CHARLES MacHardy, novelist, who has died, aged 76, will be best remembered for his best-selling Send Down a Dove, a Second World War tale of submarine warfare from the able seaman's eye-view that to this day is regarded as the submariner's bible.
The novel, praised by his friend Alistair MacLean as ``the finest submarine story to come out of either world war'', was based on MacHardy's experiences in the submarine service during the Second World War.
MacHardy was born in Dundee in humble circumstances and, before the war, left school to become a builder's labourer, lorry driver and trawler hand, before joining DC Thomson & Co as a trainee journalist. He was politicised by the growth of fascism, and maintained a left-wing political stance throughout his life. He joined the Royal Navy on the outbreak of war in 1939.
A sensitive and cultured man, MacHardy was a typical self-taught Scot, and loved
language.
After the war, MacHardy was one of the legion of Scots who inhabited post-war Fleet Street, where he spent 12 years before returning to Scotland. He worked for the Daily Express, went on to become arts editor of the Daily Sketch, and was subsequently arts editor of the fledgling Independent Television News service (ITN). During this period, he began writing both short stories and poetry - and the idea for Send Down a Dove, based on his own experiences, was fermenting. Eventually, MacHardy, who would gleefully recall selling the Daily Worker in the streets of Hampstead, exchanged his metropolitan existence for the solitude of the Angus glens to get down to serious writing.
It was a solitary existence, but an occupation that he loved. Send Down a Dove was published in 1968, and was an instant success. It had taken two years to complete, and was written by the light of a paraffin lamp. In 1971, he wrote The Ice Mirror, a mountain climbing drama, and in 1979 Blow Down, a thriller based on the North Sea oil industry.
MacHardy was a prolific writer, churning out radio plays, magazine pieces and television proposals right up until his death.
A consummate master of language, he always found time to encourage and advise young journalists and authors, this writer included. His advice was unfailingly correct, but sometimes obscure. ``It is not tight enough'' was a typical comment on a feature that had taken days to craft.
Among those to whom he offered encouragement was his nephew Stuart, an author in his own right who has had three books published and who is currently director of the Scots Language Resource Centre.
MacHardy had a healthy love of good food and fine wine, as well as outdoor activities. He was a keen golfer and walker and enjoyed sailing. An accomplished jazz guitarist and pianist, he was constantly attempting to improve his ``technique'' whether it be on the golf course or in a lounge bar performing trad jazz.
A great raconteur and worthy companion, MacHardy included among his legion of friends the late Douglas Sutherland, the noted author, and Gordon Williams, a Fleet Street contemporary whose novel, The Siege of Tencher's Farm was made into the movie Straw Dogs.
Towards the end of his life, MacHardy continued his work and never revealed that he suffered from the stomach cancer that was eventually to kill him. His political stance also radicalised, and he became a campaigner for a Scottish parliament.
MacHardy was divorced, and is survived by a brother and two sisters. Fittingly, after Thursday's funeral, a wake took place in Mennie's, his favourite Dundee pub, complete with jazz band.
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