Charles Maclean was born in 1946 and is married with four children. For ten years he lived in New York and central Florida, and now lives in Scotland and Croatia. He is a Knight of Mark Twain (elected) and the 16th Captain and Keeper of Dunconnel in the Isles of the Sea (hereditary).
An associate editor of Travel and Leisure magazine, Charles Maclean travels frequently, but otherwise leads a quiet life on the west coast of Argyll, where he runs a small farm and holiday cottage business. He also produces a famous single malt whisky, 'The MacPhunn', named after a 17th Century murderer and sheep stealer. He was a founder member of the Ecologist magazine and with Edward Goldsmith helped launch 'Blueprint For Survival' - the manifesto for what was the grow into the Green movement in the UK.
Maclean's father, Fitzroy Maclean, wrote the world classic Eastern Approaches and was allegedly the model for Ian Fleming's James Bond.