Billany was born and raised in
Hull. He joined the
Labour League of Youth and later the Hull Branch of the
Socialist Party of Great Britain, but was expelled from the latter in 1933 for his involvement in an internal dispute. He later joined the
National Unemployed Workers' Movement. Billany received a degree in
English from the
University College of Hull in 1937. His career in teaching was interrupted by the outbreak of
World War II; Billany joined the army in 1940 and became an officer as lieutenant in the 4th battalion of the
East Yorkshire Regiment. He was captured by the Germans and spent June 1942 till September 1943 as a
prisoner of war in Italy. Throughout the war off duty, Billany concentrated on his writing.
The Opera House Murders, a thriller, and
The Magic Door, a book for boys, were published in 1940 and 1943, respectively. After the capitulation of Italy in September 1943, Billany fled to the countryside with his manuscripts, working on them for weeks while hiding from the German army. He deposited them with a friendly local who promised to post them to Britain at the conclusion of the war. These manuscripts,
The Cage and
The Trap, were received by Billany's family in 1946 and eventually published to wide acclaim. In
Dockers and Detectives,
Ken Worpole lauded
The Trap as "the finest novel to come out of the war". ==Disappearance==