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THE PETE JOHNSON QUESTIONNAIRE ABOUT WRITING …
I wrote a fan letter to Dodie Smith, the author of 101 Dalmatians. She wrote back and was the first person to put into my head the idea of being a writer. A few years later I started entering writing competitions and I won ten pounds. Wow! But it got me started. WHAT WOULD YOUR ADVICE BE FOR BUDDING AUTHORS?
DO YOU REALLY CARRY A LITTLE NOTEBOOK EVERYWHERE YOU GO? Yes, much to the annoyance of my friends. For you never know when you’re going to get a brilliant idea or hear something you’ve got to write down. Real life is always interesting – and that’s where all the stories begin. WHERE DO YOU WRITE YOUR BOOKS? I have a study, which has big windows, bright posters on the walls and masses of books lurking about. Everyone who goes into it says it has a very happy atmosphere. So it’s ideal for writing.
Yes I do sometimes. What I have learnt is that you get writer’s block for two reasons. A scene can be really, really hard, in which case it is probably not right. Other times you can get writer’s block if you try too hard. In a funny way, with writing you have to let the ideas come to you, you can’t force them. Your unconscious doesn’t work office hours. If I get writer’s block then I just go for a long walk and get some fresh air and exercise. DO YOU HAVE AN AGENT?
WHAT COMES FIRST FOR YOU, PLOT, PLACE OR CHARACTERS – AND WHY? Always the idea. But ideas rarely come fully formed. They have to be wooed. I got the idea for, ‘How to Train Your Parents,’ after my nephews’ School Sports day. And ‘Rescuing Dad,’ after a book signing session. I spent days letting the idea dance around in my head and then I begin thinking about characters. WHAT IS YOUR IDEA OF WRITING HEAVEN … AND WRITING HELL? Writing Heaven are those days when the character’s voice is so strong in your head, it’s as if the story is being dictated to you. Writing Hell is when you’re writing a comedy and feel dull, flat and not the least bit funny.
David Nicholls – ‘ONE DAY’ a brilliant romantic comedy.
. . . AND EVERYTHING ELSE YOU WANT TO KNOW ABOUT PETE Personal Stuff: Eyes: blue. Hair colour: Dark brown. Height: 6`3. Star sign: Taurus. Favourite word: Holiday. Least favourite word: January. Favouritelessons at school: English, History – especially Friday afternoons whenwe could do battles on the back field. Least favourite lessons at school: Maths – especially Geometry and Chemistry: you mix two chemicals together and get a green colour – so what! WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
FAVOURITE SHOP: The Cinema Store – near Covent Garden – a movie buff’s paradise. FAVOURITE FILMS: COMEDY: CHARADE: THE Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn version, not the terrible re-make! GANGSTER: GOODFELLAS – the most high energy film ever. ROMANTIC: BRIEF ENCOUNTER, still unbeatable thanks to David Lean’s direction and Celia Johnson’s performance. MUSICAL: HIGH SOCIETY – even people who hate musicals like looking at Grace Kelly. MODERN: KICK-ASS, much better than I’d expected. WORSE FILM EVER SEEN: INDEPENDENCE DAY: so annoying, with characters you just hate and it goes on forever. FAVOURITE TELEVISION PROGRAMMES ‘ASHES TO ASHES,’ ‘LIFE ON MARS,’ ‘THE SAINT,’ (Roger Moore version) ‘THE AVENGERS. FAVOURITE RADIO PROGRAMMES PAUL TEMPLE DETECTIVE SERIES (With Pete Cooke and Margery Westbury – accept no substitutes) HANCOCK’S HALF HOUR; JUST A MINUTE.
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Fancy a light-hearted USEFUL LINKS Interview with The Children's BBC Big Toe Radio Show Sheffield Children's Book Award
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WHICH PETE JOHNSON SHOULD I READ?
THE GHOST DOG: the famous spooky tale. HOW TO TRAIN YOUR PARENTS: the laugh out loud comedy. TRAITOR: the thought-provoking thriller.
*** If you would like Pete to visit your school, click here *** WHICH IS PETE JOHNSON'S GREATEST BOOK? |
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These are the seven favourite books from my childhood. My criteria has been simple: I just picked the seven books which meant the most of me. They are in no particular order.
I discovered the William books first in my local library. I was immediately drawn to the wonderfully, fat hardbacks with those super illustrations (by Thomas Henry) And so William Brown just bounced into my life one day and really, he’s never left it. From the start I loved his energy, his opinions, his rants and his glorious self-belief. William was in no doubt that ‘stachoos’ would be put up to him one day. There are thirty-eight William books – all well worth reading. But although the first book ‘Just William’ is the most famous, I don’t think it’s one of the very best. If someone were meeting William for the first time I’d recommend: ‘William the Pirate.’ And there is one story in the collection: ‘William and the Princess Goldilocks,’ which would be my nomination for the best ever William story. It’s a perfect farce, full of glorious misunderstandings. Then read Mrs Bott’s Hat,’ and ‘The New Neighbour,’ – I guarantee they will make you a fan for life.
Everyone read Enid Blyton when I was growing up. In fact, I was first introduced to her, by a friend in the playground – a little tribute to Blyton’s power, which I think she would have appreciated I (She wrote. ‘I never listen to any critic over the age of twelve.’) Of course I loved all the Famous Five books and the other series too: especially the ‘Barney’ books. But my favourites were always the ‘Mystery’ books – partly because the character of Fatty is one of Blyton’s very best; vain, important a total show-off, yet essentially good hearted. And partly because I loved the mystery element of the stories – gathering clues, etc. There is also more fun and energy in these books than any others. As Duncan McLaren wrote. ‘Joy runs through the ‘Mystery’ books like a river.’ They show Blyton at her most relaxed and cheeky – the children really do tease P.G.Goon (another great character) unmercifully. I picked this book because I think it’s got an especially good mystery. But all the ‘Mystery’ books are great, except for the very last one. ‘Mystery of the Banshee Towers,’ which was written after Blyton had been quite ill – and just doesn’t have the magic of the others.
In 1937 Eve Garnett won the Carnegie medal for ‘The Family at One End Street,’ a landmark book detailing the life of a dustman and his wife, and their seven children. It’s still a vivid and vital read but I always liked the sequel better, as this is where Kate – my favourite character, and her brother and sister go down with Measles and are sent on a convalescent holiday to the Dew Drop Inn in the country. There they are looked after by Mrs Wildgoose – surely the kindest landlady ever. In the third One End Book, ‘Holiday at the Dew Drop Inn,’ Kate goes back to the Dew Drop Inn on her own, and the whole book is devoted to her and her adventures there. This is such a naturally funny book and it is packed with wonderful observations and great characters. A fascinating portrait too of a vanished world. It is shocking that it is currently out of print. It is well worth tracking down.
This story just fascinated me when I first read it. Tom is sent to stay with his uncle and aunt. One night he hears the clock strike thirteen: wanders outside and finds another world, another time and a girl name Hatty. The ending is one of the best I’ve ever read. I love time shift stories. Two other favourites were: ‘Charlotte Sometimes’ by Penelope Farmer and ‘A Traveller in Time,’ by Alison Uttley.
My sister, Linda introduced me to the Susan-series. And although I never shared her enthusiasm for pony books or girls boarding school tales, I loved these because of their bubbly sense of fun. Susan and her cousins Midge, Bill and Charlotte are vividly drawn, with lots of banter. Susan, being well-meaning but very interfering. In this, the best of the Susan books, they go to Switzerland, with a requested gift of a mysterious packet of tea. But is the tea as innocent as it seems? Clearly not. Soon all sorts of wild adventures take place. But the holiday itself is also described so well. This story is great fun by a much underrated writer.
In the early 1980s I heard Roald Dahl read aloud from his stories at the National Theatre. It was fabulous – he read his stories with wonderful vigour. But the highlight was the end when he produced a tatty old notebook and read the opening pages from a story which he hadn’t finished yet. For me this was the best of all. The opening just carried you into the tale rightaway. The story was later published as ‘The Witches.’ And it’s still my favourite Dahl: fast-paced, exciting, very funny and yet sad and rather wise as well. A perfect children’s book.
This is quite simply a masterpiece and the book which inspired me to write to the author, Dodie Smith, when I was eight. It was the beginning of a long and for me, richly, rewarding correspondence. Even though it was dogs – not children – who were really Dodie’s first love. In fact, she wanted to call ‘101 Dalmatians’ a novel for dogs, but the publishers talked her out of it. It’s an exciting tale, with wonderfully, likeable characters and, of course, one of the greatest villains ever: Cruella de Vil. There is a sequel: ‘The Starlight Barking,’ a totally different book to the first one but which I also like. And Dodie wrote too: ‘I Capture the Castle,’ another masterpiece … and very late in her life: ‘The Midnight Kittens,’ a charming book which deserves to be better known.
COMEDY GOLD Pete has been hailed as ‘the King of Comedy.’ But which four books are his funniest? Here are the stories which should make you ‘laugh out loud.’
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Sample three of his most popular titles:
WILLIAM THE PIRATE: Richmal Crompton
THE MYSTERY OF THE INVISIBLE THIEF: Enid Blyton
HOLIDAY AT DEW DROP INN: Eve Garnett
TOM’S MIDNIGHT GARDEN: Philippa Pearce
SUSAN INTERFERES: Jane Shaw
THE WITCHES: Roald Dahl
101 DALMATIANS: Dodie Smith
RESCUING DAD
HELP! I’M A CLASSROOM GAMBLER