Alistair Maclean

At 64 years old, Alistair Maclean has this physical status:

Alistair MacLean (Scottish Gaelic: Alasdair MacGill-Eain, 1922-2004) was a Scottish novelist who wrote popular thrillers and adventure stories.

The Guns of Navarone, Ice Station Zebra, and Where Eagles Dare are among his film adaptations.

He wrote two books under the pseudonym Ian Stuart.

His books have been estimated to have sold more than 150 million copies, making him one of the top-selling fiction writers of all time.

Early life

Alistair Stuart Maclean was born in Shettleston, Glasgow, the third of four sons of a Church of Scotland minister, but he spent a significant portion of his childhood and youth in Daviot, ten miles (16 km) south of Inverness. He spoke in Gaelic.

He was called up to fight in the Second World War with the Royal Navy in 1941, at the age of 19, and as Chief Toro Operator. He was first assigned to PS Bournemouth Queen, a converted excursion ship fitted for anti-aircraft guns, and was on duty off the coasts of England and Scotland. He appeared on HMS Royalist, a Dido-class light cruiser, beginning in 1943. He saw action in 1943 in the Atlantic theatre, on two Arctic convoys and escorting aircraft carrier groups, among other Norwegian coast targets. He was involved in Convoy PQ 17 on Royalists. In 1944, he and Royalist appeared in the Mediterranean theatre as part of southern France's uninhibited siegean, including the demise of blockade runners off the coast of Crete and bombardment Milos in the Aegean. MacLean may have been wounded in a gunnery related shooting at this time. MacLean and Royalist saw action escalated carrier groups in Burma, Malaya, and Sumatra in 1945. (MacLean's late-in-life claims that he was captured by the Japanese after blowing up bridges and tortured by his teeth being pulled out have been dismissed by both his son and his biographer as inebriated ravings). The Royalist helped liberate prisoners from Changi Prison in Singapore after the Japanese surrender.

In 1946, MacLean was released from the Royal Navy. He then studied English at the University of Glasgow, served at the Post Office, and as a street sweeper. While attending the university, he lived with his mother at 26 Carrington Street in St Georges Cross, Glasgow. He earned his MA (Hons.) I spent time as a hospital porter in 1950 and then worked as a schoolteacher at Gallowflat School (now Stonelaw High School) in Rutherglen.

Personal life

Gisela, Lachlan, Michael, and Alistair married twice and had three sons (one adopted) by his first wife, Gisela. He married for the second time in 1972; the affair ended in divorce in 1977. Shona MacLean, the niece of S.G. Maclean, is a writer and historical novelist.

In 1983, MacLean was granted a Doctor of Letters by the University of Glasgow.

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Early Writing career

Although MacLean, a university student, began writing short stories for extra money after winning a competition in 1954 with the maritime story "Dileas." He sold articles to The Daily Mirror and The Evening News. Ian Chapman, editor of Collins, had been particularly moved by "Dileas" and the Chapmans' invitation to speak with MacLean, who suggested that he write a book. MacLean returned three months later with HMS Ulysses, based on his own war experiences as well as credit from his brother Ian, a master mariner.

MacLean later outlined his writing process.

MacLean was paid in a substantial amount of $50,000, which made the news. In the first six months of publication, Collins was rewarded after the book sold a quarter of a million copies in hardback in England. Millions of people were sold as a result. Film rights were sold to Robert Clark of Associated British for £30,000, but no film was ever produced. MacLean was able to devote himself to writing full time thanks to this funding.

The Guns of Navarone (1957), his fourth book, was about an assault on Navarone's fictitious island (based on Milos). In the first six months, the book was very popular, with over 400,000 copies sold. "I'm not a writer," MacLean said in 1957. I'd never write another word unless someone offered me £100,000 in lieu of a gift.

MacLean was dissatisfied with the tax he paid for his first two books, so he moved to Lake Lucerne, Switzerland, where he would pay less tax. He set out to write one novel a year ago. "It's all the market can abide," he said, adding that it took him three months to write it.

MacLean continued the war with South by Java Head (1958), based on his observations in the seas off the coasts of southeast Asia during World War II, and The Last Frontier (1959), a drama about the 1956 Hungarian Uprising. Java Head film rights were sold, but no movie was made.

Night Without End (1959), and Fear Is the Key (1961). The Last Frontier was turned into a film, The Secret Ways (1961), which was not very popular, but the film version of The Guns of Navarone (1961) was highly successful.

MacLean published two books under the pseudonym "Ian Stuart" in the early 1960s in order to show that his books' success was based on their content rather than his name on the front. These were The Dark Crusader (1961) and The Satan Bug (1962). It was also because "I usually write adventure stories." However, this is a kind of Secret Service or private eye book. I didn't want to offend my readers," the author said.

The Ian Stuart books were well-received, and MacLean did not attempt to alter his writing style. He also published books under his own name, such as The Golden Rendezvous (1962) and Ice Station Zebra (1963).

He once said, "I'm not a novelist." "That's too pretentious a stance." I'm a storyteller, that's all. I'm both a designer and a craftsman. "I will make that claim for myself." MacLean also claimed he wrote quickly (35 days for a novel) because he disliked writing and that the "sooner he did the better." He never read a book after it was finished. His books were noted for their lack of sex. "I like girls," he said. "I just don't write them well." Everyone knows that men and women make love, laddie, so there is no need to brag it."

MacLean, a writer from 1963, resigned from writing, claiming he never loved it and only did it to make money. He decided to become a hotelier and bought the Jamaica Inn on Bodmin Moor, and later bought two more hotels, the Bank House near Worcester and the Bean Bridge in Somerset.

MacLean spent three years in hotel management. It was not a success, and by 1976, he had sold all three hotels. The Satan Bug (1965) was made during this period.

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