N. C. Hunter was, in the 1950s and early 1960s, one of the leading "traditionalist" dramatists of the London theater. Having made a modest reputation as a writer of conventionally fashioned, light, slight comedies before World War II, he returned from military service to begin writing plays of more serious intent and with a more distinctive and individual style and tone. The best of these later works include Waters of the Moon (1951), A Day by the Sea (1953), and The Tulip Tree (1962).

Born in Derbyshire, Norman Charles Hunter was the son of Lt. Col. Charles F. Hunter, D.S.O., and Nancy Wingrave Cobbett Hunter. He was educated at Repton and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. In 1930 he was commissioned in the Dragoon Guards, with whom he served for three years. In 1933 he married Germaine Marie Dachsbeck; in the same year he relinquished his commission and joined the staff...