Leslie Thomas

Leslie Thomas, (22 March 1931 – 6 May 2014) was a Welsh journalist and author. His best known works where his comic novels "The Virgin Soldiers" (1966) and "Dangerous Davies, the Last Detective" (1976). "The Virgin Soldiers" was made into a movie in 1969 and a sequel in 1977, while "Dangerous Davies, the Last Detective" was made into an ITV television series starring Peter Davison. The series ran for 17 episodes from 2003 to 2007.
Thomas was born in Newport, Monmouthshire. He was became an orphan at the age of 12, when his mariner father was lost at sea and his mother died only a few months later from cancer.
Thomas after a long illness on 6 May 2014 near Salisbury, Wiltshire, aged 83. His wife, Diana, and their four children outlived him.