15th January 1986
Night of the Fox is first published
Jack Higgins’ Jersey-set war time thriller, Night of the Fox, was first published on 15 January 1986. It was later adapted as a television film starring George Peppard.
It opens in 1944 with a Harvard professor called Alan Stacy discovering that Hugh Kelso, an American colonel with full knowledge of the plans for the D-Day landings was wounded but survived in the trials runs for the operation. Washed ashore on occupied Jersey, he was taken in and cared for by a Seigneur’s wife.
The professor is captured
When he learns that Kelso is still alive, Stacy immediately understands the gravity of the situation. If Kelso is discovered, he will be arrested by the occupying forces, who may torture him for information. There is a very real possibility that Kelso will crack during the interrogation and reveal the Allied plans for the invasion of northern France, giving Germany the warning it needs to bolster the planned landing points. Kelso must therefore either be rescued or eliminated.
Stacy makes contact with a covert operative, who travels to Jersey under the assumed identity of a member of the SS intelligence division, which gives him the authority he needs to travel around the island unimpeded and order around German soldiers of lower rank. Unfortunately, not everyone is fooled, and the cover is blown.
Higgins moves to Jersey
Born Harry Patterson, Jack Higgins was a university lecturer who wrote novels on the side. That changed when he published The Eagle Has Landed, his 35th book, in 1975. It was an overnight, international success, earning millions of pounds a week. With income tax at 83%, plus a further 98% on any interest earned, that kind of success was enough to encourage Higgins to leave the mainland and live as a tax exile in Jersey, so it’s perhaps not surprising that Night of the Fox was set on the island.
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Other events that occured in January
Jersey’s first weather observation is made
- Jersey's first weather observation was made from the Maison St Louis Observatory by Fr Marc Dechevrens in January 1884.
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Alfred Hitchcock’s Jersey connection
- If it was not for Jersey-born film director Seymour Hicks, Alfred Hitchcock might not have had his lucky break.
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LibertyBus is founded
- LibertyBus was founded in 2013. The 12 sails painted on the sides of its vehicles represent Jersey's parishes.
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French troops launch the Battle of Jersey
- The Battle of Jersey in January 1781 saw 1400 French troops invade and attempt to take over the Channel Island. They were unsuccessful.
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