Anthony Anthony Horowitz Horowitz

le Why do so many people say they like nothing better than to spend their spare time curled up with a good IMAGE © 2007 DES WILLIE book? And why do so many Author Profi of us love watching movies – at the cinema, at home, or even on aeroplanes and in our cars? AANTHONYNTHONY HHOROWITZOROWITZ The answer could be because we mythical worlds that we could never dream admire the authors’ writing style or the of visiting for real. cleverness of the plot, or it could be the quality of the acting or the special effects Reasons to escape in the movie which appeal. But if we are When Anthony Horowitz was a child, he truthful, the answer is often because, for had some very good reasons to want to a short time at least, we can use books escape from the realities of his life. Even and fi lms to escape from the everyday though he was born, in 1956, into a wealthy world in which we live and enter a world family, he does not remember his childhood of fi ctional fantasy. We can forget about days fondly. He recalls being unhappy and our own troubles and dilemmas and watch overweight (‘I was an astoundingly large, the actors on the screen playing out their round child’), he describes having to spend own problems – or in the pages of the book time with a ‘truly evil’ grandmother, and we can travel to far off places and enter he hated the boarding school he went to PCP Photocopy or download from scholastic.co.uk/literacytime HHorowitz.inddorowitz.indd 1 001/02/20081/02/2008 114:18:114:18:11 le from the age of eight. He remembers the working for the MP Harold Wilson, who headmaster as a cruel bully. He would became Prime Minister in 1964. Anthony’s fl og his pupils until they bled, and once father was known as a ‘fi xer’ but nobody humiliated Anthony, making him stand up seems to know exactly what that role in front of the whole school before calling involved. him ‘stupid’. Before his death, Mr Horowitz had At just 8 years old, there was little that moved all of the family’s fortunes into Author Profi Anthony could do to change his life for a secret bank account in Switzerland. real, so instead he asked for a typewriter When he died suddenly, unfortunately for for his birthday and began to write stories, Anthony and his mother, no one else could in which he could fantasise about how trace the money, so they were left without he could deal with characters like his a penny. grandmother or his headmaster. So, many of his stories featured characters getting Passion for storytelling revenge or getting even, and Anthony Although Anthony’s childhood was would tell his tales to his school friends to unusual, unsettling and diffi cult, it inspired cheer them up, too. such a passion for writing and fi lm that He also developed a passion for movies: it helped him to build a highly successful he could forget his troubles and lose adult career. He continued to develop his himself in the glamorous, exciting, action- passion for storytelling and was writing packed world of colourful characters like professionally by the time he was 20. His James Bond. fi rst novel – Enter Frederick K Bower – a children’s book, was accepted for Mysterious father publication when he was just 22. There were more problems to come for Since then Anthony has written Anthony. The world of privilege into which countless books for both adults and he had been born – and in which he was children, including the Diamond Brothers looked after by nannies and served by two series, Groosham Grange (inspired by his cooks – was soon to be destroyed. His unhappy boarding school days), and a father appears to have earned his money supernatural series called Raven’s Gate. through a powerful yet mysterious job Anthony has also written for television PCP Photocopy or download from scholastic.co.uk/literacytime HHorowitz.inddorowitz.indd 2 001/02/20081/02/2008 114:18:184:18:18 le (he created the series called Midsomer Anthony has had a few action-packed Murders which stars John Nettles), for fi lm adventures of his own. He loves scuba- (including the script for the Stormbreaker diving (has even swum in the same waters movie) and the theatre, including a West as hammerhead sharks in the South China End play, Mindgame. He has even written Sea), has worked as a cowboy in Australia, the text (or libretto) for a Broadway and has crossed the Andes on foot. musical, based on Dr Seuss’ book The When he is not out and about, Anthony Author Profi 5,000 Fingers of Dr T. can be found writing in his offi ce in a warehouse conversion in central London, Stormbreaker which looks over the London skyline. He Most recently, it is the Alex Rider series lives with his wife, Jill, and his chocolate which has most captured the imagination Labrador, Lucky (so named because she of young readers and has led to further has been run over and survived three success through the movie, Stormbreaker times). He has two sons – Nicholas and which features big stars like Ewan Cassian. McGregor (as Ian Rider), Stephen Fry (Smithers), Mickey Rourke (Darrius Sayle), Bill Nighy (Alan Blunt) and Alicia On-screen Silverstone (Jack Starbright). resource 1 in the The books (seven in the series to date) March 2008 issue of Literacy centre on a 14-year-old boy, Alex Rider, Time PLUS Ages 9 to 11 (No 53) features who is brought up by his uncle, Ian. When an extract from the novel Stormbreaker and Ian Rider dies, it is the start of a new life a clip from the movie showing the same scene, for Alex as a spy – a life for which, he making it perfect for pupils wishing to explore discovers, his uncle has been preparing how novels translate to the big screen. The him all along. resource also includes a short video showing Anthony has always said he is not like the movie being made, and video interviews Alex – but wished to be more like him. His with Alex Pettyfer (who plays Alex Rider), passion for the James Bond stories and Stephen Fry (who plays Smithers the mystery fi lms of Alfred Hitchcock is in the fi lm clip) and Anthony Horowitz. refl ected in the Alex Rider books, as is his taste for adventure. PCP Photocopy or download from scholastic.co.uk/literacytime HHorowitz.inddorowitz.indd 3 001/02/20081/02/2008 114:18:204:18:20.

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