Harold Robbins - Andrew Wilson

Harold Robbins, the godfather of the airport novel pulsating with sex and glamour, changed the face of publishing with classics such as The Carpetbaggers, The Dream Merchantsand The Lonely Lady

His readers loved his steamy tales of money, soft porn, drugs, corruption, greed and, just sometimes, redemption, while his fans included Pablo Picasso, Mario Puzo, James Baldwin, Jackie Collins, Sidney Sheldon and Camille Paglia

In his lifetime, his book sales exceeded 750 million, and he became as much a part of the sexual and social revolution as the Pill, Playboyand pot

Responsible for the whole new genre of commercial publishing, Harold Robbins unintentionally spawned the careers of writers such as Jacqueline Susann, Judith Krantz and Shirley Conran

The world's first playboy writer, he reportedly frittered away $50 million on fast cars, loose women and high living

Obsessed with fame and fortune, Harold Robbins was a deeply complex and often controversial man; a constant master of self-invention, even his closest friends and lovers could only guess at the past of the man behind the perma-tanned mask and gigantic mirrored sunglasses.