Olaf Stapleon (1886-1950) was born in Cheshire and educated at the University of Oxford. In his early career he worked as a teacher in Manchester and in shipping offices in Liverpool and Egypt. A pacifist and conscientious objector, he drove ambulances in the First World War and won a medal for bravery.

He was later awarded a doctorate in philosophy and turned to fiction writing in the hope of making his ideas more widely available. His two masterpieces, Last and First Men (1930) and Star Maker (1937), contributed many ideas to science fiction and profoundly influenced numerous subsequent writers.