The Bookseller.com

1st December 2008

Rushdie libel in front of High Court

26.08.08 Victoria Gallagher

Sir Salman Rushdie will be at the High Court this morning for the settlement of a libel action he brought over claims made in a John Blake book written by a former policeman.

The Times reports that this morning's settlement will include an admission from Blake that some of the allegations contained in the original version of the book, On Her Majesty's Secret Service by Ron Evans, carried were untrue. The newspaper claims Sir Salman is not seeking any damages.

The Bookseller reported on Friday that Blake intends to publish the book in "a couple of weeks" after making revisions to the text, and issuing what he described as a "grovelling apology" to author Salman Rushdie.

The author of The Satanic Verses had threatened to sue the publisher if the book was published after reading extracts in the Daily Mail that he objected to. The book was originally due to be published on 4th August, but Blake gave Rushdie one week to read a copy of the book and make his concerns known to the publisher. "When he reads the whole thing . . . he'll probably have a chuckle," said Blake at the time.

But Blake is now re-printing the book with a number of revisions after the author admitted there were falsehoods in the manuscript. Blake told The Bookseller: "We've come to an agreement with the lawyers. We had to make a really groveling apology and had to cut some parts out."

The Times

John Blake Salman Rushdie Victoria Gallagher

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