Dennis Yates Wheatley was an English author whose prolific output of stylish thrillers and occult novels made him one of the world's best-selling writers from the 1930s through to the 1960s. His Gregory Sallust series was one of the inspirations for Ian Fleming's James Bond stories. During his life he wrote over 70 books and sold over 50 million copies.
By the 1960s, Wheatley was selling over a million copies of his novels a year; his work was translated into 28 languages. During the Second World War, Wheatley was a member of the London Controlling Section, which secretly coordinated strategic military deception and cover plans. His literary talents gained him employment with planning staffs for the War Office, for which he wrote numerous papers, including suggestions for dealing with a German invasion of Britain.
