Wrote eleven detective novels from 1961 onwards; the first, "The Nose On My Face", was filmed in 1963 as Girl in the Headlines (1963).He lost the sight in one eye (after disobeying doctor's orders by not resting properly) as a result of an accident during the recording of a swordfight with Basil Henson on the set of the "Sexton Blake" (1967) tale "Sexton Blake v. The Organisation" in 1968. Ironically, Payne was actually an expert fight director.Was theatre-trained at the Old Vic School in 1939. As a conscientious objector when WWII broke out, he was exempted from military service under the proviso that he toured with the Old Vic.