Francis Beeding

A pseudonym for co-authors Hilary Saint George Saunders and John Leslie Palmer.

They were Oxford graduates who met while at the League of Nations in Geneva. Palmer was a drama critic who wrote books on the theatre under the pseudonym "Christopher Haddon".

Saunders served with the Welsh Guards in WWI and worked for the Air Ministry in WWII, writing the famous pamphlet, The Battle of Britain. From 1946 to 1950 he was librarian of the House of Commons.

They also wrote mainstream fiction under the name David Pilgrim.

Beeding has over thirty novels to his credit, five of which have been adapted into feature films. Of these, The House of Dr. Edwardes remains the best known, as it formed the basis of Alfred Hitchcock's film Spellbound.