Alistair MacLean was born, Alistair George Gilach MacLean, in Glasgow, Strathclyde Lanarkshire, in 1922.

He was the son of a Scots Minister, and was brought up in the Scottish Highlands. He spent his early years in Daviot near Inverness. Educated at Hillhead High School Glasgow, he worked in a shipping office before joining the Royal Navy at the outbreak of the Second World War.

In 1941, at the age of 18, he joined the Royal Navy, serving from 1941 to 1946. He served aboard a cruiser as a torpedo man, escorting Russian convoys in the Aegean and the Far East . His experiences in the navy provided the background for his early novels.

After World War II MacLean attended Glasgow University, where he earned an Honors Degree in English, graduating in 1947.

After graduation, MacLean worked as a schoolteacher at Gallowflat School, Rutherglen, teaching English. While teaching he published several short stories, some of which were published in Blackwood's magazine. In 1954, at the age of 32,he entered a story titled "The Dileas" in a short story competition sponsored by the Glasgow Herald. The story won the competition and MacLean received a prize of £100.

Herald publisher William Collins and Editor Ian Chapman, were so impressed by the story they asked MacLean to attempt a novel. The result was HMS Ulysses (1955), written in ten weeks. The story line drew from MacLean's wartime experiences. It was a massive bestseller. The novel became one of the most successful British novels of all time, selling 250,000 hardback copies within six months.

This success was the first of many. Eighteen of his books topped a million in sales. He followed with Guns of Navarone (1957), and South by Java Head, both of which later became films, and MacLean's reputation was established.

MacLean's relationship with publisher Collins was not always an easy one. To prove that it was not his name alone that was selling his books, MacLean wrote the book Dark Crusader in 1960, under the pseudonym of Ian Stuart, followed by Satan Bug in 1961, which became a successful film. In the mid 1960s Elliot Kastner, a film producer/director, persuaded MacLean to turn his hand to screenplays and this resulted in Where eagles dare, which had great success as a film.

In all, MacLean produced fourteen screenplays, including Breakheart Pass and Hostage Tower, some of which were subsequently turned into novels.Throughout his career he produced twenty seven books, mainly adventure stories, but he also wrote a biography of Captain Cook in 1972. In 1983 he was awarded a Doctorate of Literature from Glasgow University.

In his later years his personal life became difficult, and his addiction to alcohol undermined his health.Alistair MacLean died on February 2nd, 1987 in Munich Germany, and was buried in Celigny Switzerland.

1. HMS Ulysses
2. Ice Station Zebra
3. Santorini
4. The Last Frontier
5. Athabasca
6. Seawitch
7. The Lonely Sea
8. Bear Island
9. Fear is the Key
10. Night Without End
11. South By Java Head
12. The Satan Bug
13. Breakheart Pass
14. Floodgate
15. Partisans
16. The Black Shrike
17. Force 10 From Naverone
18. Puppet on a Chain
19. The Way to Dusty Death
20. Caravan to Vaccares
21. Goodbye California
22. The Golden Gate
23. Circus
24. River of Death
25. The Golden Rendezvous
26. When Eight Bells Toll
27. The Guns of Naverone
28. Where Eagles Dare
29. Captian Cook

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