[1] He was educated at Canford School, Dorset, and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, after which he was commissioned into the Unattached List of the Indian Army on 27 January 1938.

Hook became famous with the British public in the 1980s as the result of a BBC documentary entitled Home from the Hill directed by Molly Dineen.

Memorable scenes included Hook relaxing on the veranda of the game lodge he ran in Kenya while an African servant mowed the lawn, and back in England attempting to operate a kitchen appliance and voicing his displeasure at a pop music act on television.

The documentary was based on Hook's autobiographical book Home from the Hill, in which he describes participation in activities such as pig-sticking, elephant hunting and polo.

It deals with the themes of colonialism, international development, and the end of the British Empire – in particular, through his alienation from the modern world having lived all his life in a vastly different culture.