heart. His vivid and extraordinary story takes in post-war London with double agents and off-ration cooking, to a newly opened-up world of international air travel, and into the swinging sixties.

Len Deighton created the totally unique "cookstrips", fusing his skills at illustrating and writing with his cooking knowledge. For a young Tim Hayward, once he had seen these things would never be the same again.

Photograph by David Rose.

Presented by Tim Hayward Produced by Rich Ward and Dan Saladino.

My Food Hero: Tim Hayward meets Len Deighton 28:00 Share

The Food Programme

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My Food Hero: Tim Hayward meets Len Deighton