Charlotte Hough (1924–2008)

Charlotte Hough, née Woodyadd, was brought up by her mother, an actress/singer/pianist. Her father, a much older physician, had deserted the family when Charlotte was a tiny child. She attended the progressive private school Frensham Heights in Surrey. During Word War II, she served in the WRENS and married Richard Hough, an RAF fighter pilot who later became an author, with whom she had five children. After the war, Charlotte began using her talent for drawing to illustrate children's books, beginning with Jim Tiger in 1956, now considered a classic. She also wrote children's fiction and published about 30 works in her career. In addition, she wrote one book for adults, a detective novel called The Bassington Murder (1980). At age 60, she was arrested and pleaded guilty to attempted murder for her role in an assisted suicide, and served six months in prison.