Douglas d'Enno was brought up in Harrow, family having moved to England from Italy when he was four. When he was 12 he moved to Saltdean, near Brighton. His full-length history of the locality was published in 1985. He developed an interest and ability in languages at secondary school and graduated in French and Italian at University College, London, in 1966. From that year until 1995 he worked mainly in translation, in some posts combined with writing. Several posts were in private industry but for the most part he was a Civil Service translator, retiring in 1995 from the Ministry of Agriculture after two decades as Chief Translator. Since 2004 He has written one local parish history and two books on true crime in Brighton. He has also completed a major naval history of World War 1, being published in two volumes in 2010 and 2011 respectively.

He is married, with two children and four grandchildren. He still translates in a freelance capacity and has done so since 1995.