Hough married the author Charlotte Woodyadd, who he had met when they were pupils at Frensham Heights School, and they had five children including the author Deborah Moggach.

He won the Daily Express Best Book of the Sea Award in 1972.

After leaving school, he joined the RAF (Royal Air Force) at the beginning of World War II and was stationed at an airfield not far from Hollywood. He later flew Hurricanes and Typhoons.

He also wrote under the nom de plume, Bruce Carter.

Among the 90 books he wrote were:

• Into a Strange Lost World (1952), aka The Perilous Descent into a Strange Lost World

• The Deadly Freeze (1976)

• Buzzbugs (1977)

• Nightworld (1987)

• The Kidnapping of Kensington, aka The Children Who Stayed Behind

• The Fleet that had to Die"
• Admirals in Collision
• Dreadnought: a History of the Modern Battleship
• First Sea Lord: a life of Admiral Lord Fisher
• The Hunting of Force Z
• The Blind Horn's Hate
• Captain Bligh & Mr. Christian
• Louis and Victoria: the First Mountbattens
• Mountbatten: Hero of our Time
• Edwina
• The Pursuit of Admiral von Spee
• The Ace of Clubs: a History of the Garrick
• The Battle of Britain: the Jubilee History (with co-author Denis Richards)
• Winston & Clementine: the Triumphs & Tragedies of the Churchills
• Bless our Ship: Mountbatten and the Kelly
• Other Days Around Me (Autobiography)
• The Great Admirals, William Morrow and Company, New York, 1977 ISBN 0-688-03183-8
• Edward and Alexandra: Their Private and Public Lives, London 1992, Hodder & Stoddart, ISBN 0-340-55825-3.
• The Potemkin Mutiny
• Captain James Cook: A Biography, Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1994 ISBN 0-340-82556-1
• The Great War at Sea, Oxford University Press, Oxford - New York, 1983 ISBN 0-19-215871-6

"Bullers Guns" by Richard Hough"Bullers Dreadnought" by Richard Hough"Bullers Victory" by Richard Hough