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Douglas Edward Macdonald "Mac" Hastings (6 October 1909 – 4 October 1982), known as Macdonald Hastings, was an English journalist, author and
war correspondent.
Early life and education
Hastings was born in
Camberwell, South London, the son of journalist and playwright
Basil Macdonald Hastings
Basil MacDonald Hastings (20 September 1881 – 21 February 1928) was an English author, journalist, and playwright.
Early life and education
Hastings was born on 20 September 1881 in London, second son of solicitor S. J. Edward Hastings. He was ...
. He was sent to
Stonyhurst, a Jesuit boarding school, at age seven. (His grandfather and his father also attended Stonyhurst.) 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. He had some positive experiences, such as uncovering a natural faculty for public oration.
Career
Hastings's father died at age 46, leaving young "Mac" and his mother essentially poor. He returned home from boarding school, no longer able to pay his tuition. Despite offers from family friends such as
Lord Beaverbrook and
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 ...
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 #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 exam. ...
...
. After nine years at Lyons, he left to pursue freelance journalism.
News career
His career took off in 1939 when he was hired by ''
Picture Post
''Picture Post'' was a photojournalistic magazine published in the United Kingdom from 1938 to 1957. It is considered a pioneering example of photojournalism and was an immediate success, selling 1,700,000 copies a week after only two months. ...
'', a magazine known for on location reporting and live-action photography. During
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 opposing ...
, he was a reporter for the magazine, embedded in
torpedo boat
A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of ...
s to Channel convoys. He notably covered
Operation Overlord, earning a reputation simultaneously for courage and for rashness.
From 1945 to 1950, Hastings edited ''
The Strand Magazine
''The Strand Magazine'' was a monthly British magazine founded by George Newnes, composed of short fiction and general interest articles. It was published in the United Kingdom from January 1891 to March 1950, running to 711 issues, though the ...
'' from 1945 until its closing 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.
Macdonald "Mac" Hastings occasionally contributed fictional work to ''
Lilliput'', a literary magazine, under the pseudonym of Lemuel Gulliver. In 1951 after the closure of ''
Strand Magazine'' he was recruited by an Anglican priest,
Marcus Morris, to write for a new boys' comic, ''
The Eagle
The eagle is a large bird of prey.
Eagle or The Eagle may also refer to:
Places England
* Eagle, Lincolnshire, a village
United States
* Eagle, Alaska, a city
* Eagle Village, Alaska, a census-designated place
* Eagle, Colorado, a statut ...
''. He filed reports from far-flung parts of the world under the title of ''Eagle Special Correspondent'' reportedly making around 5,000 pounds a year by 1952, Hastings was doing very well for himself and his family. He was a co-founder/editor of the fortnightly ''Country Fair''.
He wrote around thirty books, was author of a series of
detective novels
Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around the same time as specu ...
and appeared on television as a weekly correspondent on ''
Tonight
Tonight may refer to:
Television
* ''Tonight'' (1957 TV programme), a 1957–1965 British current events television programme hosted by Cliff Michelmore that was broadcast on BBC
* ''Tonight'' (1975 TV programme), a 1975–1979 British current ...
'' in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He wrote and narrated the 1964 police procedural series ''
Call the Gun Expert'' on
BBC 1
BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...
.
Personal life
Aged 26, he briefly married Eleanor Asprey, aged 32. Despite the brevity of the marriage, he was required to pay his ex-wife
maintenance
Maintenance may refer to:
Biological science
* Maintenance of an organism
* Maintenance respiration
Non-technical maintenance
* Alimony, also called ''maintenance'' in British English
* Champerty and maintenance, two related legal doct ...
for nearly the rest of his life.
He married
Anne Scott-James
Anne Eleanor Scott-James, Lady Lancaster (5 April 1913 – 13 May 2009)
was a British journalist and author. She was one of Britain's first female career journalists, editors and columnists, and latterly author of a series of gardening boo ...
, a columnist and later magazine editor. They had two children:
Max and
Clare. Max followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfather as a journalist as did Clare initially before becoming an author. Macdonald and Anne Hastings divorced in 1964.
After his divorce, he married the influential publisher the Honourable
Anthea Joseph
Anthea Esther Joseph ( Hodson; 6 March 1924 – 23 January 1981), also known by her second married name Hastings, was a British publisher.
Life
Anthea Joseph was born in London as Anthea Esther Hodson, daughter of Charles and Susan Hodson. D ...
, daughter of
Lord Hodson. They had one daughter, Harriet, who became founder and managing director of
Biscuiteers.
Macdonald Hastings described himself as a "lapsed" Catholic but added that "
intly men and women in my family outnumber the sinners." He recalled that his great grandfather had taught in the Jesuit foundation at
Georgetown, Virginia. Two brothers of his great great maternal grandmother were also Jesuits in the United States. His favourite uncle, Major Lewis Hastings, MC, was there, too, and also contributed to the other family tradition as a famous BBC military commentator in
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 opposing ...
.
He died at his home in
Old Basing near
Basingstoke, Hampshire in 1982.
[Hastings, Max Did you really shoot the Television? Page 231]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hastings, Macdonald
1909 births
1982 deaths
People educated at Stonyhurst College
English male journalists
English reporters and correspondents
English Roman Catholics
English crime fiction writers
English non-fiction writers
British war correspondents
20th-century English novelists
English male novelists
20th-century English male writers
The Strand Magazine editors