Russell Reading Braddon was an Australia

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 writer of novels, biographies and TV scripts. His chronicle of his four years as a prisoner of war, The Naked Island, sold more than a million copies.

Braddon was born in Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, Australia, the son of a barrister. He served in the Malayan campaign

Battle of Malaya

The Malayan Campaign was a campaign fought by Allied and Japanese forces in Malaya, from 8 December 1941 – 31 January 1942 during the Second World War. The campaign was dominated by land battles between British Commonwealth army units, and the Imperial Japanese Army...

 during World War II. He was held as a prisoner of war by the Japanese in Changi

Changi Prison

Changi Prison is a prison located in Changi in the eastern part of Singapore.-First prison and POW camp:...

 between 1942 and 1945. During this time he met Ronald Searle

Ronald Searle

Ronald William Fordham Searle, CBE, RDI, is a British artist and cartoonist, best known as the creator of St Trinian's School. He is also the co-author of the Molesworth series....

, who went on to illustrate The Naked Island.

In 1949, Braddon moved to England. He described his writing career as "beginning by chance". The Naked Island, published in 1952, was one of the first accounts of a Japanese prisoner of war's experience.

Braddon went on to produce a wide range of works, including novels, biographies, histories, TV scripts and newspaper articles. He was also a broadcaster on radio and television.

Works

Novels

• The Piddingtons (1950)
• Those in Peril (1954)
• Out of the Storm (1956)
• Gabriel Comes to 24 (1958)
• The Proud American Boy (1960)
• Roy Thompson of Fleet Street (1963)
• The Year of the Angry Rabbit
  The Year of the Angry Rabbit
  The Year of the Angry Rabbit is a science fiction novel by Australian author Russell Braddon, in which giant mutant rabbits run amok in Australia while the Prime Minister uses a new super weapon to dominate the planet....
  
  (1964)
• Committal Chamber (1966)
• The Inseparables (1968)
• When the Enemy Is Tired
  When the Enemy Is Tired
  -Plot:Colonel Anthony Russell, an officer in the Australian army, is captured on a mission in China along with his squad of seven men. As the Chinese are excitied of the possibilities of Russell defecting and broadcasting Communist propaganda, they assign Major Lim, a Chinese propaganda officer...
  
  (1968)
• Will You Walk a Little Faster? (1969)
• Prelude and Fugue for Lovers (1971)
• Progress of Private Lilyworth (1971)
• End Play (1972)
• The Thirteenth Trick (1973)
• The Finalists (1977)
• The Predator (1980)
• Funnelweb (1990)

Non-fiction

• The Naked Island (1952)
• Cheshire V.C: A Study of War and Peace (1954)
• Woman in Arms: The Story of Nancy Wake (1956)
• Nancy Wake: The Story of a Very Brave Woman (1956)
• End of a Hate (1958)
• Joan Sutherland (1962)
• The Siege (1969)
• Suez: The Splitting of a Nation (1973)
• Hundred Days of Darien (1974)
• All the Queen's Men (1977)
• Japan Against the World (1983)
• The Other Hundred Years War (1983)
• Australia Fair? (1984)
• Thomas Baines and the North Australian Expedition (1987)
• Prisoners of War with Hugh Clarke and Colin Burgess
  Colin Burgess (author)
  Colin Burgess is an Australian author and historian, specializing in space flight and military history. He is a former customer service manager for Qantas Airways, and a regular contributor to the collectSPACE online community. He lives in New South Wales...
  
  (1988)