Leslie Charteris

Leslie Charteris was born Leslie Charles Bowyer-Yin in Singapore in 1907. After a time working in such exotic professions as gold prospector and pearl fisherman, he turned to writing. He changed his name to Leslie Charteris in 1926, and the first 'Saint' adventure, Meet - The Tiger!, was published in 1928. He went on to write another 50 books in English starring The Saint (some of which were collaborations with other writers), and a further 40 in French, before his death in 1993. Many adaptations were made of these books for film, TV and radio, and The Saint has been played by various actors including George Sanders, Val Kilmer, Ian Ogilvy, Roger Moore and Vincent Price. The character remains enduringly popular - in 2013-2014 Hodder & Stoughton published a series of 35 'Saint' books in print and ebook format, and a new ITV drama is planned to go into production in 2016.