Sir Compton Mackenzie, 1883-1972, was a writer, Scottish nationalist, and cultural commentator. He was born Edward Montague Compton Mackenzie on January 17, 1883 in West Hartlepool, County Durham, England. He attended St. Paul's School in London and Magdalen College, Oxford, where he graduated with a degree in modern history. One of his first early successes was his novel Carnival (1912), which was later adapted into a film three times as The Ballet Girl (1916), Dance Pretty Lady (1932) and Carnival (1946). His coming of age novel Satire Street (1913-1914) was known for its influence on other authors, such as George Orwell, who read it as children. From 1913 to 1920, Mackenzie and his wife Faith Compton Mackenzie lived on the island of Capri, where he befriended William Somerset Maugham and converted to Catholicism in 1914. As a result of his experiences on Capri, Mackenzie published a trilogy of books with religious themes and two novels, Vestal Fire (1927) and Extraordinary Women (1928), based on the lives of the islanders, many of whom were homosexual.

After 1928, Mackenzie moved to Scotland where he co-founded the Scottish National Party and supported Scottish nationalism. He would go on to set two of his novels in Scotland: Monarch of the Glen (1941) and Whisky Galore (1947). Throughout the 1930s he held several positions, including rector of Glasgow University (1931–34), literary critic for the London Daily Mail (1931–35), and founder and editor of Gramophone magazine (1923–62). His two most notable, and controversial works, were also published in the 1930s. Mackenzie wrote the autobiographical Greek Memories (1932) based on his experiences working for British Intelligence during World War I. The British secret service later prosecuted him under the Official Secrets Act, claiming that he revealed secret information in the book. Mackenzie responded by attacking the secret service in his satirical Water on the Brain (1933).

Over the course of his career, Mackenzie published over a hundred books of different genres and subjects, including fiction, history, biography, literary criticism, satire, children's stories, and poetry. One of his last works was his autobiography, My Life and Times, published in ten volumes from 1963–1971. He was knighted in 1952 and died on November 30, 1972 in Edinburgh, Scotland.