Charles MacHardy left school to become a builder's labourer, lorry driver and trawler hand, before joining DC Thomson & Co as a trainee journalist. He joined the Royal Navy on the outbreak of war in 1939. He attended Naval Training Establishment, Shotley, then served in the Royal Navy, as petty officer, 1942-48. After the war, MacHardy was one of the legion of Scots who inhabited post-war Fleet Street, where he spent 12 years before returning to Scotland. He worked for the Daily Express, went on to become arts editor of the Daily Sketch, and was subsequently arts editor of the fledgling Independent Television News service (ITN). MacHardy included among his legion of friends the late Douglas Sutherland, and Gordon Williams, a Fleet Street contemporary whose novel, [BOOK: The Siege of Tencher's Farm] was made into the movie Straw Dogs and republished under the move title. MacHardy was a prolific writer, churning out radio plays, magazine pieces and television proposals right up until his death.