Life
Blackburn was born in Corbridge, Northumberland and educated at Haileybury and Durham University. He was the brother of the poet Thomas Blackburn. During the Second World War (1942–45) he served in the British merchant navy, becoming a radio officer. He attended Durham University after returning to civilian life, earning his bachelor's degree in 1949. In 1950 he married Joan Mary Clift. He was a schoolmaster in London for two years, and he taught in Berlin for a year, following which he returned to London and became a director of Red Lion Books.
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