James Edmund Neil Paterson (31 December 1915 – 19 April 1995)[1][2] was a Scottish writer of novels, short stories and screenplays.
He graduated from the University of Edinburgh and had a brief career in senior football, playing as an inside left.
[3] Despite his success in football – he scored 9 goals from 26 league appearances for Dundee United, including a hat-trick – he remained an amateur player, spurning the opportunity to go professional.
[1] As an amateur he was automatically released at the end of the season, although he played one further game for the club in an emergency.
[4] After his football career finished he became a writer, initially as a sports journalist for D.C. Thomson and after the Second World War as an author, penning a number of well received novels and short stories.