[2][3] Writing in the Manchester Evening News in November 1944, George Orwell praised Urquhart's "remarkable gift for constructing neat stories with convincing dialogue.
[2] His father was chauffeur to wealthy Scottish families, including the Marquess of Breadalbane at Taymouth Castle.
[3][2] Because he was a pacifist and conscientious objector, during World War II, he worked on the land at Laurencekirk in the Mearns and later at Woburn Abbey.
[6][3] Many of his stories revolved around rural life, set in the fictional town of Auchencairn in the Mearns countryside south of Aberdeen.
[1][2] The theme of many of these stories was a desire to escape the drudgery of every-day working-class life.
Starting in 1947, Urquhart worked as a reader for a literary agency in London until 1951.,[2] From 1951 to 1954 he read scripts for Metro–Goldwyn–Mayer.