Clive was born in Blackpool, Lancashire in 1948. He was educated at Arnold School in his home town and later qualified as a teacher from Edge Hill University College. He went on to obtain an M.Ed. in Applied Linguistics from Manchester University. Following a successful teaching career, Clive moved into full-time writing, as a copywriter and freelance journalist. To date he has had eleven books published. One of these, Buying Property in France, has been reprinted seven times in two editions. He lives in rural Northumberland with his wife and spaniels.