Line #5 Creator/MichaelDobbs


1	Michael John Dobbs, Baron Dobbs of Wylye (born 14 November 1948) is a British author and politician. He is best known for his first novel, ''House of Cards'', which was adapted into [[Series/HouseOfCardsUK a popular (and very timely) TV series]], which was later remade into [[Series/HouseOfCardsUS an even more popular TV series with an American setting]]. As a politician, Dobbs worked closely with two Prime Ministers — UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher [[note]] as an advisor, speechwriter and eventually the Conservative Party's Chief of Staff from 1986 to 1987; he began writing his first novel after Thatcher dismissed him [[/note]] and UsefulNotes/JohnMajor [[note]] as the Conservative Party's Deputy Chairman from 1994 to 1995 [[/note]] — and was memorably described by ''The Guardian'' as "Westminster's baby-faced hit man". He was [[UsefulNotes/KnightFever ennobled]] in 2010.
2
3	!!Works by Michael Dobbs
4	* The Francis Urquhart trilogy, a.k.a. the ''House of Cards'' trilogy
5	** ''House of Cards'' (1989) -- made into [[Series/HouseOfCardsUK a TV miniseries]] in 1990
6	** ''To Play the King'' (1992) -- made into a TV miniseries in 1993
7	** ''The Final Cut'' (1994) -- made into a TV miniseries in 1995
8	* The Tom Goodfellowe trilogy
9	** ''Goodfellowe MP'' (1997)
10	** ''The Buddha of Brewer Street'' (1997)
11	** ''Whispers of Betrayal'' (2000)
12	* The Winston Churchill novels
13	** ''Winston's War'' (2002)
14	** ''Never Surrender'' (2003)
15	** ''Churchill's Hour'' (2004)
16	** ''Churchill's Triumph'' (2005)
17	* The Harry Jones novels
18	** ''The Lords' Day'' (2007)
19	** ''The Edge of Madness'' (2008)
20	** ''The Reluctant Hero'' (2010)
21	** ''Old Enemies'' (2011)
22	** ''A Sentimental Traitor'' (2012)
23	** ''A Ghost at the Door'' (2013)
24	* Standalone novels
25	** ''Wall Games'' (1990)
26	** ''Last Man to Die'' (1991)
27	** ''The Touch of Innocents'' (1994)
28	** ''First Lady'' (2006)
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30	!!You might find the following tropes in his books; I couldn't possibly comment
31	* AmericaSavesTheDay: Attempted in ''The Lords' Day'' in which the President orders Delta Force to go to London to help with the siege, despite being told that their presence is not necessary. The British Army is having none of it, although [[spoiler: thanks to some subterfuge, the Americans get as far as Hyde Park before they are stopped. In the event, it's the SAS who storm the House of Lords to end the siege.]]
32	* ArtisticLicenceHistory: Thoroughly averted for the Churchill series which, while using some fictional characters, was praised for its historical accuracy.
33	* TheBardOnBoard: The Urquhart novels draw heavily on ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'' and ''Theatre/RichardIII''.
34	* {{Bookends}}: ''Last Man to Die'' begins and ends in the (then) present day; the action takes place during the final weeks of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. Linking them is William Cazalett, an old man who was Churchill's secretary DuringTheWar.
35	* EveryoneKnowsMorse: Subverted in ''The Lords' Day''. Archie Wakefield, an elderly peer who is one of the hostages, is seen to be tapping his head in a meaningful manner. However, it takes Harry Jones a while to figure out that he's trying to communicate in Morse code. And then Harry, who doesn't know Morse, has to find someone who does in order to figure out what Archie is trying to say.
36	* FallOfTheHouseOfCards: Done in the prologue of ''House of Cards'' as an act of {{Foreshadowing}}. A bored policeman passes the time by building a house of cards, and comes very close to succeeding before the whole thing collapses.
37	* HeroicSacrifice: At the climax of ''The Lords' Day'', [[spoiler: Archie Wakefield throws himself on the suicide bomber who's been standing next to the Queen, triggering the bomb and absorbing much of the blast with his own body. At the same time, Celia Blessing shoves the Queen out of the way, saving her life at the expense of her own. Their eliminating of the threat posed to the Queen enables the SAS to do their thing and end the siege. Archie and Celia are hailed as heroes and buried side by side in Westminster Abbey.]]
38	* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Several.
39	** The most obvious is UsefulNotes/WinstonChurchill who is the protagonist of a series of four novels about his wartime premiership; he had previously appeared as a supporting character in ''Last Man to Die''.
40	** Also appearing in ''Last Man to Die'' are UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler, Eva Braun, Joseph Goebbels and Martin Bormann.
41	** The 14th Dalai Lama briefly appears at the start of ''The Buddha of Brewer Street''; his death, preceded by a somewhat cryptic prophecy about where his successor will be found, drives the main plot.
42	** Despite having been killed off prior to the events of ''To Play the King'', [[UsefulNotes/ElizabethII Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II]] is a character in ''The Lords' Day'', as is UsefulNotes/CharlesIII (who, unlike in ''To Play the King'', is still the Prince of Wales).
43	* INeedAFreakingDrink: Quite a few characters have good reason to hit the bottle.
44	* LadyMacbeth: Virginia Edge becomes this in ''First Lady'', in which she finds out about her politician husband's infidelity and becomes driven to make him the Prime Minister.
45	* TheManBehindTheMan: Used a few times.
46	** Much of the plot of ''Last Man to Die'' concerns Peter Hencke's attempt to escape captivity in Britain and return to Germany even as the Third Reich crumbles in the dying days of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. [[spoiler: It is revealed in the final third of the novel that Hencke is actually an assassin sent by Winston Churchill to ensure that Adolf Hitler does not get out of Berlin alive; in something of a BatmanGambit, the plan works on the assumption that the Nazis will ''actually help Hencke get to Berlin'' as a propaganda stunt, which is what happens.]]
47	** In ''The Lords' Day'', Harry Jones figures out that the terrorists, who are in it for revenge rather than Islamic fundamentalism, were put up to the job by [[spoiler: a former KGB spy who now lives in London]]. However, there is in fact [[spoiler: a man ''behind this man'', who at the end is revealed to be Robert T. Paine, the American Ambassador who wants revenge for the death of his only son in Afghanistan.]]
48	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Loads.
49	** A couple of his fictional Prime Ministers, Jonathan Bendall in ''Whispers of Betrayal'' and John Eaton in ''The Lords' Day'', are heavily modelled on UsefulNotes/TonyBlair.
50	** The King in ''To Play the King'' is to all intents and purposes an unnamed UsefulNotes/CharlesIII who succeeds to the throne three decades earlier than he did in RealLife.
51	** The Leaders of the Opposition in the Urquhart trilogy are heavily modelled on their RealLife equivalents at the time of each of the novels' publication -- Neil Kinnock for ''House of Cards'', John Smith for ''To Play the King'' and Tony Blair for ''The Final Cut''.
52	** Thomas Makepeace in ''The Final Cut'' is modelled on Michael Heseltine, a prominent figure in the Thatcher and Major governments who fell out with the former (resigning from the Cabinet in 1986 and challenging her for the leadership in 1990) and served under the latter (eventually as Deputy PM).
53	** Being an overweight, left-of-centre politician from a working-class background (in particular, his having been a sailor in the Merchant Navy) whose career has been blighted by a sex scandal, Archie Wakefield in ''The Lords's Day'' is basically an older John Prescott (who served as Deputy PM in the Blair government).
54	* NoPartyGiven: It is never stated which political party Tom Goodfellowe and Harry Jones belong to; both are backbench [=MPs=] (and former ministers) who belong to the party that happens to be in power.
55	* OddCouple: Archie Wakefield and Celia Blessing, two elderly politicians from opposing parties who have a long history of disagreeing with each other, and who happen to be sitting next to each other at the State Opening of Parliament when the terrorists take everyone hostage. Refusing to leave when given the chance, they [[spoiler: put aside their differences and come up with a plan to dispose of the suicide bomber standing next to the Queen. They succeed, but are [[HeroicSacrifice both killed in the process]]. The epilogue reveals that they are buried side by side In Westminster Abbey.]]
56	* OurPresidentsAreDifferent: ''The Lords' Day'' gives us an interesting example — the American President is a woman who, although fictional, is descended from a RealLife President.
57	** Also the case with every British Prime Minister, with the (right) honourable exception of UsefulNotes/WinstonChurchill who is a supporting character in ''Last Man to Die'' and the protagonist of the four novels in the Winston Churchill series.
58	* OutWithABang: ''First Lady'' begins with the Leader of the Opposition dying of a heart attack while having sex with his mistress. In ''The Lords' Day'', it is mentioned in passing that the protagonist Harry Jones's father died in the same manner.
59	* ParentsAsPeople: In ''The Lords' Day'', the American President and the British Prime Minister are both put through the emotional wringer by the fact that their sons (both of whom are only children) are not only among the hostages, but singled out as the first ones the terrorists will execute. [[spoiler: This impairs their political judgement in several ways; the epilogue states that the Prime Minister, who was also a hostage himself, resigned shortly after the siege, although the President went on to get re-elected.]]
60	* PersonAsVerb: Tricia Wilcox, the Home Secretary who finds herself in charge in ''The Lords' Day'', is accused of "doing a [[UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher Maggie]]" when she tries to throw her weight around.
61	* {{Retcon}}: In 2013, ''House of Cards'' was republished to coincide with the release of the [[Series/HouseOfCardsUS American TV adaptation]] on Creator/{{Netflix}}. For this, Dobbs rewrote parts of the novel to bring it into line with [[Series/HouseOfCardsUK the original British TV adaptation]]. Most notably, the original ending, in which Urquhart [[spoiler: commits suicide when Mattie confronts him with evidence of his crimes]] is replaced by the ending from the TV series, in which Urquhart [[spoiler: murders Mattie]]. Also, the name of the newspaper that Mattie works for is changed from the (RealLife) ''Daily Telegraph'' to the (fictional) ''Chronicle''.
62	* ShoutOutToShakespeare: In ''The Final Cut'', Urquhart and the Cabinet go to see a production of ''Theatre/JuliusCaesar''. The director, who hates Urquhart, goes out of his way to ensure that the actor who plays Caesar is heavily made-up to resemble Urquhart. For his part, F.U. recognises this and goes out of ''his'' way to indicate that he finds this to be ActuallyPrettyFunny, to the director's annoyance.

Context Creator / MichaelDobbs