James Leasor (20 December 1923 – 10 September 2007) was a prolific British author who wrote historical books and thrillers, and was one of the best-selling British authors of the 20th century. After beginning his writing career as a journalist he wrote more than 50 books, some of which were made into films, including his 1978 historical novel Boarding Party, the story of a secret incident from the Second World War, which became The Sea Wolves (1980) starring Gregory Peck, Roger Moore and David Niven. Source: Wikipedia (en)