Richard Hughes (journalist)
Encyclopedia
Richard Joseph Hughes was an Australia
n journalist who spent much of his life in the Far East as correspondent for The Times
, The Economist
and the Far Eastern Economic Review
. He was the inspiration for the fictional character Dikko Henderson in Ian Fleming
's James Bond
novel You Only Live Twice, and for 'Old Craw' in John le Carré
's The Honourable Schoolboy
.
Hughes was born on 5 March 1906 at Prahran, Melbourne
, Australia. His working life began at the Victorian Railways and he acquired his first journalistic experiences as a writer for the house magazine "The Victorian Railways Magazine" which is where he acquired the poetic style of writing for which he later became famous. He later worked within the Frank Packer
organisation.
Hughes was a war correspondent in the North African campaign of World War II
and the Korean
and Vietnam
wars.
After WWII he worked first from Japan
and then from Hong Kong
where in addition to his journalistic work he was generally considered to be a British spy and by some to be a double agent.
He died in Hong Kong in January 1984 of kidney and liver diseases.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n journalist who spent much of his life in the Far East as correspondent for The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, The Economist
The Economist
The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
and the Far Eastern Economic Review
Far Eastern Economic Review
The Far Eastern Economic Review was an English language Asian news magazine started in 1946. It printed its final issue in December 2009. The Hong Kong-based business magazine was originally published weekly...
. He was the inspiration for the fictional character Dikko Henderson in Ian Fleming
Ian Fleming
Ian Lancaster Fleming was a British author, journalist and Naval Intelligence Officer.Fleming is best known for creating the fictional British spy James Bond and for a series of twelve novels and nine short stories about the character, one of the biggest-selling series of fictional books of...
's James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
novel You Only Live Twice, and for 'Old Craw' in John le Carré
John le Carré
David John Moore Cornwell , who writes under the name John le Carré, is an author of espionage novels. During the 1950s and the 1960s, Cornwell worked for MI5 and MI6, and began writing novels under the pseudonym "John le Carré"...
's The Honourable Schoolboy
The Honourable Schoolboy
The Honourable Schoolboy is a spy novel by John le Carré. George Smiley tries to reconstruct an intelligence service and to run a successful offensive espionage operation to save the service from falling to the "war hawks" in government...
.
Hughes was born on 5 March 1906 at Prahran, Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Australia. His working life began at the Victorian Railways and he acquired his first journalistic experiences as a writer for the house magazine "The Victorian Railways Magazine" which is where he acquired the poetic style of writing for which he later became famous. He later worked within the Frank Packer
Frank Packer
Sir Douglas Frank Hewson Packer, KBE , was an Australian media proprietor who controlled Australian Consolidated Press and the Nine Network.-Biography:...
organisation.
Hughes was a war correspondent in the North African campaign 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 the Korean
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
and Vietnam
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
wars.
After WWII he worked first from Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and then from Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
where in addition to his journalistic work he was generally considered to be a British spy and by some to be a double agent.
He died in Hong Kong in January 1984 of kidney and liver diseases.
Publications
- Hong Kong: Borrowed Place, Borrowed Time (Deutsch, 1968)
- Richard Hughes, Foreign Devil: Thirty Years of Reporting from the Far East (Deutsch, 1972)