John Christopher (2) (1956–)
Author of Transatlantic Airships: An Illustrated History
For other authors named John Christopher, see the disambiguation page.
About the Author
Christopher Samuel Youd was born on April 16, 1922, in Knowsley, Lancashire, England. He entered the Royal Signals corps during World War II. He published a dozen novels while working at an office job in London, writing in the evenings and on weekends. The success of a 1956 novel, The Death of show more Grass (titled No Blade of Grass in the United States), allowed him to become a full-time author. He wrote under the following pen names: Stanley Winchester, Hilary Ford, William Godfrey, William Vine, Peter Graaf, Peter Nichols and Anthony Rye. Under the pen name John Christopher, he wrote the Tripods trilogy, The Sword of the Spirits trilogy, and The Fireball trilogy. He died from complications of bladder cancer on February 3, 2012 at the age of 89. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Works by John Christopher
Associated Works
UFO Magazine May/June 1995 — Contributor — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1956-08-02
- Gender
- male
- Occupations
- balloonist
editor
writer - Organizations
- British Balloon and Airship Club
Airship Association - Short biography
- [from Google Books website]
John Christopher has been a professional balloon pilot for twenty years and has had a long involvement with airships. A recognized authority on all aspects of lighter-than-air flight, he is a director of Airship Initiatives, a consultancy service with the primary aim of putting airships to work. John has contributed to a number of publications including Air & Space magazine and Airsports International. He was the former editor of the Aerostat journal of the British Balloon & Airship Club, and Airship the journal of the Airship Association.[another from Google Books website]
John Christopher has written and edited a number of books on Engineering, Military History and Railway and Road Transport, specializing in the life and works of Isambard Kingdom Brunel and being the series editor for Amberley's Bradshaw's Guides series. He has also appeared in Michael Portillo's Great British Railway Journeys television series. In between writing books, he is a balloon pilot and Land Rover fan. He lives in Gloucestershire. - Nationality
- UK
- Birthplace
- Knowsley, Lancashire, England, UK
- Places of residence
- Gloucestershire, England, UK
- Associated Place (for map)
- England, UK
Members
Discussions
Samuel Youd (John Christopher) 1922-2012 in Science Fiction Fans (June 2012)
Reviews
A delightful gallop through the history of military ballooning. Comprehensive but not too detailed, the author provides a very useful and readable history of one of the lesser known aspects of military aviation. The Napoleonic era, American Civil War, Siege of Paris all get individual chapters. WW1 is covered in slightly more detail, but the bulk of the book deals with WW2 and Post-War. There is much that was new to this reader, and I have read quite a lot on the subject over the years. The show more author even risks a discussion of balloons-vs-flying saucers and Roswell et al. It is well illustrated, although one or two photos appear out of sequence, and has a useful bibliography and index. show less
An interesting month by month pictorial history of the first year of The Great War.
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Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 48
- Also by
- 1
- Members
- 196
- Popularity
- #111,884
- Rating
- 3.8
- Reviews
- 2
- ISBNs
- 497
- Languages
- 14