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Ralph Hammond Innes (15 July 1913 – 10 June 1998) was a British novelist who wrote over 30 novels, as well as works for children and travel books.


Biography

Innes was born in
Horsham Horsham is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...
, Sussex, and educated at Feltonfleet School, Cobham, Surrey where he was head boy and later at Cranbrook School in
Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
. He left in 1931 to work as a journalist, initially with the ''
Financial News ''Financial News'' is a financial newspaper and news website published in London. It is a weekly newspaper, published by eFinancial News Limited, covering the financial services sector through news, views and extensive people coverage. ''Fi ...
''. ''The Doppelganger'', his first novel, was published in 1937. In
WWII World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, he served in the
Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...
, eventually rising to the rank of Major. During the war, his first books were published, including '' Wreckers Must Breathe'' (1940), ''
The Trojan Horse The Trojan Horse was a wooden horse said to have been used by the Greeks during the Trojan War to enter the city of Troy and win the war. The Trojan Horse is not mentioned in Homer's ''Iliad'', with the poem ending before the war is concluded, ...
'' (1940) and ''
Attack Alarm ''Attack Alarm'' is a 1941 thriller novel by the British writer Hammond Innes. It was inspired by the author's own experience as an anti-aircraft gunner at RAF Kenley during the Battle of Britain. In fact, according to Adrian Jack, the manuscript ...
'' (1941), the last of which was based on his experiences as an anti-aircraft gunner during the
Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain, also known as the Air Battle for England (german: die Luftschlacht um England), was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defende ...
at RAF Kenley. After being demobilized in 1946, he worked full-time as a writer, achieving multiple early successes. His novels are known for a fine attention to accurate detail in descriptions of places, such as in '' Air Bridge'' (1951), set partially at
RAF Gatow Royal Air Force Gatow, or more commonly RAF Gatow, was a British Royal Air Force station (military airbase) in the district of Gatow in south-western Berlin, west of the Havel river, in the borough of Spandau. It was the home for the onl ...
, RAF Membury after its closure and RAF Wunstorf during the
Berlin Airlift The Berlin Blockade (24 June 1948 – 12 May 1949) was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, ro ...
. Innes produced books in a regular sequence, with six months of travel and research followed by six months of writing. Many of his works featured events at sea. His output decreased in the 1960s, but was still substantial. He became interested in ecological themes, as in ''High Stand'', his "tree" novel. He continued writing until just before his death. His last novel was ''Delta Connection'' (1996). Unusually for the thriller genre, Innes' protagonists were often not "heroes" in the typical sense, but ordinary men suddenly thrust into extreme situations by circumstance. Often, this involved being placed in a hostile environment (the Arctic, the open sea, deserts), or unwittingly becoming involved in a larger conflict or conspiracy. The protagonist generally is forced to rely on his own wits and making best use of limited resources, rather than the weapons and gadgetry commonly used by thriller writers. Four of his early novels were adapted into films: '' Snowbound'' (1948) from ''
The Lonely Skier ''The Lonely Skier'' is a 1947 thriller novel by the British writer Hammond Innes. It is set in the Dolomites where a number of people are hunting a stash of buried Nazi treasure. The hero Neil Blair, recently demobbed from the army and unemplo ...
'' (1947), '' Hell Below Zero'' (1954) from '' The White South'' (1949), '' Campbell's Kingdom'' (1957) from the book of the same name (1952), and ''
The Wreck of the Mary Deare ''The Wreck of the Mary Deare'' (in the UK published as ''The Mary Deare'') is a 1956 novel written by British author Hammond Innes, which was later adapted as a film starring Gary Cooper released in 1959 by MGM. According to Jack Adrian, the ...
'' (1959) also from the book of the same name (1956). His 1973 novel '' Golden Soak'' was adapted into a six-part television series in 1979. It was partly filmed in
Nullagine, Western Australia Nullagine is an old goldrush town in Western Australia's Pilbara region. It is located on the Nullagine River 296 km south-east of Port Hedland and 1,364 km north-north-east of Perth on the old Great Northern Highway. The town origin ...
. An audio adaptation of ''
The Doomed Oasis ''The Doomed Oasis'' is a 1960 thriller novel by the British writer Hammond Innes. A solicitor helps a young man to travel to the Arabian peninsula to find his father, a famous oil prospector Colonel Charles Whitaker. Plot Publishers of the nove ...
'' was repeated on the UK digital radio station BBC Radio 7 (now called
BBC Radio 4 Extra BBC Radio 4 Extra (formerly BBC Radio 7) is a British digital radio station from the BBC, broadcasting archived repeats of comedy, drama and documentary programmes nationally, 24 hours a day. It is the sister station of BBC Radio 4 and the ...
). In 1937, he married actress Dorothy Mary Lang, who died in 1989. Innes's great love and experience of the sea as a yachtsman, was reflected in many of his novels. Hammond and his wife both travelled in and raced their yachts ''Triune of Troy'' and ''Mary Deare''. They lived together in
Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include ...
for many years, in the village of Kersey. After their deaths, they left the bulk of their estate and all of their
Public Lending Right A Public Lending Right (PLR) is a program intended to either compensate authors for the potential loss of sales from their works being available in public libraries or as a governmental support of the arts, through support of works available in pu ...
s to the Association of Sea Training Organisations, to enable young people to gain training and experience in sailing the element they both loved. In 1978, Hammond Innes was appointed a
Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...
(CBE) for his services to literature.


Bibliography


Novels

* ''The Doppelganger'' (1937) * ''Air Disaster'' (1937) * ''Sabotage Broadcast'' (1938) * ''All Roads Lead to Friday'' (1939) * ''
The Trojan Horse The Trojan Horse was a wooden horse said to have been used by the Greeks during the Trojan War to enter the city of Troy and win the war. The Trojan Horse is not mentioned in Homer's ''Iliad'', with the poem ending before the war is concluded, ...
'' (1940) * '' Wreckers Must Breathe'' (also published in the U.S. as ''Trapped'') (1940) * ''
Attack Alarm ''Attack Alarm'' is a 1941 thriller novel by the British writer Hammond Innes. It was inspired by the author's own experience as an anti-aircraft gunner at RAF Kenley during the Battle of Britain. In fact, according to Adrian Jack, the manuscript ...
'' (1941) * '' Dead and Alive'' (1946) * '' Killer Mine'' (1947) * ''
The Lonely Skier ''The Lonely Skier'' is a 1947 thriller novel by the British writer Hammond Innes. It is set in the Dolomites where a number of people are hunting a stash of buried Nazi treasure. The hero Neil Blair, recently demobbed from the army and unemplo ...
'' (also published in the U.S. as ''Fire in the Snow'') (1947) * '' The Blue Ice'' (1948) * '' Maddon's Rock'' (also published in the U.S. as ''Gale Warning'') (1948) * '' The White South'' (also published in the U.S. as ''The Survivors'') (1949) * '' The Angry Mountain'' (1950) * '' Air Bridge'' (1951) * '' Campbell's Kingdom'' (1952) * '' The Strange Land'' (also published in the U.S. as ''The Naked Land'') (1954) * ''
The Wreck of the Mary Deare ''The Wreck of the Mary Deare'' (in the UK published as ''The Mary Deare'') is a 1956 novel written by British author Hammond Innes, which was later adapted as a film starring Gary Cooper released in 1959 by MGM. According to Jack Adrian, the ...
'' (1956) * '' The Land God Gave to Cain'' (1958) * ''
The Doomed Oasis ''The Doomed Oasis'' is a 1960 thriller novel by the British writer Hammond Innes. A solicitor helps a young man to travel to the Arabian peninsula to find his father, a famous oil prospector Colonel Charles Whitaker. Plot Publishers of the nove ...
'' (1960) * '' Atlantic Fury'' (1962) * '' The Strode Venturer'' (1965) * '' Levkas Man'' (1971), adapted for television as ''Levkas Man'' * '' Golden Soak'' (1973), adapted for television as '' Golden Soak'' * ''
North Star Polaris is a star in the northern circumpolar constellation of Ursa Minor. It is designated α Ursae Minoris ( Latinized to ''Alpha Ursae Minoris'') and is commonly called the North Star or Pole Star. With an apparent magnitude that ...
'' (1974) * '' The Big Footprints'' (1977) * ''The Last Voyage: Captain Cook's Lost Diary'' (fictionalised account of Captain Cook's third and last voyage) (1978) * '' Solomon's Seal'' (1980) * '' The Black Tide'' (1982) * ''High Stand'' (1985) * ''Medusa'' (1988) * ''Isvik'' (1991) * ''Target Antarctica'' (1993) * ''Delta Connection'' (1996)


Books for children (as Ralph Hammond)

* ''Cocos Gold'' (1950) * ''Isle of Strangers'' (1951) * ''Saracen's Tower'' (1952) * ''Black Gold on the Double Diamond'' (1953)


Nonfiction

* * ''Scandinavia'' (1963) * ''Sea and Islands'' (1967) * * ''Hammond Innes Introduces Australia''. Andre Deutsch. 1971. * ''East Anglia'' (1986)


See also

*
Nevil Shute Nevil Shute Norway (17 January 189912 January 1960) was an English novelist and aeronautical engineer who spent his later years in Australia. He used his full name in his engineering career and Nevil Shute as his pen name, in order to protect ...


References


External links

*
Book covers from fantasticfiction
{{DEFAULTSORT:Innes, Hammond 1913 births 1998 deaths 20th-century English novelists British Army personnel of World War II Commanders of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Cranbrook School, Kent People from Horsham Royal Artillery officers British thriller writers