Place of birth
Ilford, in east London
What is your favorite book?
Depends what mood I’m in. Some favorites are:
‘Stig of the Dump’ by Clive King
‘Marianne Dreams’ by Catherine Storr
‘The Mouse and his Child’ by Russell Hoban
‘A Book of Dreams’ by Peter Reich
‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’ by Hunter S. Thompson
‘Batman Year One’ (graphic novel) by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli
What is your favorite song?
Gosh – just one? OK then ‘Rook’ by XTC – Swindon’s finest export.
When I’m working I tend to listen to a lot of ambient Brian Eno music as gentle background noise.
What is your favorite film?
Spirited Away
Planet of the Apes (the Charlton Heston original)
Twelve Monkeys
Field of Dreams
What is your most treasured possession?
A very old tin full of tea cards from packets of tea that my Grandma collected when she was a girl.
When did you start writing?
This morning, it was at about half past ten.
Where do you get your ideas and inspiration from?
Anywhere and everywhere. Conversations with people, stories in newspapers, random thoughts.
I’m always jealous of people that say they get their ideas from dreams, because I hardly ever remember any of mine.
Can you give three tips to becoming a sucessful author?
1/ Read, read, read. Read everything you can get your hands on and keep going.
2/ Don’t give up. Keep writing. Whether a diary, stories, bits of stories, ideas. It doesn’t matter as long as you keep going.
3/ Write what you want to write. Don’t worry about other people. Write the kind of story that you would most like to read yourself.
What is your favorite place in the world and why?
Corfe Castle on the south coast of England. because when I was on holiday there when I was nine I found some marvellous old Marvel comics in a dusty old newsagents there AND a man that lived just at the bottom of the hill with the castle on it gave me a dinosaur footprint. It’s the footprint of an Iguanodon and it’s on a very heavy slab of grey limestone. The footprint itself is about a 30cm across and it’s 130 million years old. We put it in the boot of our car and my dad drove it all the way home – it’s still in his shed.
What are your hobbies?
Reading. Walking. Cinema. Reading. Cycling. Mousing practice with my cat, Morgen the Ninja, to perfect her Ninja skills (not that they need much prefecting.) Fossil hunting. Tennis. Fine wine and cake.
If you hadn’t been an author, what do you think you’d have been?
A paleontoligist travelling around the globe digging up and discovering new species of dinosaurs.
