About Steve

Art Education

Scarborough School of Art:
Foundation Course
Hornsey College of Art
(Middlesex University)
1st Fine Art
The Royal College of Art:
MA (Film & TV)

Flims

Animated films:
One Day, Another American Film, The Walker screened at Krakow, Annecy, Grenoble Film Festivals and Espace Cardin, Paris.
Another American Film
shown on BBC 2.

Design

Worked for the design company Wolff Olins and as a freelance cartoonist and illustrator.

Cartoons

With Douglas Maxwell produced the Rat Race cartoon strip for the Financial Times.

Books

My first children’s books published by Aurum Press and Pan Macmillan: Lucy Goose series.

The Lucy Goose environmental books published by Toucan and Friends of the Earth

With my wife, Susan I produced the Crafty History series and Puzzle Tales series for bsmall publishing.

The Baby Goz series was 1st published by Frances Lincoln Ltd and The Early Learning Centre. It was one of the 1st 12 books when Bookstart began.

I have toured schools and libraries presenting interactive storyplays based on the books.

Steve Weatherill

Susan Weatherill

Questions & Answers

Q: What were you like at school?

I liked drawing and making up stories. I was the one sitting at the back and looking out of the window.

Q: What did you want to be when you were a child?

An explorer with my pet dog Charlie.

Q: Which three words describe you best?

Have pencil will travel. Oops that’s 4, maths was never my strong point.

Q: What is your favourite word?

This week it’s Somnambulist. Look it up if you can’t sleep.

Q: What makes you cringe?

Making a mistake and not being able to change it.

Q: What are you afraid of?

The Big Bad Wolf of course.

Q: When did you last have a really good laugh?

Last week on a school visit when Big Charlie the Dog went for a walk down the corridor.

Q: What is your most treasured possession?

Leonardo da Vinci’s big pencil, but I don’t have the sharpener.

Q: What do you do as a hobby?

I’m teaching my pet hen, Blanche, to speak English using the phonic system.

Q: What’s your favourite food?

Yorkshire puddings, the ones the angels make, not the other ones.

Q: What profession other than yours would you like to attempt?

An explorer.

Q: What quality do you most admire in a person?

Kindness.

Q: What is the most interesting place you have ever visited?

The top of Mount Sinai first thing in the morning.

Q: What is the best advice anyone has ever given you?

See all, hear all, say nowt. Eat all, drink all, pay nowt.

Q: How long have you been a writer?

About 5 feet 8 inches on a good day.

Q: Was there a moment in your life when you decided to become a writer?

It was the night the thunderbolt struck Aunt Betty’s chimney. There was a loud noise, a flash of light - and now Aunt Betty’s bantam, every time she lays an egg, she sings the National Anthem.

Q: What are the best and worst things about being an author?

The best thing is the beach side villa in Wai-Ki-Ki. Every author is given one by the Arts Council when they have written their first 500 pages. The worst thing is not finding anywhere to land my helicopter when I visit schools.

Q: Where do you get your greatest ideas from?

The Big Book of Bright Ideas. See if you can order it from the library.

Q: Which of your own characters do you most identify with?

Godfrey Gander. Godfrey was always trying to impress Lucy Goose. There was the time he made his great leap into a bath full of water. “Oh no! I forgot to put the water in!” THUNK!

Q: What do you do to combat writer’s block?

I go outside into the garden where my 3 specially trained woodpeckers gently tap me on the head and give me ideas in Morse code.

Q: What was your favourite book as a child?

Richmal Crompton’s Just William stories and Ernest Shepard’s drawings in Winnie the Pooh.

Q: What book do you wish you had written?

The Big Book of Bright Ideas.

Q: What advice would you give to aspiring authors?

Read a lot, write a lot and very importantly have fun.