Angus MacVicar (28 October 1908,

Argyll Argyll (; archaically Argyle, in modern Gaelic, ), sometimes called Argyllshire, is a historic county and registration county of western Scotland. Argyll is of ancient origin, and corresponds to most of the part of the ancient kingdom of ...

– 31 October 2001,

Campbeltown Campbeltown (; gd, Ceann Loch Chille Chiarain or ) is a town and former royal burgh in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It lies by Campbeltown Loch on the Kintyre peninsula. Campbeltown became an important centre for Scotch whisky, and a busy fishing ...

Argyll and Bute Argyll and Bute ( sco, Argyll an Buit; gd, Earra-Ghàidheal agus Bòd, ) is one of 32 unitary authority council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area. The current lord-lieutenant for Argyll and Bute is Jane Margaret MacLeod (14 July 2020) ...

) was a Scottish author with a wide-ranging output. His greatest successes came in three separate genres:

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definit ...

thrillers, juvenile

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

, and

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

. His early writing was interrupted by wartime service with the

Royal Scots Fusiliers The Royal Scots Fusiliers was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that existed from 1678 until 1959 when it was amalgamated with the Highland Light Infantry (City of Glasgow Regiment) to form the Royal Highland Fusiliers (Princess Mar ...

, hence most of his fiction appeared in the two decades following

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. MacVicar, whose father (also Angus) was a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

minister in the

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland. The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Scottish Reformation, Reformation of 1560, when it split from t ...

(including at Southend from 1910 to 1957), was born at the manse at

Southend Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...

, where he lived for most of his life, including at 'Achnamara', the bungalow he had built overlooking Southend Bay following his marriage to Jean. After attending the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

he went on to work for the ''Campbeltown Courier''. The MacVicar family was notably long-lived; the senior, Reverend Angus MacVicar lived to be 92; MacVicar's younger brother, Kenneth, entered the church, serving as Chaplain to the Queen in Scotland, and died aged 96. Highlights of MacVicar's many thrillers included the

Edgar Wallace Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace (1 April 1875 – 10 February 1932) was a British writer. Born into poverty as an illegitimate London child, Wallace left school at the age of 12. He joined the army at age 21 and was a war correspondent during th ...

-style ''Greybreek'' (1947) and ''The Killings on Kersivay'' (1962), plus some books with golfing backgrounds. His children's stories combine simple

character sketch In literature, a character sketch, or character, is a rough-and-ready rendering and thumbnail portrayal of an individual, capturing, in brief, that person's physical characteristics, psychological attributes, and the like. The brief descriptions ...

es and exotic

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...

with a non-obtrusive

Christian morality Christian ethics, also known as moral theology, is a multi-faceted ethical system: it is a virtue ethic which focuses on building moral character, and a deontological ethic which emphasizes duty. It also incorporates natural law ethics, whic ...

. The Lost Planet series was extremely popular in books, radio and TV versions (he was also an accomplished

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

and

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

). In these stories a

pacifist Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaign ...

theme came through strongly. There are six novels in the Lost Planet series: ''

The Lost Planet ''The Lost Planet'' is a 1953 American horror science fiction serial film 15-chapter serial which has the distinction of being the last interplanetary-themed sound serial ever made. It was directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet with a screenplay b ...

'' (1953), ''

Return to the Lost Planet ''Return to the Lost Planet'' is a 1954 juvenile science fiction novel by Angus MacVicar, published by Burke, London. It is the second of the Lost Planet series, which was adapted for radio and television. There are six novels in the Lost Planet ...

'' (1954), ''Secret of the Lost Planet'' (1955), ''Red Fire on the Lost Planet'' (1959), ''Peril on the Lost Planet'' (1960) and ''Space Agent from the Lost Planet'' (1961). The playwright

Rona Munro Rona Munro (born 7 September 1959) is a Scottish writer. She has written plays for theatre, radio, and television. Her film work includes Ken Loach's '' Ladybird, Ladybird'' (1994), ''Oranges and Sunshine'' (2010) for Jim Loach and ''Aimée & J ...

(who is also MacVicar's second cousin once removed) credited the ''Lost Planet'' books and MacVicar himself as formative influences on her own decision to become a writer. It was the first science fiction series ever translated to

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

, and had considerable impact on the development of this genre in

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

.Review on the website of the Israeli Science Fiction and Fantasy Associatio

The short unrelated Atom Chasers series was also popular. In later life MacVicar turned to portraying his life and background as a child of the

Manse A manse () is a clergy house inhabited by, or formerly inhabited by, a minister, usually used in the context of Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist and other Christian traditions. Ultimately derived from the Latin ''mansus'', "dwelling", from '' ...

in several memoirs such as ''Salt in My Porridge'' (1971). These books showed his Scottish literary voice at its most characteristic, unhampered by the genre requirements of his fiction. MacVicar also presented the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

television program ''

Songs of Praise ''Songs of Praise'' is a BBC Television religious programme that presents Christian hymns sung in churches of varying denominations from around the UK. The series was first broadcast in October 1961. On that occasion, the venue was the Ta ...

''.

References

External links

Angus MacVicar
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Angus MacVicar
at

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction ''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'' (SFE) is an English language reference work on science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and f ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Macvicar, Angus 1908 births 2001 deaths Alumni of the University of Glasgow Scottish autobiographers Scottish children's writers Scottish crime fiction writers Scottish radio writers Scottish science fiction writers Scottish television writers People from Campbeltown Royal Scots Fusiliers officers British Army personnel of World War II 20th-century Scottish novelists Scottish male novelists 20th-century British male writers British male television writers 20th-century British screenwriters

See also

References

External links