Simon E Wilkinson

Although his family roots are firmly embedded in the northeast of England, Simon has lived in West Yorkshire most of his life. He has two grown sons and three grandchildren.

He joined the Civil Service and, after attending Manchester Business School on a work secondment, became a senior government press officer – dividing his time between Leeds, Manchester, Nottingham and London, where he worked with Cabinet, and other government ministers: managing their media appearances, and drafting press releases and other documents.

Later, Simon joined the Halifax Courier newspaper as a much respected drama critic profiling many major theatre stars and celebrities. Simon has made frequent appearances on BBC radio as well as many other independent radio stations as a social and political commentator.

In addition to editing several fiction and non-fiction books, he has also written quizzes and comedy scripts for local shows.

Simon continues to publish columns for local newspapers and now devotes much of his time to writing children’s fiction.

After reading of plans by a bioscience company to bring woolly mammoths back from the ice age, Simon began to wonder how those magnificent beasts coped with life in the frozen wastelands; and how a child would react if they ever met one face to face.

After playing around with some imaginary scenarios, the idea of a children’s fantasy novel started to form, so he began writing the story, basing the central character (Tom Lennox) on his own grandson.

When away from writing, Simon’s interests include coarse and fly fishing. He plays table tennis (badly) and darts (badly) for a local team. Although generally average at sports, he somehow managed to be crowned a Yorkshire and north east of England pool champion in the mid eighties.

Simon has had a lifelong interest in classic cars: he currently owns a temperamental 1987 Citroen 2CV which replaced his 1955 Morris Minor. He previously owned a 1959 Austin A35 van and a 1972 Triumph Spitfire.

Quirky fact number 1:

during an unhappy adolescence, Simon spent over three years living in his parents’ rickety garden shed alongside a Suffolk Punch petrol-powered lawnmower, and Penny - his faithful golden cocker spaniel. An amorous and often boisterous tawny owl, calling out to its mate, used to keep Simon awake most nights – although Penny slept blissfully through the racket!

A gap under the window welcomed in the rain, wind and snow.

A large grey rat used to scratch a living under the shed’s wooden floor.

Quirky fact number 2:

as a child, Simon spent a very uncomfortable night in a Parisian police cell with his cousin, when a kindly gendarme found them wandering the streets of the capital (they had become separated from their families during a summer vacation). Mobile phones were still the stuff of sci-fi, but they were eventually reunited with their families thanks to help from staff at the British Embassy in Paris.

Quirky fact number 3:

the Paris experience was only the start of a litany of unfortunate holiday incidents. Others, so far, include:

• filling a petrol car with diesel somewhere in Brittany countryside and having to call out a local breakdown wagon (he quickly learned what wagon de dépannage means in French!)

• Becoming stranded with his family in Austria when the holiday company went bust (he quickly learned what bankrott means in German!)

• A car breakdown somewhere in the wilds of the Scottish highlands. Simon’s Gaelic was a trifle rusty but he got by!

• His tent being washed away overnight during a flash-flood in Cornwall. . .