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English writer (1908–1973)

John Creasey (17 September 1908 – 9 June 1973) was an English author known mostly for detective and crime novels but who also wrote science fiction, romance and westerns. He wrote more than six hundred novels using twenty eight different pseudonyms. He created several ongoing characters, such as The Toff (The Honourable Richard Rollison), Commander George Gideon of Scotland Yard, Inspector Roger West, The Baron (John Mannering), Doctor Emmanuel Cellini and Doctor Stanislaus Alexander Palfrey. Gideon of Scotland Yard was the basis for the television series Gideon's Way and for the John Ford movie Gideon's Day (1958). The Baron character was made into a 1960s TV series starring Steve Forrest as The Baron.

John Creasey was born in Southfields, London Borough of Wandsworth (formerly part of Surrey), to a working class family. He was the seventh of nine children of Ruth and Joseph Creasey, a poor coach maker. Creasey was educated at Fulham Elementary School and Sloane School, both in London. From 1923 to 1935 he worked various clerical, factory, and sales jobs while trying to establish himself as a writer. After a number of rejections, Creasey's first book was published in 1930. His first crime novel, Seven Times Seven, was published in January 1932 by Melrose. It was a story about a gang of criminals. In 1935 he became a full time writer. In 1937 alone, twenty nine of his books were published. A phenomenally fast writer, he once suggested that he could be shut up in a glass box and write there a whole book. He died at his home New Hall, which is now New Hall Hospital, Bodenham near Salisbury, Wiltshire in 1973. In March 2007, his family sold all of Creasey's copyrights to Fleming Literary Management.

John's son Richard Creasey is an author and television producer, having served both in the private sector and at the BBC, and as the British producer of Patrick Watson's worldwide Canadian television documentary series The Struggle for Democracy. He has developed his father's "Doctor Palfrey" series by penning a new series of techno thrillers around the character of Doctor Thomas Palfrey.

In 1953, John Creasey founded the Crime Writers' Association (CWA) in the UK. The CWA New Blood Dagger is awarded in his memory, for first books by previously unpublished writers; sponsored by BBC Audiobooks, it includes a prize of £1000. This award was known previously as the John Creasey Memorial Dagger.

Creasey was a longtime committed Liberal party member though he later became an independent. He said that he had been organising Liberal street corner meetings from the age of 12. At the time of the 1945 general election Creasey was Chairman of the local Liberal Association in Bournemouth where his publicity and writing skills were instrumental in helping the Liberals to an atypical second place. He was adopted as prospective parliamentary candidate for Bournemouth West in 1946 and appeared on the platform at the 1947 Liberal Assembly, which was held in Bournemouth. He fought Bournemouth West in the 1950 general election, coming third. He became increasingly unhappy with the party through the 1950s though and disagreed so much with the party's policy concerning the Suez Crisis he resigned his membership. However, after the Orpington by election success of 1962 and impressed with Jo Grimond's leadership of the party he seemed to be reviving his Liberal activity. By January 1966 however, he had founded the All Party Alliance, a pressure group which sought to unite the best people from all parties. The platform of the All Party Alliance was based on running industry by councils made up of workers, managers, investors and government to avoid industrial action, with a mind to eventually eliminate income tax. John Creasey features in the Look At Life film I Protest! where he is seen collecting signatures for a petition to lobby the government to take action against the number of deaths due to road accidents.

He was awarded the Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services in the United Kingdom's National Savings Movement during World War II.