Patrick Leigh Fermor

Sir

Patrick Leigh Fermor

Leigh Fermor in 1966
BornPatrick Michael Leigh Fermor
(1915-02-11)11 February 1915
London, England
Died10 June 2011(2011-06-10) (aged 96)
Dumbleton, England
OccupationAuthor, scholar and soldier
NationalityBritish
GenreTravel
Notable worksA Time of Gifts
Abducting a General
Notable awardsKnight Bachelor; Distinguished Service Order; Officer of the Order of the British Empire
Spouse
(m. 1968; died 2003)
Military career
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Branch British Army
Years of service1940–1946
RankMajor
Battles / warsSecond World War
AwardsDistinguished Service Order
Officer of the Order of the British Empire

Sir Patrick Michael Leigh Fermor DSO OBE (11 February 1915 – 10 June 2011) was an English writer, scholar, soldier and polyglot. He played a prominent role in the Cretan resistance during the Second World War, and was widely seen as Britain's greatest living travel writer, on the basis of books such as A Time of Gifts (1977). A BBC journalist once termed him "a cross between Indiana Jones, James Bond and Graham Greene".