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Brian Callison 1934-2024

Class of 1953

Adventure novelist and former HSD pupil Brian Callison has died at the age of 89.

Born in Manchester, Brian moved to Dundee when he was very young and attended our school from 1944 to 1951.

He won a national writing competition before leaving school to join the Merchant Navy.

In 1952, he met his wife-to-be Phyllis while on leave. He would leave the Merchant Navy soon after, enrolling in DJCAD for silversmithing.

Throughout the late 50s and early 60s, he and a friend ran CB Studios, a small art and furniture business which would eventually become known as Portnacraig Construction after acquiring a joinery business in Broughty Ferry.

Brian also served in the Territorial Army during the early 60s and worked as general manager of Dundee’s Skyline Bowling Alley from 1964 to 1968.

Finally, he spend more than 30 years in the Royal Naval Auxiliary Service, only leaving when the unit was disbanded in 1994.

His career on the sea served as inspiration for his first novel, A Flock of Ships, which was published in 1970 and is now thought of as a classic.

Brian would go on to publish several more nautical thrillers, including A Plague Of Sailors, Ferry Down and A Ship Is Dying.

The author is survived by his two sons, Richard and Mark. A full tribute to his life can be read in the Courier.

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