Frederick Forsyth at the RNIB Studios

Frederick Forsyth, the author of The Day Of The Jackal, has died at the age of 86 after a brief illness.

He was a great supporter of RNIB Talking Books, visiting the studios many times to record messages and raise awareness, and even to record a small non-fiction tale he wrote for us as part of a fundraising effort to re-archive our old tape recordings to a digital format.

On one visit, Robert Kirkwood grabbed him for a chat about his books and his dangerous research trips and to ask why he supported RNIB.