Desmond Bagley

Desmond Bagley was a British journalist and novelist principally known for a series of bestselling thrillers. Along with fellow British writers such as Hammond Innes and Alistair MacLean, Bagley established the basic conventions of the genre a tough, resourceful, but essentially ordinary hero pitted against villains determined to sow destruction and chaos in order to advance their agenda.

Bagley was born at Kendal, Cumbria , England, the son of John and Hannah Bagley. His family moved to the resort town of Blackpool in the summer of 1935, when Bagley was twelve. Leaving school not long after the relocation, Bagley worked as a printers assistant and factory worker, and during World War II he worked in the aircraft industry. Bagley suffered from a speech impediment all of his life, which initially exempted him from military conscription.

Source: Wikipedia