J. R. L. Anderson (British journalist and writer.) Add a review

John Richard Lane Anderson (17 June 1911 – 21 August 1981) was a British journalist, sailor, and prolific author. After a number of short-term jobs, including a period in the Indian Army, Anderson joined The Guardian where he remained for the rest of his career.

He began to write books seriously in the 1960s, with a special interest in stories of real life adventure on the sea. He reported on Francis Chichester's voyages and edited Chichester's Atlantic Adventure in 1962. In 1966, he was the leader of a Guardian-sponsored crew that sailed a cutter from England to North America in order to replicate Leif Erikson's voyage, and in 1967 he published an account of the journey.

He also produced topographical, children's, and other works but is best known for his Peter Blair and Piet Deventer mysteries, the last of which, Late Delivery, was published posthumously in 1982.