About Me

Beginnings

I was born in a place called Bushey which sounds like it’s full of hairy bearded men. I had an older brother and a sister who would turn up later. Photos of me at an early age show I had a big head and hamster cheeks. I’m the one on the left without a cap.

Schemes and Dreams

When I was young we moved to a house in Raglan Gardens with a garden roughly the length of a football pitch. My parents gave us children a small patch at the bottom to do whatever we liked. This fired our imaginations. One time we built an underground house (otherwise known as a hole covered with branches). It lasted until the day my dad went to fetch a football and suddenly disappeared from sight with a startled cry.

Boy Wonders

Around this time my brother and I decided we wanted to be Batman and Robin. We spent a lot of time running around in capes, masks and yellow tights. Dressed like this we sneaked into my sister’s bedroom and explained that we were superheroes come to save the earth. Even at the age of three I don’t think she was convinced.

Please Miss!

At seven I went to Watford Fields Junior School. One day in assembly my name was read out. I thought I must be in trouble but it turned out that I’d won a prize in a national handwriting competition : a blue fountain pen with my name engraved in gold letters. Looking back, maybe that was what got me started on a writing career?

10 Quite Interesting Things About Me

(Spot the one that isn’t true)

  1. When I was small I fell down an escalator in a department store.
  2. My teacher in Year 6 was called Mr Savage.
  3. I support Watford FC, probably the greatest team in the world.
  4. In an exam at school I scored 0%, possibly a record!
  5. I once swept the terraces before the FA cup final at Wembley.
  6. People sometimes tell me I look like Graham Norton.
  7. I write my stories in notebooks with lots of crossings out.
  8. My family has two cats who are brothers called Eric and Ernie.
  9. My great, great grandfather was a pirate.
  10. If I wasn’t a children’s author I’d like to be a travel photographer or a superhero.
Answer: No.9 is false (Aharr!)