President Fu Manchu
Sax Rohmer was born Arthur Henry Ward in 1883. As a schoolboy he was interested in Egyptology and the occult; later he became fascinated by theosophy, alchemy and mysticism. After a brief stint in the City of London, Rohmer became a Fleet Street journalist. The publication of two of his stories in magazines saw the start of his career as an adventure novelist and to begin with Rohmer wrote under a variety of pen names. The sinister arch-criminal Fu Manchu was his most famous creation, appearing for the first time in The Mystery of Fu Manchu, and a hugely popular series followed. Several films were made about Rohmer's villainous creation: notably The Mask of Fu Manchu in 1932 starring Boris Karloff and featuring Christopher Lee in the Hammer productions of the 1960's.