Author Leon Garfield was born in Brighton, England on July 14, 1921. When World War II began, he stopped studying art and joined the British Army Medical Corps. While posted in Belgium, he met Vivien Alcock, who would later become his wife as well as a popular children's author. After the war, he worked as a biochemical laboratory technician until the 1960's when he became a full-time writer.
He wrote more than thirty books for both children and adults and scripted Shakespeare: The Animated Tales for television. His second book, Devil-in-the-Fog won the first ever Guardian Award and was made into a television series. He also won the Carnegie Medal for The God Beneath the Sea, the Whitbread Award for John Diamond, and the Phoenix Award for Smith. His novel Black Jack was made into a full-length feature film and was the joint winner of the International Jury Award at the 1979 Cannes Film Festival. He died in London on June 2, 1996.
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