BBC7

James Aldridge was born in Australia in 1918. He worked in newspapers, beginning his career as a copyboy and then worked in the Picture Library of the Melbourne Sun.

His first novel, Signed with their Honour, was written during the war when he was a journalist. After the war he decided to leave regular journalism to have more time for his novels. He has lived in the United States, France, Switzerland and London, with two long visits home to Australia.

James has written loads of books - 23 novels, short stories, plays, non-fiction, television scripts and journalism, published over a period of 44 years and available in forty languages. He has won the Rhys Memorial Prize, the World Peace Council Gold Medal, the International Organisation of Journalists Prize and the Lenin Memorial Peace Prize.

James's wife is Egyptian and they have two sons. They currently live in Battersea, South West London.

James's books include:

• The True Story of Lilli Stubeck
• The True sory of Spit Macphee
• My Brother Tom
• Ride A Wild Pony
• The Broken Saddle
• The Untouchable Julie
• The Girl from the Sea