Born Sam Youd and better known by his pen name John Christopher, this Guardian Prize-winning science fiction writer most notably penned the 1956 work The Death of Grass and the 1960s young adult series The Tripods.
After serving during the early 1940s in the British Army's Royal Corps of Signals, he published his debut novel The Winter Swan.
He was the 1976 recipient of the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis (a German prize for young adult fiction).
He was born in Huyton, Lancashire, England, and he studied at Peter Symonds' School in Winchester, Hampshire, England.
No Blade of Grass, the 1970 cinematic adaptation of Christopher's book The Death of Grass, stars Nigel Davenport as protagonist John Custance.
