Desmond Bagley was born in Kendal, Cumbria (formerly Westmoreland) in the Lake District. He spent his childhood in Blackpool. He was educated at a variety of schools in Bolton and Blackpool. He left school at the age of fourteen and started to work. First with a printer and later at a factory. From 1940 to 1946, he worked in the aircraft industry. In 1947, Bagley went to South Africa. In the 1950s, he was a freelance journalist. From 1951 to 1952, he worked for the South African Broadcasting Corporation in Durban. From 1958 to 1962, Bagley wrote film critiques for the Rand Daily Mail in Johannesburg. In 1960, he married Joan Margaret Brown. They lived in Italy and in 1965 returned to England where they settled in Devon till 1976. Next they moved to Guernsey. Bagley died in Southampton.