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Macdonald Hastings
Douglas Edward Macdonald Hastings (6 October 1909 – 4 October 1982), known as Macdonald Hastings or Mac Hastings, was an English journalist, author and war correspondent. He wrote for Lilliput magazine under the pseudonym Lemuel Gulliver.
Hastings was born on 6 October 1909 in Camberwell, London, the son of Wilhelmina Harriet (née White) and Basil Macdonald Hastings, a journalist and playwright. Aged seven, he was sent to Stonyhurst, a Jesuit public school which his father and grandfather also attended.
At one point he contracted pneumonia, but his troubles went greatly unnoticed. The school matron reportedly waved him off and ignored the issue while a priest gave him the last rites.
Hastings's father died at age 46, leaving young "Mac" and his mother essentially poor. He returned home from school, no longer able to pay for his tuition.
Despite offers from family friends such as Lord Beaverbrook and Edgar Wallace who wished to help him complete his schooling, Hastings refused and went in search of work to support himself and his mother. He worked briefly as a clerk at Scotland Yard, but disliked the position. After several months, he moved on to J. Lyons, a catering company where he worked in the publicity department and remained for the next nine years.
While working at Lyons, Hastings began to branch out, writing journalistic pieces and freelancing them to various news corporations, including the BBC. After nine years at Lyons, he left to pursue freelance journalism.
His career took off in 1939 when he was hired by Picture Post, a magazine known for on location reporting and live-action photography. During World War II, he was a reporter for the magazine, embedded in torpedo boats to Channel convoys. He notably covered Operation Overlord, earning a reputation simultaneously for courage and for rashness.
Hastings edited The Strand Magazine from 1945 until its closure in 1950, when he became a freelance journalist again. Over the next ten years or so, he wrote many articles, ten novels, and broadcast with the BBC.
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Macdonald Hastings
Douglas Edward Macdonald Hastings (6 October 1909 – 4 October 1982), known as Macdonald Hastings or Mac Hastings, was an English journalist, author and war correspondent. He wrote for Lilliput magazine under the pseudonym Lemuel Gulliver.
Hastings was born on 6 October 1909 in Camberwell, London, the son of Wilhelmina Harriet (née White) and Basil Macdonald Hastings, a journalist and playwright. Aged seven, he was sent to Stonyhurst, a Jesuit public school which his father and grandfather also attended.
At one point he contracted pneumonia, but his troubles went greatly unnoticed. The school matron reportedly waved him off and ignored the issue while a priest gave him the last rites.
Hastings's father died at age 46, leaving young "Mac" and his mother essentially poor. He returned home from school, no longer able to pay for his tuition.
Despite offers from family friends such as Lord Beaverbrook and Edgar Wallace who wished to help him complete his schooling, Hastings refused and went in search of work to support himself and his mother. He worked briefly as a clerk at Scotland Yard, but disliked the position. After several months, he moved on to J. Lyons, a catering company where he worked in the publicity department and remained for the next nine years.
While working at Lyons, Hastings began to branch out, writing journalistic pieces and freelancing them to various news corporations, including the BBC. After nine years at Lyons, he left to pursue freelance journalism.
His career took off in 1939 when he was hired by Picture Post, a magazine known for on location reporting and live-action photography. During World War II, he was a reporter for the magazine, embedded in torpedo boats to Channel convoys. He notably covered Operation Overlord, earning a reputation simultaneously for courage and for rashness.
Hastings edited The Strand Magazine from 1945 until its closure in 1950, when he became a freelance journalist again. Over the next ten years or so, he wrote many articles, ten novels, and broadcast with the BBC.