'The Eagle Has Landed' Author Jack Higgins Dead At 92

Jack Higgins, the British author best known for The Eagle Has Landed and other thriller and espionage novels, has died at the age of 92.

Publisher HarperCollins confirmed Higgins, whose real name was Henry Patterson, was surrounded by his family at his home on the island of Jersey on the English Channel at the time of his passing, NBC News reports.

The Newcastle native served in the military before studying sociology at the London School of Economics and later working as a teacher in Leeds, where he began writing during his spare time, which included selling novels in the late 1950s.

Higgins initially achieved global success with the 1975 publication of The Eagle Has Landed, which focuses on a fictional World War II plot to kidnap British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

During a 2010 interview with the Guardian, Higgins said a call from his accountant led to the release of his signature novel.

“He asked me what I wanted to get out of my writing,” Higgins said. “I replied that I wasn’t really sure, before adding as a joke it would be nice to make a million by the time I retired. He then said: ‘Well you’re a bloody fool. Because you’ve just earned that much this week. So what are you going to do about it?’”

The Eagle Has Landed rapidly became a bestseller and inspired the successful 1976 film adaptation starring Michael Caine, Donald Sutherland and Robert Duvall, leading to even more success.

The novel has sold more than 50 million copies as of 2010.

Higgins wrote nearly 80 books under his pseudonym which also included The Eagle Has Flown, Angel of Death, Day of Reckoning and A Darker Place and is credited with selling more than 250 million copies worldwide, according to his website.