13 Facts About Giles Gordon

Giles Alexander Esme Gordon was a Scottish literary agent and writer, based for most of his career in London.

The son of Esme Gordon, an architect and Honorary Secretary of the Royal Scottish Academy, and his wife Betsy, Giles Gordon was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and was educated at the Edinburgh Academy, an independent day school.

In 1959, Giles Gordon joined the Edinburgh publisher Oliver and Boyd as a trainee; he remained as their employee for nearly four years.

Giles Gordon became editorial director at Gollancz in 1967 and stayed for five years, abolishing the uniform style in which the company's books had previously appeared.

Giles Gordon recognised the merits of an early Adrian Mole sketch by Townsend, and persuaded her to turn it into a full-length book, which together with its sequel sold more copies than any other two books by the same author during the 1980s.

Giles Gordon returned to his love of the theatre as drama critic for The Spectator and the London Daily News briefly published by Robert Maxwell in 1987.

Giles Gordon leaked bookish gossip to the satirical magazine Private Eye and wrote their "Bookworm" column.

Giles Gordon set up the Scottish office of Curtis Brown in 1994.

Giles Gordon wrote half a dozen novels between 1971 and 1980, and later a memoir Aren't We Due a Royalty Statement, a title that caused accusations of impropriety by quoting a comment from one of his clients, the Prince of Wales.

Giles Gordon married Margaret Eastoe in 1964; they had two sons and a daughter.

Giles Gordon died aged 63, from injuries sustained in a fall a fortnight earlier outside his home in Edinburgh.

Giles Gordon's funeral took place at St Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh, and later a memorial service was held in London at the church of St-Martin-in-the-Fields on 17 March 2004.

Giles Gordon has a small marker stone at the foot of his parents' grave, where he is buried, against the north wall of the south-western extension of Grange Cemetery in Edinburgh.