John Michael Crichton was born in 1942 in Chicago, Illinois. He went to Harvard Medical School and had his first novels published while he was still a student there. His breakthrough came with the publication of his first best seller The Andromeda Strain in 1969.
During his career Crichton wrote a total of 27 novels, most notably Jurassic Park which was made into a film by Steven Spielberg. He also wrote 4 works of non-fiction and several short stories. In addition he worked as a film director, with Westworld perhaps his most famous work and as a producer, on the TV series ER and the film Twister. He died in 2008 at the age of 66.
Did you know that Michael Crichton's first novels were published under the pen name John Lange? Or that he appeared in as 'the Bearded Surgeon' in the film version of his novel The Andromeda Strain? What else do you know about the life and works of Michael Crichton? Test yourself in this quiz.