Desmond Bagley
| Desmond Bagley | |
|---|---|
| Born |
29 October 1923 Kendal, Westmorland, England |
| Died | 12 April 1983 (aged 59) Southampton, England |
| Occupation | journalist and novelist |
| Language | English |
| Nationality | English |
| Genre | thriller (genre) |
| Spouse | Joan Magaret Brown |
| Website | |
| www |
|
Desmond Bagley (29 October 1923 – 12 April 1983) was a British journalist and novelist principally known for a series of best-selling 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 (then Westmorland), 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 printer's assistant and factory worker, and during World War II he worked in the aircraft industry. Bagley suffered from a speech impediment (stuttering) all of his life, which initially exempted him from military conscription.
He left England in 1947 for Africa and worked his way overland, crossing the Sahara Desert and briefly settling in Kampala, Uganda, where he contracted malaria. By 1951, he had settled in South Africa, working in the gold mining and asbestos industries in Durban, Natal, before becoming a freelance writer for local newspapers and magazines.
His first published short story appeared in the English magazine Argosy in 1957, and his first novel, The Golden Keel in 1963. In the interval, he was a film critic for The Rand Daily Mail in Johannesburg from 1958–1962. Also during this period, he met local bookstore director Joan Magaret Brown and they were married in 1960.
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