Ronald Staveley Payne (6 February 1926 – 25 May 2013), or Ronnie Payne, was a British journalist and war correspondent who focused on espionage and terrorism.
Early life Ronald Payne was born on 6 February 1926 in Ripon, Yorkshire, England. His father was a Primitive Methodist minister.
Payne was educated at Pocklington Grammar School and Bedford School. During World War II, he served in the Royal Marines. He subsequently attended Jesus College, Oxford.
Career Payne began his career as a journalist at the Reading Mercury. He subsequently wrote for the London Evening Standard. In 1953, he joined the Daily Telegraph, first as a reporter and later as a foreign correspondent in Paris. He wrote about French Algeria and French Indochina. He also wrote about the Suez Crisis in 1956, and he interviewed Muammar Gaddafi in 1976.
Payne co-authored several books with Christopher Dobson and John Miller. He was also the author of six non-fiction books about espionage or terrorism.
Payne co-authored several books with John Williams Garrod, written under the joint pseudonym John Castle, including The Password Is Courage, the 1954 World War II biography of Sergeant-Major Charles Coward, and the novelization of Flight into Danger.
Personal life and death Payne was married three times. His third wife, Celia Haddon, was a journalist. They retired in Witney, Oxfordshire.
Payne died on 25 May 2013 in Witney.
Works (Ronald Payne and John Williams Garrod; as "John Castle") 1954 The Password is Courage
References