Macdonald Hastings

Douglas Edward Macdonald "Mac" Hastings (1909 – 4 October 1982) was a British journalist, author and war correspondent, known as Macdonald Hastings.

Hastings was sent to Stonyhurst, a Jesuit boarding school, at age seven. (His grandfather and his father also attended Stonyhurst.) At one point he contracted pneumonia, but his troubles went greatly unnoticed. The school matron reportedly waved him off and ignored the issue while a priest gave him the last rites. He had some positive experiences, such as uncovering a natural faculty for public oration. Mac's father was a journalist and a playwright.

Hastings's father, Basil Macdonald Hastings (20 September 1881 – 21 February 1928), died at age 46, leaving young "Mac" and his mother essentially poor. He returned home from boarding school, no longer able to pay his tuition, and despite offers from family friends who wished to help him complete his schooling, Hastings refused and went in search of work to support himself and his mother. He worked briefly as a clerk at Scotland Yard, but disliked the position. After several months, he moved on to J. Lyons, a catering company where he worked in the publicity department and remained for the next nine years.

While working at Lyons, Hastings began to branch out, writing journalistic pieces and freelancing them to various news corporations, including the BBC. After nine years at Lyons, he left to pursue freelance journalism. Aged 26, he briefly wed a woman twice his age. Despite the brevity of the marriage, he was required to pay his ex-wife “maintenance” for nearly the rest of his life.

His career took off in 1939 when he was hired by Picture Post, a magazine known for on location reporting and live-action photography. During World War II, he was a reporter for the magazine, embedded in torpedo boats to Channel convoys. He notably covered Operation Overlord, earning a reputation simultaneously for courage and for rashness.

From 1945-50, Hastings edited The Strand Magazine from 1945 until its closing in 1950, when he became a freelance journalist again. Over the next ten years or so, he wrote many articles, ten novels, and broadcast with the BBC. In 1951, he served as "Special Investigator" for the Eagle. Reportedly making around 5,000 pounds a year by 1952, Hastings was doing very well for himself and his family.

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