Gordon S. Dickson was born not far from Inverness, Scotland. The family left there when he was very young and returned to Northern Ireland. He was educated at Secondary (now Junior High) and Grammar schools, just managing to pass English language at 'O' level. Did better at other subjects though. He worked in the Civil Service for several years but is now retired. He enjoys reading books of several genres, mainly historical fiction, thrillers and detective novels. Occasional factual history too.