Leslie Charteris is the creator of Simon Templar (the Saint), best known of the modern gentleman outlaws and hero of the longest-running fictional series written by a single author.

Charteris was born in Singapore on 12 May 1907 and learned to speak Chinese and Malay before he learned the English alphabet. At the age of ten he acquired his first typewriter and, as he later remarked, "promptly began to write for money." He produced several issues of an ambitious newsletter which included features, puzzles, and illustrations. The illustrations were matchstick figures of the type which Charteris later used as his famous Saint logotype.

Charteris's father, S. C. Yin, was a surgeon, businessman, and civic leader. He was also an enthusiastic traveler, and by the time Charteris reached adolescence his parents had taken him around the world three times. Until he was twelve years old Charteris was educated privately. Apart from...