Neil Paterson

Neil Paterson was Scottish novelist and screenwriter He originally attended university with the intention of following in his fathers footsteps and becoming a solicitor but quickly realized his passion laid with football after joining Edinburgh University AFC He played for Buckie Thistle in the Highland League and for Leith Athletic in the Scottish League and was captain of Dundee United in the 193637 season He then decided to quit the sport and turned to sports journalism landing a position with DC Thomson He married Rose MacKenzie in 1939 and joined the Navy during the Second World War After the war he returned to writing and published his first novel On my Faithless Arm in 1946 under the pseudonym John Kovack His second novel The China Run Being the biography of a greatgrandmother was published two years later In 1951 Hodder Stoughton published a collection of short stories titled And Delilah Nine stories The collection included a short story named Scotch Settlement which was adapted by Paterson himself into the screenplay for the film The Kidnappers and kickstarted his career as a screenwriter In 1959 he won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for Room on Top based on the novel of the same name by John Braine