Worked in a tin mine, on a rubber plantation, as a gold prospector, as a bartender and as a professional bridge player before writing. The first Saint book, written when he was 20 years old, was his third book and the only one of his first five novels to feature the Saint. Wrote nearly a hundred Saint adventures in total, wrote the scripts for thirteen years of globally syndicated Saint comic strips, successful Hollywood scriptwriter and script medic. Spent much of his life travelling but settled for long periods in Hollywood, Florida and finally in Surrey, England, UK