12 Facts About Arthur Hailey

Arthur Frederick Hailey was born on 5 April 1920, in Luton, Bedfordshire, England, the only child of George Wellington Hailey, a factory worker, and Elsie Wright Hailey.

An avid reader, Hailey began to write poems, plays and stories at a young age.

At fourteen, Arthur Hailey failed to win a scholarship which would have enabled him to continue his schooling.

Arthur Hailey joined the Royal Air Force in 1939, and served as a pilot during World War II, eventually rising to the rank of flight lieutenant.

Arthur Hailey was editor of a trade magazine called Bus and Truck Transport.

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Arthur Hailey's professional writing career began in 1955 with a script called Flight into Danger, which was purchased by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and telecast on 3 April 1956.

Arthur Hailey had intended to stay for just two years, but liked it so much that he remained there for the rest of his life.

Arthur Hailey continued to write, but—except for the slim The Lyford Legacy: A Brief History of Lyford Cay from 1788, —Arthur Hailey now wrote only as a hobby.

Arthur Hailey's papers are housed at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto, and at the Harry C Moore Library of the College of The Bahamas.

Arthur Hailey's research was painstaking: he read 27 books about the hotel industry for Hotel, he spent months at a Detroit car plant for Wheels, and he spent time—at the age of 67—with rebel guerillas in the jungles of Peru for The Evening News.

In 1978 Sheila Hailey published I Married a Best Seller: My Life with Arthur Hailey, which was not always complimentary, but the couple remained together for 53 years.

Arthur Hailey died at age 84 in his sleep on 24 November 2004, at his home in Lyford Cay in the Bahamas, of what doctors believed to be a stroke.