Educated at St. Paul's School and Magdalen College, Oxford, MacKenzie studied law for a time, but his true interest was the theatre and writing. He published some verse and plays before his first novel, The Passionate Elopement, appeared in 1911. His first real success came with Sinister Street in 1913. During the First World War, he served in the Dardanelles Campaign and took part in the battle of Gallipoli. He also worked for British intelligence in Greece. After the war, he settled on the Isle of Capri for some years, before returning to the UK in 1934. He then moved to the island of Barra in the Outer Hebrides where he built a house at Northbay. A fervent Scottish nationalist, MacKenzie produced a number of wonderful comedies of Scottish life, including Whisky Galore (1947), which was subsequently made into a successful film. From 1963 to 1971, he published ten volumes of his autobiography, My Life and Times. MacKenzie was a founding member of the Scottish Nationalist Party and was knighted in 1952. His other works include The Gentleman in Grey (1907), Carnival (1912), Rich Relatives (1920), The Altar Steps (1922), Vestal Fire (1927), Extraordinary Women (1928), Gallipoli Memories (1929), Athenian Memories (1931), Greek Memories (1932), The Monarch of the Glen (1941), The Rival Monster (1952), Thin Ice (1956) and Rockets Galore (1957). |
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