Desmond Bagley was a multi-million-copy selling author of 16 adventure thrillers, all still in print. Moving to South Africa after WW2, his transition from unskilled printer’s apprentice, aircraft engineer, mine worker, nightclub photographer and radio scriptwriter to one of the world’s most respected thriller writers is legendary, described by The Times as a ‘craftsmanlike thriller novelist’. Returning to the UK in the 1960s, he lived with his wife Joan in Devon and then on Guernsey, where a blue plaque was unveiled in his honour in 2018.

‘Bagley has no equal at this sort of thing’ Sunday Mirror