Edward Plunkett, Lord Dunsany, was born in 1878. Early passions for chess, guns and dogs stayed with him on his path through Eton, Sandhurst and the Coldstream Guards. His untidiness and eccentricity set him apart from his fellow officers, and the Irish peer left the army after the South African war to concentrate on hunting, cricket and, increasingly, wriiting. He wrote nearly 50 books and plays between 1905 and his death in 1957.
Alan Sharp was born in Dundee in 1934 and is an award-winning screenwriter, from TV plays for the BBC and ITV in the 1960s to major film scripts, including Rob Roy (1995). He now splits his time living in Scotland and New Zealand.