Arthur Hailey's Biography

Arthur Hailey was born in Luton, England on April 5, 1920.

Hailey left school at 14. He served as a flight-lieutenant in the RAF in the Second World War.

Arthur Hailey left Britain in 1947 and went to Canada, becoming a dual citizen. He worked as a sales promotion manager for a tractor-trailer manufacturer in Toronto, but then started to write television screenplays. His Who's Who entry puts the start of his freelance writing as 1956.

Arthur Hailey's first novel, The Final Diagnosis, was published in 1959 and his books include the very successful thrillers Hotel, Airport and The Moneychangers.

Arthur Hailey and his wife settled in the Bahamas in 1969, where he died on November 25, 2004 at his New Providence island home.

Anthony Burgess once wrote:

"When book-buyers buy books, they look for sex, violence and hard information. They get these from Arthur Hailey, whose characters discuss problems of hotel management while committing adultery before being beaten up."