Richard Alexander Hough (15 May 1922 - 7 October 1999) was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

 and historian

Historian

A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...

 specializing in maritime history.

Personal life

Hough married the author Charlotte Woodyadd

Charlotte Hough

Charlotte Hough was the British author of a detective novel and over thirty illustrated children's books. In the 1980s she was convicted of attempted murder, and sentenced to nine months imprisonment, for assisting a suicide....

, who he had met when they were pupils at Frensham Heights School

Frensham Heights School

Frensham Heights School is an independent school located in Surrey, United Kingdom, run by the registered charity, Frensham Heights Educational Trust Ltd. It was founded in 1925 and formed as part of the movement for progressive education...

, and they had five children including the author Deborah Moggach

Deborah Moggach

Deborah Moggach is an English writer. She has written sixteen novels to date, including The Ex-Wives, Tulip Fever, and, most recently, These Foolish Things. She has adapted many of her novels as TV dramas and has also written several film scripts, including the BAFTA-nominated screenplay for Pride...

.

Literary career

He won the Daily Express Best Book of the Sea Award in 1972.

After leaving school, he joined the RAF (Royal Air Force

Royal Air Force

The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...

) at the beginning of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 and was stationed at an airfield not far from Hollywood. He later flew Hurricanes and Typhoons.

He also wrote under the nom de plume

Pen name

A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...

, Bruce Carter.

Among the 90 books he wrote were:

• Into a Strange Lost World
  Into a Strange Lost World
  Into a Strange Lost World is a children fiction novel by Richard Hough under the pen name of Bruce Carter. It was first published by The Bodley Head in 1952. It has also been published under the title 'The Perilous Descent.' It tells the story of two airmen shot down over the English channel during...
  
  (1952), aka The Perilous Descent into a Strange Lost World

• The Deadly Freeze (1976)

• Buzzbugs (1977)

• Nightworld (1987)

• The Kidnapping of Kensington
  The Kidnapping of Kensington
  The Kidnapping of Kensington is a children fiction novel by Richard Hough under the pen name of Bruce Carter. It was first published by Hamish Hamilton in 1958. It has also been published under the title The Children Who Stayed Behind....
  
  , aka The Children Who Stayed Behind