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Author Profi le

1 we can travel to far off places and enter we cantraveltofaroff placesandenter own problems–orin the pagesofbook the actorsonscreenplayingouttheir our owntroublesanddilemmaswatch of fi world inwhichweliveandentera and fi a shorttimeatleast,wecanusebooks truthful, theanswerisoftenbecause,for in themoviewhichappeal.Butifweare quality oftheactingorspecialeffects cleverness oftheplot,oritcouldbe admire theauthors’writingstyleor The answercouldbebecausewe ANTHONY AANTHONY – at the cinema, at home, or – atthecinema,home,or of us love watching movies of uslovewatchingmovies book? And why do so many book? Andwhydosomany say they like nothing better say theylikenothingbetter time curled up with a good time curledupwithagood even on aeroplanes and in even onaeroplanesandin than to spend their spare than tospendtheirspare ctional fantasy. We canforgetabout Why do so many people Why dosomanypeople lms to escape from the everyday lms toescapefromtheeveryday N T our cars? H PCP

O Photocopy or downloadfrom N Y HHOROWITZ he hated the boarding school he went to he hatedtheboarding schoolhewentto time witha‘trulyevil’ grandmother, and round child’),hedescribeshavingtospend overweight (‘Iwasanastoundinglylarge, days fondly. Herecallsbeingunhappyand family, hedoesnotrememberhischildhood though hewasborn,in1956,intoawealthy escape fromtherealitiesofhislife.Even had someverygoodreasonstowant When AnthonyHorowitzwasachild,he Reasons toescape of visiting for real. of visitingforreal. mythical worldsthatwecouldneverdream

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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 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

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(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 diving (has even swum in the same waters movie) and the theatre, including a West as hammerhead sharks in the South China End play, . 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 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 . refl ected in the Alex Rider books, as is his taste for adventure.

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