Peter George (author)

Peter Bryan George (26 March 1924 – 1 June 1966) was a British author, most famous for the 1958 Cold War thriller novel Red Alert, published initially with the title Two Hours To Doom with the pseudonym Peter Bryant. The book was the inspiration for Stanley Kubrick's classic movie Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.

George was born during 1924 in Treorchy, Rhondda, Wales, and died in Hastings, East Sussex, England. He was a flight lieutenant and navigator for the Royal Air Force during World War II serving with No. 255 Squadron RAF, flying night fighter missions over Malta and Italy. He rejoined the RAF serving at RAF Neatishead and as a fighter controller where he often wrote on duty and used a pseudonym. He retired from the service during 1961.

On 1 June 1966, Peter George was found dead with a discharged double-barreled shotgun between his knees; his death was ruled a suicide.

His best-known novel, Red Alert was written while he was a serving RAF officer (hence the original use of a pseudonym: Peter Bryant – the Bryan being from his middle name). Drawn from personal experience, Red Alert was the inspiration for Stanley Kubrick's classic movie Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.

Interest in nuclear weapon themes, sparked by Stanley Kramer's movie version of the novel On the Beach during 1959, caused the movie rights to Red Alert to be sold that year, only to be transferred until Stanley Kubrick bought them during 1962, reportedly for as little as $3,500.

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