(1929 - ) Born Harry Patterson in Belfast, Ireland.
Higgins was born to a family with a political background and frequently experienced the worst aspect of the troubles during his youth. He later moved to Leeds, left school with no qualification and had a succession of jobs, including two years as an NCO in the Royal House of Guards serving on the East German border during the Cold War.

He was then accepted as an external student at London University while working as a circus tent-hand, a tram conductor and most things in between, and a degree in sociology took him into teaching before he became a full-time author. He was already a writer of adventure stories when he, at the age of forty, wrote "The eagle has landed" but this highly original war novel turned him into an international bestselling author. His novels have been translated into more than forty languages. He holds a honorary award at Leeds Metropolitan university and is a professor a Manchester University. He is also the Patron of the Jersey Film Society. Jack Higgins is nowadays a multi-millionaire who lives on one of the Channel Islands with his wife.