Biography

Wheatley's writing career began in 1933 and lasted until his death in 1977. He wrote swashbuckling historicals, novels of international intrigue, supernatural horror, and sexual sadism. His nonfiction included autobiographies and the occult.

It is a mistake to say that he turned against dictatorship of any kind in his later years. As his second volume of autobiography (completed and published in the final year of his long life) makes alarmingly clear, he retained an admiration for Mussolini until the end, regretting that "egotism" had caused him to side with Hitler instead of with the Allies in World War II (this is a nonsensical reading of the situation) and expressing keen admiration for the 40-year military dictatorship of General Franco in Spain. He also supported the apartheid regime in South Africa, which was ongoing at the time of his death, and admired the Peron dictatorship in Argentina, even though escaped Nazi war criminals readily found a home there. He had been a member of the British Union of Fascists in the 1930s, and never expressed regret for this.

Invited Alistair Crowley to dinner to research "The Devil Rides Out".

Wrote several articles about the defence of England in the build up to World War Two which were taken very seriously by the Ministry of Defence.

Assisted in the planning of the invasion of Normandy.