Iain Bertram Hamilton (3 February 1920 – 15 July 1986) was a Scottish journalist, author and poet.^[1]

Hamilton was educated at Paisley Grammar School, and initially worked as a reporter on the Daily Record in Glasgow before heading south to London to work as on the staff of The Guardian.^[1] From 1952, he was associated with the weekly journal The Spectator, and after several promotions through the ranks he was appointed Editor in 1962, staying in that position for a year. He was Editorial Director of the Hutchinson group of publishing companies from 1958 to 1962, and after leaving The Spectator became managing director of Kern House Enterprises (1970–5).^[1] He was Director of Studies at the Institute for the Study of Conflict, London, during 1975-1977. In addition, he wrote a good many articles for the Illustrated London News and the high-brow current affairs magazine Encounter.

The best known of Hamilton's literary works is his biography of Arthur Koestler, published by Secker & Warburg, London, in 1982 (a year before Koestler's death). His other books were:

• Spectrum: A Spectator Miscellany (1956), ed. with Ian Gilmour
• Scotland the Brave (1957)
• Half a Highlander: An Autobiography of a Scottish Youth (1958)
• The Foster Gang (1966), with H. J. May
• Embarkation for Cythera (1974)
• The Kerry Kyle (1980)

He also wrote a play early in his career, The Snarling Beggar (1951).

Reviews

• Ross, Robert (1982), review of Koestler, in Hearn, Sheila G. (ed.), Cencrastus No. 10, Autumn 1982, p. 48, ISSN 0264-0856