MacInnes, Colin (1914–1976)

English novelist. His work is characterized by sharp depictions of London youth and subcultures of the 1950s, as in City of Spades 1957, about West Indians and Africans in Britain, and Absolute Beginners 1959, about teenagers. He was the son of the novelist Angela Thirkell (1890–1961).

He was born in London and brought up in Australia. Most of his novels are records of contemporary reality but in 1969 he entered a new field with the amusing historical novel Westward to Laughter. Other books are To the Victor the Spoils 1950, Mr Love and Justice 1960, England, Half English 1961, and No Novel Reader 1975.