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Science fiction (Children's / Teenage)
Trouble aboard the satellite observatory which has been established to circle the Earth every four hours. It is under the despotic control of a brilliant but unbalanced scientist, Commander Hendricks, who refuses to allow his staff any means of communicating with Earth on their own account. But he doesn't know that Tony Hale, who is one of the engineers in the observatory, has smuggled in his homemade transistor radio.
Scientists everywhere are baffled when three brown streaks appear on the Earth's surface, destroying all the vegetation in their path. No one can find the explanation until it is realised that the streaks lie in the direction of the satellite's orbit. Hendricks first refuses to reply to any questions and then announces that he intends to be the world dictator; if the governments of the world refuse to agree he will starve them into surrender by destroying all the vegetation on Earth. The situation seems desperate. But Tony has already used his transistor radio to get in touch with a friend on Earth. His homemade set is now the only means of contact between Earth and the observatory, and through it plans can be made to deal with Hendricks - plans in which Chris Godfrey has a leading role to play.
Hugh Walters
Hugh Walters was a prolific writer of science fiction stories. Whilst his principle target audience was teenagers, his combination of genuine science about the solar system with adventure and suspense thrown in, made him popular with a wider spectrum of readers.
Born Walter Llewellyn Hughes on 15th June 1910 in Bilston, Staffordshire, the eldest of four children of Walter Martin and Kate Hughes. He was educated at Dudley Grammar School and as a young man was an enthusiastic Scoutmaster. Most of his working life was as Managing Director of Bradsteds, a light engineering factory in Bradley. His interest in space travel began when he and his son attended the meetings in Birmingham of The British Interplanetary Society in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Throughout his adult life he was an active Rotarian, a Justice of the Peace, and spent many years as a Councillor in Local Government in Bilston and Wolverhampton. His father had been an Alderman and Mayor of Bilston in 1937.
He married, first, Doris Higgins on 23rd April 1934. They had two children, Walter Frederick and Gillian Doris. His wife, Doris, died on 3rd September 1965. He married his second wife, Susan Elizabeth, in 1978. Walter Llewellyn Hughes died on 13th January 1993, survived by Susan and his two children.
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