Light: From their pens to your ears, genius in every story

Despite his prolific fictional writings, verified facts about his upbringing, career and life are difficult to dissemble from his own various accounts over the years.

A sample suggests he was schooled at Eton and Oxford (no evidence exists of his time at either) and that he was by Religion; Russian Orthodox, a Muslim and a Roman Catholic! His claimed military career and gift for languages would normally mark him out – if they could be corroborated as true, which is doubtful. Fact and fiction are interchangeable it seems, but his writing is full of adventures and fast paced happenings that were ripe not only for the literary age but also the nascent film industry.

On or before 1912 he emigrated to the United States to enjoy a career as a writer, playwright and screenwriter, the latter for which he received an Academy Award nomination for ‘The Lives of a Bengal Lancer’ in the 1935 film.

He also wrote extensively for the pulp magazines of the day including Argosy, All-Story Magazine, Munsey's Magazine and Blue Book.

Abdullah also had a keen interest in translating Afghan poems and appears to have received a doctorate from the College of El-Azar, Cairo in Koranic Studies.

Together with three marriages and two daughters his life was certainly colorful.

Achmed Abdullah died on his birthday, 12th May 1945, of a heart attack. He was 64.