Editing Hammond Innes

{{Short description|British novelist (1913–1998)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}
'''Ralph Hammond Innes''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|CBE}} (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]], Sussex, and educated at [[Feltonfleet School]], Cobham, Surrey, where he was head boy, and later at [[Cranbrook School, Kent|Cranbrook School]] in [[Kent]]. He left in 1931 to work as a journalist, initially with the ''[[Financial News (1884–1945)|Financial News]]''. ''The Doppelganger'', his first novel, was published in 1937. In [[World War II|WWII]], he served in the [[Royal Artillery]], eventually rising to the rank of Major. During the war, further books were published, including ''[[Wreckers Must Breathe]]'' (1940), ''[[The Trojan Horse (novel)|The Trojan Horse]]'' (1940) and ''[[Attack Alarm]]'' (1941), the last of which was based on his experiences as an anti-aircraft gunner during the [[Battle of Britain]] at [[RAF Kenley]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.kenleyrevival.org/content/history/significant-dates/attack-alarm-hammond-inness-portrait-of-kenleys-hardest-day|title=ATTACK ALARM – Hammond Innes's portrait of Kenley's Hardest Day|website=Kenley Revival|access-date=23 September 2020}}</ref> 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 [[Gatow Airport|RAF Gatow]], [[RAF Membury]] after its closure and [[RAF Wunstorf]] during the [[Berlin Airlift]].

Innes produced books in a regular sequence, with six months of travel to settings all over the world and research followed by six months of writing. Many of his works featured events at sea and of metallurgy. 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 film)|Snowbound]]'' (1948) from ''[[The Lonely Skier]]'' (1947), ''[[Hell Below Zero]]'' (1954) from ''[[The White South]]'' (1949), ''[[Campbell's Kingdom]]'' (1957) from the [[Campbell's Kingdom (novel)|book of the same name]] (1952), and ''[[The Wreck of the Mary Deare (film)|The Wreck of the Mary Deare]]'' (1959) also from the [[The Wreck of the Mary Deare|book of the same name]] (1956).<ref name="Humphries 1994 p. 142">{{cite book |last=Humphries |first=P. |title=The Films of Alfred Hitchcock |publisher=Random House Value Publishing |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-517-10292-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=semM469g-TYC |access-date=20 June 2021 |page=142 |quote=The Wreck of the Mary Deare was in fact made into a worthy film in 1959, with an Eric Ambler adaptation of the Innes novel and Gary Cooper giving a memorable performance ...}}</ref>  His 1973 novel ''[[Golden Soak (novel)|Golden Soak]]'' was adapted into a [[Golden Soak|six-part television series]] in 1979. It was partly filmed in [[Nullagine, Western Australia]]. An audio adaptation of ''[[The Doomed Oasis]]'' was repeated on the UK digital radio station BBC Radio 7 (now called [[BBC Radio 4 Extra]]).

In 1937, he married actress Dorothy Mary Lang, who died in 1989.<ref>[https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-hammond-innes-1164546.html Obituary: Hammond Innes - Arts & Entertainment - The Independent<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Innes's great love and experience of the sea as a yachtsman, was reflected in many of his novels, as well as his interest in metallurgy. Hammond and his wife both travelled in and raced their yachts ''Triune of Troy'' and ''Mary Deare''. They lived together in [[Suffolk]] for many years, in the village of [[Kersey, Suffolk|Kersey]]. After their deaths, they left the bulk of their estate and all of their [[Public Lending Right]]s to the Association of Sea Training Organisations, to enable young people to gain training and experience in sailing the element they both loved.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://uksailtraining.org.uk/about-asto/ralph-hammond-innes|title=Hammond Innes|website=UK Sail Training|access-date=24 September 2020}}</ref>

In 1978, Hammond Innes was appointed a [[Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] (CBE) for his services to literature.

==Bibliography==

===Novels===
* ''The Doppelganger'' (1937)
* ''Air Disaster'' (1937)
* ''Sabotage Broadcast'' (1938)
* ''All Roads Lead to Friday'' (1939)
* ''[[Wreckers Must Breathe]]'' (also published in the U.S. as ''Trapped'') (1940)
* ''[[The Trojan Horse (novel)|The Trojan Horse]]'' (1940)
* ''[[Attack Alarm]]'' (1941)
* ''[[Dead and Alive (Innes novel)|Dead and Alive]]'' (1946)
* ''[[Killer Mine]]'' (1947)
* ''[[The Lonely Skier]]'' (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 (novel)|Campbell's Kingdom]]'' (1952)
* ''[[The Strange Land]]'' (also published in the U.S. as ''The Naked Land'') (1954)
* ''[[The Wreck of the Mary Deare]]'' (1956)
* ''[[The Land God Gave to Cain]]'' (1958)
* ''[[The Doomed Oasis]]'' (1960)
* ''[[Atlantic Fury]]'' (1962)
* ''[[The Strode Venturer]]'' (1965)
* ''[[Levkas Man]]'' (1971), adapted for television as ''Levkas Man''
* ''[[Golden Soak (novel)|Golden Soak]]'' (1973), adapted for television as ''[[Golden Soak]]''
* ''[[North Star (novel)|North Star]]'' (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 (novel)|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===
* {{cite book | title=Harvest of Journeys | publisher=[[Alfred A. Knopf|Knopf]] | year=1960 | isbn=978-0-00-612180-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FOpJAAAAMAAJ}}
* ''Scandinavia'' (1963)
* ''Sea and Islands'' (1967)
* {{cite book | title=The Conquistadors | publisher=[[HarperCollins|Collins]] | year=1969 | isbn=978-0-00-217531-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E8NVAAAAMAAJ}}
* ''Hammond Innes Introduces Australia''.  Andre Deutsch. 1971.
* ''East Anglia'' (1986)

==See also==
* [[Nevil Shute]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Books and Writers |id=hinnes |name=Hammond Innes}}
* [http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/authors/Hammond_Innes.htm Book covers from fantasticfiction]
<!--* [http://www.asto.org.uk/about-asto/history/ralph-hammond-innes Hammond Innes profile from ASTO (Association of Sea Training Organisations)] -->

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