Douglas Thompson
Author, Broadcaster, International Journalist
Author, Broadcaster, International Journalist
Douglas Thompson is the author of many non-fiction books covering an eclectic mix of subjects from major Hollywood biographies to revelatory collaborations about remarkable people and events.
The author, broadcaster and international journalist, is a regular contributor to major newspapers and magazines worldwide.
Four of his books are at present being developed for global television.
Another is in preparation as a theatrical presentation.
His work, published in a dozen languages, include the television-based anthology Hollywood People, and best-selling biographies of Madonna, Clint Eastwood, Michelle Pfeiffer, Dudley Moore, Sharon Stone, John Travolta, Nicolas Cage and Leonardo DiCaprio. He collaborated with the billion dollar dancer Michael Flatley on his Sunday Times bestseller ‘Lord of the Dance’.
With Christine Keeler, he wrote her revealing memoir The Truth At Last, an instant best-seller. He worked as a consultant on the tie-in television documentary on the Profumo Affair. In 2019 the book was revised as Secrets and Lies: The Trials of Christine Keeler and the audio version recorded by actress Sophie Cookson who plays Christine in the six-part BBC television series The Trials of Christine Keeler.
His three year collaboration with a landmark figure in the Muslim Brotherhood, Youssef Nada, was published in English to worldwide interest as ‘Inside the Muslim Brotherhood.’ The book, the first to give a balanced and inside view of the Muslim Brotherhood, arguably one of the most powerful political groups in the world, was a sensation when published in Arabic during the Arab Spring. It is now a source for scholars [The Muslim Brotherhood and the West, Martyn Frampton, Harvard University Press].
Working with eminent psychotherapist Pauline Sutcliffe, he told the poignant story of her brother Stuart, who named and helped found the Beatles with John Lennon. His book ‘The Hustlers’, about gangsters and gambling in 1960s’ London, was the subject of a Channel 4 documentary. That work and ‘Mafia Princess’, on which he worked with the title subject Marisa Merico, are two of the books being produced for television. His true crime book ‘Shadowland’ about an elaborate scheme about the American Mafia’s ‘invasion’ of Britain is another along with ‘The Dark Heart of Hollywood’ about how the Mob and the moguls cashed in at the movies.
Recent bestselling success included 2019’s ‘No Handcuffs’, a collaboration with the 1960s gangster Eddie Richardson now reformed as a collectable artist.
He is working with the German national television broadcaster ZDF on a documentary scheduled for 2020 and on two further books for publication then.
His DVD contributions to a celebration of Clint Eastwood’s career were recently commemorated in a special box set of Eastwood movies. He has been involved with many Hollywood stars on their memoirs.
Douglas Thompson, a director of one of Britain’s major literary festivals, divides his time between a medieval Suffolk village and California, where he was based as a Fleet Street correspondent and columnist for more than twenty years.