Geoffrey Ernest Jenkins (16 June 1920 – 7 November 2001) was a South African journalist, novelist and screenwriter. His wife Eve Palmer, with whom he collaborated on several works, wrote numerous non-fiction works about Southern Africa. Early life Jenkins was either born in Port Elizabeth South Africa or Pretoria to Ernest Jenkins, an editor, and Daisy Jenkins. At age 17, he wrote and had published A Century of History, which received a special eulogy from General Jan Smuts at the Potchefstroom centenary celebrations. Smuts also wrote the book's introduction. Jenkins subsequently won the Lord Kemsley Commonwealth Journalistic Scholarship, which took him to Fleet Street, where he spent World War II as a war correspondent. While working for the Sunday Times, he became friends with author Ian Fleming, creator of the British secret agent James Bond. Fleming later praised Jenkins' writing, saying "Geoffrey Jenkins has the supreme gift of originality... A Twist of Sand is a literate, imaginative first novel in the tradition of high and original adventure". After the war Jenkins settled in Rhodesia, where he met his wife, author Eve Palmer (1916–1998). They married on 17 March 1950. They had a son named David (born c. 1953). Jenkins was briefly editor of the newspaper The Umtali Advertiser then became a reporter at The Star newspaper in Johannesburg. Writing Early novels While working for The Star, he wrote his first novel, A Twist of Sand (1959), which was subsequently translated into 23 languages and became a motion picture in 1968 starring Richard Johnson and Honor Blackman. He kept his newspaper job until he had published his third novel. Jenkins' 1966 novel Hunter-Killer was a sequel to A Twist of Sand. Hunter-Killer opens with the protagonist, Geoffrey Peace RN, faking his own death and funeral at sea, only to clamber aboard a submarine. James Bond After Ian Fleming's death, Glidrose Productions commissioned Jenkins to write a James Bond novel in 1966. Jenkins claimed that he and Fleming together developed a diamond-smuggling storyline in 1957. After a long period of negotiation, during which Ann Fleming (Ian's widow) raised several objections to the idea of a continuation novel, Jenkins finished the manuscript for Glidrose entitled Per Fine Ounce, but it was rejected. The novel is believed lost, except for 18 pages now in the hands of Jenkins' son David. Two pages have been released to the public and were exclusively published by the