The very popular American thriller author Tom Clancy has died aged 66. Born in Baltimore, where spent his life. After graduating in 1969 and before embarking on a literary career he ran an independent insurance agency. His first novel, The Hunt for the Red October, was published in 1984 and set a new genre of detailed military science and espionage storylines. A prolific writer, he was only one of three authors to have sold 2,000,000 copies of a title on first printing in the 1990’s and that was for his fifth novel, titled Clear and Present Danger. Some of his novels were adapted to film. He was also the co-founder of the video game developer Red Storm Entertainment; over fifty video games were released based on his novels and characters.