"Before Buffy, before Charlie's Angels, before Purdy and Emma Peel there was Modesty Blaise".
It is now fifty, yes fifty years since the first Modesty Blaise book was published which is a lowering thought as I remember them when Peter O'Donnell was first published.
I read these as a teenager and, at the time, these were regarded as pretty daring with a heroine who slept quite freely with her current lover, who was skilled in marshal arts, could climb a mountain, pothole, deep sea dive and all this looking immaculate. She had made her money running the Organisation, a syndicate with Robin Hood tendencies (cannot have a heroine being a real villain now could we?) with her partner Wilie Garvin, and had 
retired on the proceeds. She now lived in a penthouse apartment in London furnished with the finest antiques, where she fenced to keep her figure in trim and, just as a hobby you understand, installed a workshop where she cut and faceted priceless jewelry. Modesty spoke several languages, wore designer clothes, attended the opera and was, in short, a paragon. I always found her extremely annoying. However, these books portrayed a strong, independent woman who took no prisoners and at this time, despite the fact that women were burning their bras and we were in the Swinging Sixties, characters like this were pretty thin on the ground so, for that reason alone, they were worth reading.
There was also a Modesty Blaise comic strip which appeared in the daily papers and an ill fated film was produced with Terence Stamp, then at the height of his Cockney Chic persona, well cast as Willie. However, the entire project foundered on the casting of an Italian actress Monica Vitti, in the title role. To say she was pretty dire is an understatement and the film sank without trace. However, I gather it has now gained iconic status and is to be cherished if you find it.
When I worked for Camden libraries so long ago I hesitate to even contemplate it, I had the delight of the pick of the new books as they arrived and I always looked out for the O'Donnell books another favourite author, Madeleine Brent, whose adventure stories were spiced with a dash of romance and always in an exotic setting. The heroines in all of these books is feisty and determined and brave and resourceful under pressure. She usually faces disaster bravely and has to deal with pretty horrid situations, be it kidnapped and kept as a slave in the wilderness of the Hindu Kush; running away from an unhappy home and joining a circus as a trapeze artist; discovering that your father who has just died in an accident was an international and highly successful thief and that somebody thinks you know where his hidden cache is and tries to force you to tell them, or being married off as a young and naive bride and discovering you are married to a brutal husband and you run away to sea to escape after his murder.
Phew….
Madeleine Brent was shortlisted twice for the Romantic Novelist's Association of the Year award and actually won in 1978. The novels were published in eleven countries and were best sellers.
Now I do not wish to claim hindsight or that I am perceptive or clever or eagle eyed or any of these things, but it is the plain truth that way back then I remember thinking how many qualities both Modesty Blaise and Brent's heroines shared. Perhaps this is why I enjoyed both of them so much.
Years passed and it was not until the 1990's that I discovered by sheer chance that Madeleine Brent and Peter O'Donnell were one and the same person and suddenly it all became crystal clear. THAT was why I had spotted the similarity between these spunky heroines. And then Modesty Blaise and Madeleine Brent – same initials. Missed that totally.
Doh…
If you have not discovered Modesty, either because she passed you by or, let's face it, because you were too young, then do get hold of these and help celebrate her half century.
Happy Birthday Modesty.
Leave a Reply