Martin Woodhouse

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Martin Charlton Woodhouse (born 1932) is a British author and scriptwriter. He is most famous as a writer for the TV series The Avengers, but he also authored or co-authored eleven novels. He is a former medical doctor, pilot, engineer and computer designer.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Woodhouse studied medicine and psychology at Cambridge, but later worked as an engineer in the Royal Air Force. After being discharged from miliatry service Woodhouse worked as an author of novels and screen plays, a computer programmer and a stock trader.

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] Writing Style

Woodhouse's writing is filled with very dry, humorous prose. Protagonists tend to be very intelligent, scarcastic, and unimpressed with authority figures. Many of his books are filled with details that reflect his background in engineering and medicine.

[edit] Books by Publication Date

  • Tree Frog (1966)
  • Rock Baby (a.k.a. "Bush Baby") (1968)
  • Phil and Me (1970)
  • Mama Doll (1972)
  • Blue Bone (1973)
  • Medici Guns (1974)
  • Medici Emerald (1976)
  • Moon Hill (1976)
  • The Remington Set (1976)
  • Medici Hawks (1978)
  • Traders (1980)

[edit] Books by Series

[edit] Giles Yeoman

Woodhouse wrote a series of techno-thriller novels about Giles Yeoman, an aeronautical engineer who is a reluctant participant in a variety of cloak-and-dagger exploits conducted by the British intelligence community. The plot of each book revolves around the military or intelligence applications of some new some form of technology, and Yeoman's efforts to make sure that this technology doesn't fall into the hands of communists. Woodhouse's descriptions show the sort of attention to technical detail that would be expected from his work as an engineer for the RAF.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
  • Tree Frog (1966) - This is a novel about the 1960's cold war arms race to develop long range reconnaissance drones. Action takes place in many locales, but much of it is set in Britan and Libya. The descriptions of aircraft control systems in this book are clearly informed by Woodhouse's real life work on the target acquisition and guidance systems for early variants of the RAF's Bloodhound SAM
  • Bush Baby (1968) - This novel focuses on seismographs that England has illegally deployed in east block nations to try and gain information on nuclear tests. Yeoman must track down some of this equipment in the mountains of Yugoslavia to see if it has been discovered and modified to send false data.
  • Mama Doll (1972) - Yeoman uses his knowledge of computers as he tries to track down a missing cache of weapons
  • Blue Bone (1973) - The plot revolves around a scientist who is being held against his will in East Germany because he will not reveal the details of a new high strength composite plastic he has created. Yeoman is sent in to rescue the scientist, and his engineering background allows him to devise a creative Macgyver-like method of escape.
  • Moon Hill (1976) - A now wealthy Giles Yeoman tries to develop a technology to prevent a volcano from erupting and destroying a city. Again, Woodhouse - who was living in montserrat while writing the Medici books - draws plot elements from his personal experience.

[edit] Leonardo Da Vinci

Woodhouse and co-author Robert Ross wrote three novels about Leonardo da Vinci. They focus on his work as a military engineer in the service of the Duke of Milan. Leonardo is depicted as a clever, sarcastic Italian Renaissance engineer who doubts the supremacy of the Catholic church. Many details in these books are historically based, but large portions of the stories depend upon ideas from Leonardo's sketch books being developed into functional machines. This places the novels in the alternate history or Steampunk genre.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
  • The Medici Guns (1974) - Leonardo develops and oversees the use of light artillery and geometry to help Lorenzo de Medici's army of Florence end a seige at Castlemonte.
  • The Medici Emerald (1976) - Leonardo do Vinci's mistress is captured by the Venetians. To save her - and the city of Florence - he must decipher a message inscribed on an emerald.
  • The Medici Hawks (1978) - Muslim invaders try to conquer Italy. Leonardo helps to drive them away by building functional aircraft of the types seen in his sketch books.

[edit] Other Novels

  • Phil and Me (1970)
  • The Remington Set (1976) - An english crime novel published under the pen name John Charlton.
  • Traders (1980) - A novel about an Afghan prince who profits greatly as an arms trader

[edit] Screen writer

Woodhouse wrote the screenplays of seven episodes of the TV series The Avengers. He also wrote for several British TV series such as The Protectors, The Hidden Truth, and The Man in Room 17. He also wrote the screenplays for the 1961 season of the marionette TV show Supercar. He is thought to have written over 70 screenplays.

[edit] The Avengers Episodes

  • A chorus of Frogs (1962)
  • Mr. Teddy Bear (1962)
  • The Golden Eggs (1962)
  • The Big Thinker (1962)
  • Second Sight (1963)
  • The Wringer (1964)
  • A sense of History (1965)

[edit] The Hidden Truth Episodes

  • The guinea pig (1964)
  • cause of death (????)

[edit] Supercar Episodes

  • Rescue
  • Amazonian Adventure
  • Talisman Of Sargon
  • False Alarm
  • What Goes Up
  • Keep It Cool
  • Grounded
  • Jungle Hazard
  • High Tension
  • A Little Art
  • Ice Fall
  • Island Incident
  • The Tracking Of Masterspy
  • Phantom Piper
  • Deep Seven
  • Pirate Plunder
  • Flight Of Fancy
  • Hostage
  • The Sunken Temple
  • Trapped In The Depths
  • Crash Landing
  • The Dragon Of Ho Meng
  • The Lost City
  • Magic Carpet
  • The White Line

[edit] References

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