Arthur Charles Clarke was born at Minehead, Somerset on December 16, 1917 as the eldest of four children, and was educated at Huish's Grammar School, Taunton. His obsession with science and technology began when he started reading Sci-Fi magazines such as Amazing and Astounding, as well as the work of H.G. Wells and Jules Verne. At fifteen began writing for his school magazine, and became an avid stargazer. He moved to London at the age of 19, to work at H.M. Exchequer & Audit Department, and became the treasurer of the British Interplanetary Society where he helped them write the sociey newsletter Bulletin, and supporting himself by publishing articles in Tales of Wonder.

In 1941 the Second World War caused Clarke to join the RAF where he became the Flight Lieutenant in charge of running the first ever radar talk-down equipment, known as the GCA (Ground Controlled Approach) radar that aided the pilots when they attempted to land in inclement weather. Military service didn't stop him writing though, and he sold his first book 'Loophole' in 1945, the same year as he developed the basic theory of the geostationary orbit, still known in some circles as the Clarke Orbit, as well as many other principles of the communication satellite, and published his ideas in an essay called "Extraterestial Relays" in the magazine Wireless World. These ideas became reality 25 years after this publication when, in 1982, the first communication satellite was launched, and Clarke was awarded many scientific honours including the 1982 Marconi International Fellowship, a gold medal of the Franklin Institute, the Vikram Sarabhai Professorship of the Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, the Fellowship of King's College, London and the Lindbergh Award.

After Clarke was demobbed in 1946, he turned to academia, and married an American, Marilyn Mayfield on June 15, 1953, a relationship which only lasted six months, and proved to Clarke that he "wasn't the marrying type". He took First Class Honours in Physics and Mathematics at King's College, London in 1948, after which he became the Assistant Editor of Physics Abstracts at the Institution of Electrical Engineers.

Since 1952, Arthur C. Clarke has been a full time author, and started to lose interest in space exploration, and look towards the sea for his inspiration. He moved to Sri Lanka, and continued his work, writing several fiction and nonfiction books and articles about the Indian Ocean. He took up skin diving and photography, but in 1962 suffered a head injury which left him partially paralysed, a condition which is further hampered by his post-polio syndrome.

In 1964 Clarke started to work on a science-fiction screenplay for the film director Stanley Kubrick. In 1968 the movie became a reality and 2001: A Space Odessy became huge hit, and is consdered by many to be a milestone in cinematography. He worked on the sequel novel to 2001 called 2010: Odyssey Two His thirteen-part TV serie Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World in 1981 and Arthur C. Clarke's World of Strange Powers in 1984 which has now been screened in many countries.

During his career, Clarke has published over seventy books and made many appearances on radio and TV, including the famous Apollo broadcasts alongside Walter Cronkite .He is a Council Member of the Society of Authors, a Vice-President of the H. G. Wells Society and has recived an Oscar Nomination for the Screenplay of 2001: A Space Odyssey. He was awarded the rank of Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 1989 and knighted in 1998 for his 'Services to Literature' but he still lives in Colombo, in Sri Lanka, with his adopted family, Hector & Valerie Ekanayake, and their children, who help him run his scuba diving outfit, Underwater Safaris.

A (relatively) complete biography can be found at http://web.csuchico.edu/~aparna/authorrichard.html

Sources
www.totse.com/en/ego/science_fiction/acclarke.html
http://www.catch22.com/SF/ARB/SFC/Clarke,ArthurC.php3
http://www.lsi.usp.br/~rbianchi/clarke/ACC.Biography.html
http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/aclarke.htm
http://www.webstationone.com/fecha/clarke.htm
On February 1, 1998, a British Tabloid newspaper (The Sunday Mirror) reported that Clarke, then a recent candidate for knighthood, was a pedophile and was living in Sri Lanka in order to facilitate that lifestyle. The Mirror article quoted a supposed interview with Clarke: "Once they have reached the age of puberty, it is OK... It doesn't do any harm.'' and "I am trying to think of the youngest boy I have ever had because, of course, you can't tell it here. I think most of the damage comes from the fuss made by hysterical parents afterwards. If the kids don't mind, fair enough.". The newspaper account also claimed that Clarke had links to well-known paedophile rings operating in Britain and Europe

On February 3, 1998, Clarke issued a statement denying the charges and asked for a postponement of his knighthood ceremony. He said that having always had a particular dislike of paedophiles, few charges could be more revolting to him than to be classed as one. Clarke said that he had not been sexually active in 20 years, and that the reports were "nonsense, contemptuous and revolting". He also declined to speak with the media "on legal advice".

The allegations of the Mirror were never proven, but Clarke's reputation was damaged.

Clarke was eventually presented with the "Award of Knight Bachelor" on May 26, 2000, in Colombo, Sri Lanka. After the ceremony, Clarke said: "I have every reason to be happy and, yes, I am very, very happy."

The works of Arthur C. Clarke:

Fiction
Against The Fall Of Night
Childhood’s End
The City And The Stars
The Deep Range
Dolphin Island
Earthlight
A Fall Of Moondust
The Fountains Of Paradise
The Ghost From The Grand Banks
Glide Path
The Hammer Of God
Imperial Earth
Islands In The Sky
The Lion Of Comarre
The Lost Worlds Of 2001
Prelude To Space
Reach For Tomorrow
Rendezvous With Rama
The Sands Of Mars
The Songs Of Distant Earth
2001: A Space Odyssey
2010: Odyssey Two
2061: Odyssey Three
3001: The Final Odyssey

With Gentry Lee:
Cradle
Rama II
The Garden Of Rama
Rama Revealed

With Mike McQuay:
Richter 10

With Michael Kube-McDowell:
The Trigger

With Stephen Baxter:
The Light Of Other Days

Short Fiction
Travel By Wire
How We Went To Mars
Retreat From Earth
Reverie
The Awakening
Whacky
Loophole
Rescue Party
Technical Error
Castaway
The Fires Within
Inheritance
Nightfall
History Lesson
Transience
The Wall Of Darkness
The Lion Of Comarre
The Forgotten Enemy
Hide-And-Seek
Breaking Strain
Nemesis
Guardian Angel
Time's Arrow
A Walk In The Dark
Silence Please
The Trouble With The Natives
The Road To The Sea
The Sentinel
Holiday On The Moon
Earthlight
Second Dawn
Superiority
'If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth...'
All The Time In The World
The Nine Billion Names Of God
The Possessed
The Parasite
Jupiter Five
Encounter In The Dawn
The Other Tiger
Publicity Campaign
Armaments Race
The Deep Range
No Morning After
Big Game Hunt
Patent Pending
Refugee
The Star
What Goes Up
Venture To The Moon
The Pacifist
The Reluctant Orchid
Moving Spirit
The Defenistration Of Ermintrude Inch
The Ultimate Melody
The Next Tenant
Cold War
Sleeping Beauty
Security Check
The Man Who Ploughed The Sea
Critical Mass
The Other Side Of The Sky
Let There Be Light
Out Of The Sun
Cosmic Casanova
The Songs Of Distant Earth
A Slight Case Of Sunstroke
Who’s There?
Out Of The Cradle, Endlessly Orbiting
I Remember Babylon
Trouble With Time
Into The Comet
Summertime On Icarus
Saturn Rising
Death And The Senator
Before Eden
Hate
Love That Universe
Dog Star
Maelstrom II
An Ape About The House
The Shining Ones
The Secret
Dial F For Frankenstein
The Wind From The Sun
The Food Of The Gods
The Last Command
The Light Of Darkness
The Longest Science-Fiction Story Ever Told
Playback
The Cruel Sky
Herbert Gorge Morley Roberts Wells, Esq.
Crusade
Neutron Tide
Reunion
Transit Of Earth
A Meeting With Medusa
Quarantine
siseneG
The Steam-Powered Word Processor
On Golden Seas
The Hammer Of God
The Wire Continuum -with Stephen Baxter
Improving The Neighbourhood

Short Fiction Collections
Across The Sea Of Stars
An Arthur C. Clarke Omnibus
An Arthur C. Clarke 2nd Omnibus
The Best Of Arthur C. Clarke
The Collected Stories
Expedition To Earth
From The Oceans, From The Stars
More Than One Universe
The Nine Billion Names Of God
The Other Side Of The Sky
Prelude To Mars
The Sentinel
Tales From Planet Earth
Tales From The White Hart
Tales Of Ten Worlds
The Wind From The Sun
The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke

Non-Fiction
Ascent To Orbit
Astounding Days
By Space Possessed
The Challenge Of The Sea
The Challenge Of The Spaceship
The Coast Of Coral
The Exploration Of The Moon
The Exploration Of Space
Going In to Space
Greetings, Carbon Based Bipeds!
How The World Was One
Interplanetary Flight
The Making Of A Moon
Profiles Of A Future
The Promise Of Space
The Reefs Of Taprobane
Report On Planet Three
The Snows Of Olympus
The View From Serendip
Voice From Across The Sea
Voices From The Sky
The Young Traveller In Space
1984: Spring

With The Astronauts:
First On The Moon

With Mike Wilson:
Boy Beneath The Sea
The Fist Five Fathoms
Indian Ocean Adventure
Indian Ocean Treasure
The Treasure OF The Great Reef

With Peter Hyams
The Odyssey File

With the Editors of Life
Man And Space

With Robert Silverberg
Into Space

With Chesley Bonestell
Beyond Jupiter

With Simon Welfare and John Fairly
Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World
Arthur C. Clarke's World Of Strange Powers
Arthur C. Clarke's Chronicles Of The Weird And Mysterious
Arthur C. Clarke's A-Z

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