Jan Needle (Full name James Albert Needle) is an English author born in 1943. He was born and grew up in Portsmouth on the South coast of England, coming from a family with strong naval and military connections. He has written over thirty novels, as well as books and plays for adults and children, books of critisicm, cartoons and radio and television serials and series.

After studying to becoming a journalist and despite poor grades in English, he moved to the North-West of England at age 20 to work for the Daily Herald newspaper. At 25 he took a Drama degree course at Manchester University, quitting full time journalism after working for various papers. His first novel, Albeson and the Germans, was published in 1977.

In the early '90s, he wrote four adult novels under the pseudenym 'Frank Kippax': The Scar, The Butcher's Bill, Other People's Blood and Fear of Night and Darkness.

His historical nautical series, the William Bentley novels, are known for showing the British Navy in a less favourable light than most fictional books in the genre tend to, and for removing some of the romantic gloss that is often attached to the genre.

He currently lives in Uppermill, Oldham and West Didsbury, Manchester in the Northwest of England, and has five children.

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