Alistair Stuart MacLean was a Scottish novelist who wrote popular thrillers and adventure stories. He was born in Glasgow but spent much of his childhood and youth in Daviot, ten miles south of Inverness. While a university student, MacLean began writing short stories for extra income, winning a competition in 1954 with the maritime story "Dileas". The publishing company Collins asked him for a... Read More
Scottish novelist Alistair MacLean never planned to become a writer. After serving in the British Royal Navy during World War II, MacLean attended Glasgow University, where he received a degree in English literature. After working briefly as a hospital porter, MacLean secured a job teaching at a secondary school just outside of Glasgow. When he entered his short story "The Dileas" in a competit... Read More
MacLean was born on 28 April 1922 in Shettleston, Glasgow. His family spoke Gaelic, and MacLean did not learn English until he was seven. Maclean's father and oldest brother both died while MacLean was still at school, shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War. In 1941 the 18-year-old MacLean joined the Royal Navy, where he served on the Arctic convoys. Night Without End was first pub... Read More
Alistair Stuart MacLean was a Scottish novelist who wrote successful thrillers or adventure stories, the best known of which are perhaps The Guns of Navarone and Where Eagles Dare, both having been made into successful films. He also wrote under the pseudonym Ian Stuart. While a university student, MacLean began writing short stories for extra income, winning a competition in 1954 with the mari... Read More
Alistair Stuart MacLean was a Scottish novelist. He joined the Royal Navy in 1941, serving in World War II with the ranks of Ordinary Seaman, Able Seaman, and Leading Torpedo Operator. MacLean effectively translated his own experiences as a torpedo man on a convoy escort into the plot of H.M.S. Ulysses, which takes place on a British destroyer. HMS Ulysses was Alistair MacLean's debut novel. Wh... Read More
Alistair Stuart MacLean was a Scottish novelist who wrote popular thrillers and adventure stories. He was born in Glasgow but spent much of his childhood and youth in Daviot, ten miles south of Inverness. While his books might have an old-fashioned flavour MacLean was an author ahead of his time in one major way. When he recycled those components of his stories that resonated most with his read... Read More
Alistair Stuart MacLean, the son of a Scots Minister, was brought up in the Scottish Highlands. In 1941, at the age of eighteen, he joined the Royal Navy; two and a half years spent aboard a cruiser were to give him the background for HMS Ulysses, his first novel, the outstanding documentary novel on the war at sea. He was responsible for firing torpedoes during World War II and offered his ser... Read More