I grew up in a family of wealth and status. Sadly, I was a miserable overweight child. I recall being very round and chubby. Our family meals had calories going into the thousands. My father was a troubled man, afraid of bankruptcy. As a result, he put most of the money we had under a false name in the bank. Shortly afterwards, my father died. Knowing that father had stashed the money somewhere, my mother searched for it but found nothing. Luckily we still had quite a bit of money left. When I turned eight I was sent to a boarding school. It was good for me; I lost a lot of weight. The headmaster was horrible though. If we were “naughty” he flogged us. Despite all these misgivings, the experiences at boarding school gave me a good basis to write my stories. I did enjoy writing when I was young, and I loved to share them with whoever was around. Later on in life, I went to rugby school and eventually the University of York.
As I grew older, my love of writing increased. In 1978, my first book was published “Enter Fredrick K Bower”. Ten years later, I was married in Hong Kong to a wonderful woman named Jill Green. She has helped me with many of the books I have written, reading, proofreading, researching, and giving me ideas. My two sons, Nicholas Mark and Cassian, James have also helped me very much with my books. I am also a prolific writer for television. “Foyle's war” and “Midsomer murders” are two shows for television that I have made. My most successful books, the Alex Rider Series, are based on the James Bond books and movies that I have enjoyed.
