Charlie Higson
- Name: Charlie Higson
- Date of Birth: 3rd July 1958
- Place of Birth: Frome, Somerset, UK
- Family: Wife and three sons
- Lives: North London, UK
- Pets: Two cats
- First Book: King of the Ants (1992)
- Featured Title: Double or Die
- Website: www.youngbond.com
- See all titles from Charlie
As a child growing up in the Sixties I loved to read myths and legends and historical novels. The Sixties was the heyday of historical fiction for kids and I was a big fan of writers like Roger Lancelyn Green and Rosemary Sutcliffe.
My heroes were the warriors of ancient Greece and Rome, or the Viking sagas. Closer to home there were King Arthur and his knights, or Robin Hood. For me, a hero had to have a sword in his hand and a helmet of some sort on his head.
My interest in all this ranged all the way to the Asterix books (which had surprisingly historically accurate pictures in them), and which I still enjoy today. Whilst we’re talking about comics, I was also a big fan of Tintin, and does anyone remember the Trigan Empire comic that ran in Look and Learn? My seven-year-old is currently reading a collection that he can’t put down. It’s often thought that children have a strong sense of right and wrong and need to know clearly who the goodies and baddies are in a story, but the old stories are not quite that simple.
I loved reading about the siege of Troy, but who was the real hero? Sulky Achilles or brave Hector? My favourite was Odysseus, but he was the architect of the final destruction of Troy, which led to the killing of just about everyone inside the walls. As a child I didn’t much care who was in the right, just so long as there was a lot of fighting. Things were no better in the tales of the Round Table. The main heromis Lancelot, who cheats on his best friend, the King, and brings about the end of his rule. Once again, as a boy I didn’t much care, because it meant there was a big battle at the end. We don’t grow up to becomes heroes. We don’t go off to fight the Trojan war or defeat the Sheriff of Nottingham’s knights with our bow and arrow. Real wars are terrible things and I cannot begin to imagine how ghastly it must have been to be in a battle armed only with a sword, facing an army of men who wanted to cut you into pieces.
As a writer the closest I will ever come to being a hero is writing about James Bond. As a delighted child of seven watching Thunderball in the cinema I dreamed that I might grow up to be him (even if he didn’t have a sword). I never did, of course, but by writing about him, I have played my own small part in the legend.
Charlie Higson
After studying English and American Literature and Film Studies at the University of East Anglia, Charlie became a professional musician. He toured extensively around Europe and America as a singer with his own group, The Higsons; he recorded two albums and a number of singles before quitting when he considered that he was getting too old to keep it up with any dignity. Charlie then drifted into the world of television where he has been part of many projects including The Fast Show which he wrote, produced and performed in with
Paul Whitehouse. Charlie is also a successful novelist. His first novel was published in March 1992 and he is now writing a series of Young Bond books commissioned by Ian Fleming Publications.
