Desmond Bagley was born in England on the 29th October 1923 at Kendal in Cumbria, then known as Westmoreland, of John and Hannah Bagley. The gap between him and his older brother Jack was ten years, effectively putting him in a separate generation. His father was a Lancashire coal miner, gentle and a lover of good music; a marked contrast with his mother who was stern and strong-willed, slow to sympathise. It was in this mix of parental temperaments that the author's life-long speech impediment began to develop. Exactly why or when he started stammering is not recorded.

He spent his early years in the town, educated in strict schools where any natural curiosity was routinely stifled. At this time most seats of learning relied heavily on corporal punishment to enforce their often blinkered views, but the young man was strong enough to maintain his free spirit throughout. Only one teacher was remembered with any fondness later on, because he'd had that precious ability of being able kindle the flame of interest in an eager mind. The subject was mathematics, one the author was to enjoy and excel at subsequently.

At about the age of eleven the author's father was retired prematurely from the mines due to ill-health, and the family moved to Blackpool to run a theatrical boarding house. By the trick of moving across county boundaries Bagley found himself with an unusually long summer vacation - the first six weeks from Cumbria, and after the move, a handsome extension courtesy of Lancashire who had a much later term start date.. During this 'Glorious Summer', as the author later described it, the young man found great enjoyment reading away the days on Blackpool's famous beach, having first become aquainted with the town's much larger public library!

Leaving school with no formal qualifications the author started work as a Printer's Devil (an apprentice or errand boy) at the age of 14. He didn't much like the work though and tried his hand at several other occupations. Just before World War II he was working servicing the vending-machines and one-arm bandits along Blackpool's 'Golden Mile' and 'Pleasure Beach'. When hostilities finally broke out the factory was turned over to making machine-gun turrets and parts for Spitfires. Having been initially passed over for military service due to his stammer (perhaps on the grounds that a man who couldn't give orders clearly, was thought not to be able to understand them either) the author became foreman and in a job that could not spare him when the rules for conscription were later modified to drag in more men.

At home family tensions were steadily increasing throughout this period. Bagley's mother was never happy with her son's (from her viewpoint) idleness, and when his brother's newly born child was found to be autistic, the sister-in-law blamed the Bagley genes for the disability, and in particular her anger was vented very hurtfully towards the young man with his stammer.

Life together, all under one roof became intolerable and at the end of the war Desmond Bagley, then 22, decided to emigrate to South Africa. Unlike the majority who made the exodus he chose to travel overland, and when he left England it was snowing heavily. It must have been an awesome contrast to find himself, not long after, crossing the inferno of the Sahara Desert - unlike anything he could've encountered before. By 1947 he'd passed through Kampala and Uganda but in the climates of these countries, where the mosquito rules, he contracted Malaria. For his health he moved along pretty smartly and arrived in Kenya in 1948 and Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in 1949. Finally he arrived at his destination of South Africa by 1950-1.

Throughout the journey he worked his passage but never settled in one job for long, and often felt his speech impediment lost him opportunities along the way, preventing him from being directly employed by any one company. Luckily his freelance work was always very successful. At one point he had tried to alleviate the impediment by attending a residential course designed specifically for the purpose and funded by his then employer - a local hospital. Unfortunately they could do nothing much for him but later, after a move back to Durban, a friend who was a hypnotist taught Bagley techniques for self-relaxation, and these were useful in helping ease the problem and gaining confidence.

In this part of the world gold and asbestos mines figured large in the economies and the author worked for a time in both industries. A landmark perhaps was that while in Natal Bagley became interested in journalism, adding another string to his already ample bow. As well as writing he also fitted in working as a nightclub photographer. Once in Durban (1950-51) he wrote a series of radio scripts about various science subjects for the South African Broadcasting Corporation. After his final move on to Johannesburg he worked as a freelance reporter for several of the well-known newspapers - the Sunday Times, the Star and the Rand Daily Mail. During this time he was also popular as a reviewer of books, films, theatre, records and concerts and often wrote for trade journals. Between 1956 and 1962 his work included feature articles with a mainly technological slant.

It was in 1957 that he wrote his first short story to be published in the UK. Called "My Old Man's Trumpet" it was published in the Argosy magazine for January. At this time he was giving his occupation as an engineer.

In 1962 he wrote the first of his best-selling blockbuster novels - The Golden Keel - perhaps not the first he had tried but the first to be published. He'd taken a long time planning it and his other work had been shelved to accommodate the efforts.

The rest, as they say, is history.

In 1965, after a short and abortive sojourn to Italy, he moved back to England and lived in Totnes, Devon until 1976; after which he moved on to Guernsey in the Channel Islands, a splendid place and one the author obviously loved. He wrote an affectionate article about his life there called 'A Little Peace Of Britain' published in a 1980 edition of 'In Britain' magazine.

His recreational activities were many and varied and he listed them as variously: sailing, travelling, reading, mathematics, computer programming, and military history. In Africa he kept a dog and on Guernsey a Siamese cat.

Desmond Bagley died on the 12th April 1983 in Southampton hospital, eight days after having a stroke.

Such a sudden and early end to this active and prolific author's life seems a very unfair blow - not just for his family and friends but a whole world of loyal readers built up over two decades of thrilling writing. Few people who start out with such hindrances make such a mark on the world.