J ohn Christopher (Christopher Samuel Youd) is a prolific writer who as written under a variety of pen names: Hilary Ford, William Godfrey, Peter Graaf, Peter Nichols, and Anthony Rye. The young adult books he has published as "John Christopher," however, have been the most successful.

Christopher was born on April 16, 1922 in Knowsely, Lancashire, England.

In 1932 his family moved to Hampshire and he attended Peter Symonds School in Winchester. When he was sixteen he went to work in a local government office and, from 1942-1946, he served in the Army Signal Corps. From 1946-1958, he was employed in the information bureau of an organization that cut diamonds. In 1946, he married Joyce Fairbairn, a physicist, and together they had five children. Their marriage subsequently ended, and in 1980, he married Jessica Valerie Ball.

Following the war, Christopher received a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation which allowed...