Russell Braddon

Who was Russell Braddon?

Russell Reading Braddon was an Australian 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, Australia, the son of a barrister. He served in the Malayan campaign during World War II. He was held as a prisoner of war by the Japanese in Pudu and Changi prisons and on the Thailand-Burma Railway between 1942 and 1945. During this time he met Ronald Searle, whose Changi sketches 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.

Proud Australian Boy: A Biography of Russell Braddon by Nigel Starck was published in Australia in 2011.