Rainbow Quiz - Identify the personality - Week 30

Here is the next weekly "Rainbow" quiz , where I would be giving 7 clues (Hence the name Rainbow) about a personality. Try to discover the person in the least number of clues . You can either leave the answer as a comment / email me . Feedback/ suggestions welcome. Googling is not preferred but then its just for fun and so go ahead if you need to.

I love X's first book , one of the best thrillers that I have ever read.

clue # 1 : X was born in Kent (UK).At the age of 19, he became one of the youngest pilots ever in the Royal Air Force, where he served until the late 1950's.

clue # 2 : He then became a reporter, and spent three and a half years working at a small newspaper before joining Reuters . He later joined the BBC and was an assistant diplomatic correspondent there.

clue # 3 : In early 1970's,"X" decided to write a novel using similar research techniques to those used in journalism. His first full length novel, was published in 1971 and became an international bestseller. It was later made into a movie with the same name. It also earned him the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel.

clue # 4 : Since then, he has written several thrillers with his most recent work being published in 2006.

clue # 5 : Similar to his plots, he tried a coup in real life as well by giving money to mercenaries in an aborted attempt to topple the leader of Equatorial Guinea (in the 70's).

clue # 6 : He is an occasional radio broadcaster on political issues, and has also written for newspapers throughout his career.

clue # 7 : "X" Writes all his best-selling novels the old-fashioned way - on a typewriter. He also confesses that he doesn't use the internet very much because he "doesn't trust it".

Who is X?