Colin Henry Wilson was a British author who had written works on philosophy, true crime, and mysticism, as well as novels. He was born and raised in Leicester, England, the son of a factory worker. He attended school until he was 16, at which point he quit to work in a wool warehouse. He worked other odd jobs, including as a lab assistant and a civil servant, until he was called up to work as a clerk for the Royal Air Force. He worked there for six months until claiming that he was a homosexual in order to be dismissed. In 1956, his first book, *The Outsider*, was published.