Cormoran Blue Strike was born on 23 November 1974, in Truro, Cornwall, England. When he was born, his mother Leda had his natal horoscope done. His star sign is Sagittarius, Scorpio rising, with the sun in the first house, meaning “independent” and “leadership.” However, Strike has nothing but contempt (“It means nothing, it’s all bollocks”) for astrology.
Named after Cormoran the Giant of St. Michael’s Mount in Cornwall, Strike has always been a large person; he was the biggest boy in his class every year, and often bigger than those in the class ahead. The surname ‘Strike’ comes from Leda’s first husband; she is suspected of only marrying him for his name (the marriage only lasted a week). Strike also mentions having heard that the name ‘Strike’ has something to do with measuring corn.
His Aunt Joan and Uncle Ted lived in St Mawes in Cornwall. He spent half his childhood there and half in London (as well as time at the “quasi-mystical commune in Norfolk”), according to the whims of his mother’s itinerant lifestyle.
Always very bright and a determined student, Strike attended Oxford University and studied for a history degree for around two years before dropping out.
Strike’s Military Career
He dropped out of Oxford at age 20 to join the British military. There, he served in the the Special Investigation Branch, Royal Military Police. While in the military, he spent time in Kosovo, Afghanistan, Angola, the Balkans (including Bosnia), Cyprus, Germany and Iraq (his first assignment. He also was involved in an investigation in Basra). He earned a life-saving medal for an incident that has not yet been revealed (It’s not the Anstis-saving incident).
During his time in the military, Strike was a boxer. He was once in the ring at Aldershot with one of the Career of Evil suspects, Donald Laing.
In The Cuckoo’s Calling, Strike gives Robin Ellacott the password to his computer, which is ‘Hatherill23′. A likely inspiration for the name is the Detective Chief Inspector George Hatherill, who influenced forming the Special Investigation Branch in the Royal Military Police in 1940. He is also known for his investigation of serial killers John Reginald Christie and John George Haigh, and also the Great Train Robbery in 1963. It’s apparent why Strike might idolize Hatherill and use his name for his computer password, along with the number ’23’ which is his date of birth, in November. In the TV series adaptation, Strike’s password is ‘Hatherill123’.
Physical Description
Strike is described as looking like a young Beethoven-turned-boxer.
In the early books, Strike is described as a 6-foot-3, 16-stone (225 pounds) giant of a man with short compact hair that is extremely curly, earning him his nickname “pubehead” at school. Half of his right leg is missing, which was blown off in Afghanistan whilst investigating a Killed In Action during his time in the SIB. He wears a prosthetic leg that often gives him discomfort, if not overwhelming pain; sometimes, when his knee is very sore, he abandons the prosthetic leg and uses crutches instead. He also uses a walking stick on occasion.
Strike is described as very hairy. “Looking down, he saw that he had done up the buttons on his shirt wrongly, and was exposing a patch of belly so hairy that it resembled black coconut matting.” – The Cuckoo’s Calling. Some of his book descriptions have included him being compared to a grizzly bear and a bison.
Personality
Although Strike can be grumpy and judgmental of others, he does have an outgoing, mischievous personality and a good sense of humour that can sometimes be described as gallows humour. Because of the frequent moves he made as a child, he developed “an advanced set of social skills” that made him know “how to fit in, to make people laugh, to render himself acceptable to almost anyone.” And, of course, his personality is driven by a strong sense of curiosity and desire to find the truth. It is also the word “justice” that rings through Strike like a divine tuning fork, and is what makes him decide to take on John Bristow’s case in The Cuckoo’s Calling.
Strike is very intelligent and also good at reading people. “There were three kinds of people he was usually good at identifying on short acquaintance: liars, addicts and the mentally ill.” (The Hallmarked Man)
Nicknames
Having quite an unusual name, it’s not surprising that Strike has gained quite a few nicknames in his life.
Family Background
Strike’s parents were rock star Jonny Rokeby and super groupie Leda Strike. As of the start of the series he has met his father only twice – when he was seven years old and Leda surprised Rokeby at a recording studio, and when he was eighteen years old and headed off to uni. Neither encounter was positive. Strike looks nothing like his father – instead, he’s a self-described “spitting image” of his mother’s brother, Ted Nancarrow.
In all, Strike has eight half-siblings from his parents’ numerous pairings:
Lucy Fantoni – The sibling he is closest with and most fond of.
Maimie Rokeby
Gabriella “Gabi” Rokeby
Daniella “Dani” Rokeby
Edward “Eddie” Rokeby – Son of Jonny Rokeby and his current wife.
Alexander “Al” Rokeby – Son of Jonny Rokeby and his current wife.
Prudence Donleavy – Like Strike, she was an illegitimate and estranged offspring of Rokeby.
Switch LaVey Bloom Whittaker – Son of Leda and Jeff Whittaker.
Lucy is the only sibling Strike grew up with, and although she often frustrates him at times, she’s described as one of the people in his life of whom he’s most fond. He prefers her company when she’s not with her husband, Greg, or three sons, Luke, Jack and Adam. She’s also a better driver when she hasn’t got her kids in the car. Although Strike is self-described as not good with children, the middle son Jack has particular affection for his uncle and Strike returns that affection; their bond becomes stronger as the series progresses.
During his mid to late teens, Strike’s mother met and married Jeff Whittaker. They moved around a lot, living in squats where Leda and Whittaker would get high on drugs and sleep on dirty mattresses on the floor. The Charles Manson album LIE: The Love and Terror Cult formed the soundtrack to Strike’s GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) year (aged 16-17), as his stepfather was obsessed with the American cult leader. Because of Whittaker’s behaviour and threats, Lucy went to live with Aunt Joan and Uncle Ted. Strike chose to stay, refusing to leave his mother alone with his stepfather. When Strike was twenty, his mother was found dead in the squat Whitechapel, having overdosed on heroin. Strike continues to believe that it is Whittaker who killed her.
Friends
Strike’s oldest and one of his best friends is Dave Polworth. They first met at St. Mawes Primary School when they were four-and-a-half years old. Two other of Strike’s dearest friends are Nick and Ilsa Herbert, a gastroenterologist and lawyer, respectively. He and Ilsa grew up together in Cornwall; Strike met Nick at school in London, and it’s because of him that Ilsa and Nick meet, at his 18th birthday party.
Graham Hardacre is a friend of Strike’s through work in the SIB. Strike is also friends with Richard Anstis, although the friendship is weighted far more on Richard’s side of things. Mentioned in The Cuckoo’s Calling is Strike’s childhood friend Charlie Bristow, who Strike knew at Blakeyfield Prep School when they were nine years old. Through the events that take place in Career of Evil, Strike becomes good mates with Eric Wardle of the Metropolitan Police. On the other side of the law enforcement divide, Strike is longtime friends with a fellow simply known as Shanker, whom he has known since they were both seventeen years old.
Love Life
Strike’s love life can be summed up by the opening paragraph of chapter 13 in The Silkworm: “Experience had taught Strike that there was a certain type of woman to whom he was unusually attractive. Their common characteristics were intelligence and the flickering intensity of badly wired lamps. They were often attractive and usually, as as his very oldest friend Dave Polworth liked to put it, ‘total fucking flakes.’ Precisely what it was about him that attracted the type, Strike had never taken the time to consider, although Polworth, a man of many pithy theories, took the view that such women (‘nervy, overbred’) were subconsciously looking for what he called ‘carthorse blood.'”
Tracey – ‘fellow SIB officer and the girl whom Lucy had hoped her brother would marry.’
Charlotte Campbell – Strike’s long-term girlfriend of 16 years, on and off.
Ciara Porter – A one-night stand in The Cuckoo’s Calling.
Nina Lascelles – Strike’s girlfriend in The Silkworm.
Elin Toft – Strike’s girlfriend in Career of Evil.
Lorelei Bevan – Strike’s girlfriend in Lethal White.
Madeline Courson-Miles – Strike’s girlfriend in The Ink Black Heart. She looks like Robin.
Belinda “Bijou” Watkins – Strike has quite an unfortunate one night stand with Bijou in The Running Grave, a decision that comes back to haunt him in The Hallmarked Man.
Tastes
Strike’s favourite beer, which he drinks quite often, is Cornwall-brewed Doom Bar. He’s also been known to down the following beers: Nicholson’s Pale Ale, Sam Smith, Spitfire, John Smith’s, Hophead, Tennent’s, London Pride, Arkell’s Wiltshire Gold, Sussex Best, and Badger. Strike was known in the army for being able to bounce back the quickest from a hard night of drinking. Strike does not, however, enjoy drinking champagne.
Strike’s favourite Scotch whisky is Arran Single Malt, although he also has been known to drink Famous Grouse and Macallan. In The Silkworm, his friends Nick and Ilsa give him a bottle of Arran for his birthday. Strike prefers his tea sweet and the colour of creosote, not unlike his creator Robert Galbraith. He drinks his coffee black with two sugars, and he has a double espresso on occasion.
Some food that Strike is known to eat includes fish and chips (with ketchup), pie and mash, steak and chips, fillet of beef, Yorkshire pudding, Singapore noodles, puntarelle with anchovies, pork, ham and cheese panini, Madras curry with naan, sticky toffee pudding, apple crumble, strawberry and apple crumble, bacon roll, Club biscuits, salt and vinegar crisps, full English breakfast, a burger with blue cheese on it, cold roast beef, boiled potatoes, croissants, mozzarella and salami roll, chicken jalfrezi, and a steak and cheese sandwich from Subway. He’s particularly fond of chocolate and sweets and is known to carry a Twix in his pocket (which he offers to Robin in the hospital in Career of Evil). J.K. Rowling mentioned in a tweet that Strike’s favourite cake is fruit cake, like Robert Galbraith’s (J.K. Rowling’s favourite cake, however, is lemon drizzle cake).
| Strike’s Food (TBA) | |
| Strike’s Booze (TBA) | |
| Sharp’s Brewery |
For much of the series, Strike smokes like a chimney, and the one brand of cigarettes he’s said to smoke is Benson & Hedges Gold. In The Ink Black Heart, Strike starts thinking seriously about stopping – as well as dieting and losing weight.
Football
Strike supports the football team Arsenal. He adopted this from his Uncle Ted, who is also a fan. He considers Arsenal one of only two things he can say he is a “fan” of – the other being the musician Tom Waits. In The Hallmarked Man it is mentioned that he has a chipped Arsenal mug. When his favourite pub near the office, The Tottenham, changed it’s name to The Flying Horse he was pleased about it.
Books, Films & Music
Strike’s favourite book is the works of the Roman poet Catullus, which he quotes twice in The Silkworm. He also is known to read James Ellroy’s crime fiction. He seems to read the newspaper at every opportunity. Also, as Robin describes it, Strike has an “odd, occasional habit of quoting Latin,” even though he did not study Latin at university.
One of his favourite films is The Godfather Part II. In Lethal White, an exhausted Strike muses that “like the character of Hyman Roth in one of his favourite films, he had chosen this business freely. If, like the Mafia, private detection made demands beyond the ordinary, certain concomitants had to be accepted along with the rewards” (chapter 45).
As for music, Strike is known to listen to Tom Waits and Elbow – two musical acts that apparently were not among those that reminded Strike of his years with Charlotte. In fact, Tom Waits is his all-time favourite musician. He also, without much say in the matter, grew up listening to his mother’s favourite band Blue Öyster Cult. During his GCSE year, Strike was also listening to Charles Manson’s music, since his step-father at the time, Jeff Whittaker, was obsessed with the cult leader.
Strike and Cars
We learn in The Silkworm that Strike has a prejudice against women drivers. Part of this is the trauma that came from the Viking explosion in Afghanistan. Robin is the only person he feels comfortable driving him, and he even managed to fall asleep on the occasional roadtrip with her. Both Strike and Robin are fond of her old Land Rover.
When Strike has to drive himself, he prefers an automatic, since it’s a lot easier on his leg.
In Lethal White and onwards, Strike drives a 13-year-old blue automatic BMW 3 series. He can’t afford a specially adapted automobile.
TV Adaptation
In the TV series adaptation, Strike (or C.B. Strike), Cormoran Strike is portrayed by actor Tom Burke. You can watch our exclusive interviews with Tom here.
