John Michael Allaby is an Aventis Junior prize-winning author. He was born on 18 September 1933 in

Belper Belper is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Non-metropolitan district, local government district of Amber Valley in Derbyshire, England, located about north of Derby on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent. As w ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the no ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. He was a police cadet from 1949 to 1951. After that he served in the RAF from 1951 to 1954, becoming a pilot. After leaving the RAF, he worked as an actor from 1954 to 1964, including " The Keys of Marinus" '' Doctor Who'' storyline. He married Marthe McGregor on 3 January 1957. From 1964 to 1972, he a worked as an editor for the Soil Association in Suffolk, England, editing ''Span'' magazine from 1967 to 1972. He was a member of the board of directors for Ecosystems Ltd. in

Wadebridge Wadebridge (; kw, Ponswad) is a town and civil parish in north Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlan ...

and was an associate editor of '' Ecologist'' from 1970 to 1972. He became a managing editor in 1972. In 1973, he became a freelance writer. He has written widely about science, particularly about ecology and weather. He edits and writes dictionaries and encyclopaedias for

Macmillan Publishers Macmillan Publishers (occasionally known as the Macmillan Group; formally Macmillan Publishers Ltd and Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC) is a British publishing company traditionally considered to be one of the 'Big Five' English language publ ...

and

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print book ...

. He co-authored James Lovelock's first two books: ''The Greening of Mars'' (1984, Warner Books, ) and ''Great Extinction'' (1983, Doubleday, ). His book, ''The Food Chain'' ( André Deutsch, ) was runner-up for the Times Educational Supplement Information Book Award in 1984. The

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress) ...

chose ''Dangerous Weather: Hurricanes'' as one of its books for the teenage in 1998. He won the Aventis Junior Prize for Science Books in 2001 for ''How the Weather Works''. He is a member of the

Society for the History of Natural History The Society for the History of Natural History (SHNH) is an international society for everyone who is interested in natural history in the broadest sense. This includes botany, zoology and geology as well as natural history collections, exploration ...

, the

Planetary Society The Planetary Society is an American internationally-active non-governmental nonprofit organization. It is involved in research, public outreach, and political space advocacy for engineering projects related to astronomy, planetary science, a ...

, the

Society of Authors The Society of Authors (SoA) is a United Kingdom trade union for professional writers, illustrators and literary translators, founded in 1884 to protect the rights and further the interests of authors. , it represents over 12,000 members and as ...

, the

New York Academy of Sciences The New York Academy of Sciences (originally the Lyceum of Natural History) was founded in January 1817 as the Lyceum of Natural History. It is the fourth oldest scientific society in the United States. An independent, nonprofit organization wit ...

, and the

Association of British Science Writers The Association of British Science Writers (ABSW) is the UK society for science writers, science journalists and science communicators. Founded in 1947, the ABSW exists to help those who write about science and technology, and to improve the st ...

References

*'' Contemporary Authors'' Online, Gale, 2008. Reproduced i
Biography Resource Center
Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2008. Document Number: H1000001310. Online 29 July 2008.

External links

Michael Allaby's Web site
* English science writers English magazine editors English lexicographers 1933 births Living people English encyclopedists {{England-writer-stub