Dick King-Smith

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Dick King-Smith
BornRonald Gordon King-Smith
(1922-03-27)27 March 1922
Bitton, Gloucestershire, England,  United Kingdom
Died4 January 2011(2011-01-04) (aged 88)
Bath, Somerset, England,  United Kingdom
Pen nameDick King-Smith
OccupationNovelist
NationalityBritish
Period1978-2007
Spouse
Myrle
​
(m. 1943⁠–⁠2000)​

Zona Bedding
​
(m. 2001⁠–⁠2011)​

Ronald Gordon King-Smith OBE, Hon.M.Ed. (27 March 1922 – 4 January 2011),[1] better known by his pen name Dick King-Smith, was a prolific English children's author, best known for writing The Sheep-Pig, retitled in the United States as Babe the Gallant Pig, on which the movie Babe was based. He was awarded an Honorary Master of Education degree by the University of the West of England in 1999[2] and appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2010 New Year Honours.[3][4]

Life

King-Smith grew up in the West Country, where his family ran several paper mills, and was educated at Beaudesert Park School and Marlborough College.[1] King-Smith was a soldier in World War II, serving with the Grenadier Guards in Italy and a farmer for 20 years before he became a teacher and author. King-Smith's first book was The Fox Busters, published in 1978. He was one of Britain's most prolific authors and wrote over a hundred books, which have been translated into twelve languages. In later life he lived in Queen Charlton, a small farming village near Bristol, contributing to the maintenance and conservation of the local area as the vice-president of the Avon Wildlife Trust. He married his first wife, Myrle, in 1943. They had 3 children and 12 grandchildren.[1] Myrle died in 2000, and King-Smith subsequently married Zona Bedding, a family friend.[5]

He had many pets including rats, mice, ornamental pheasants, dachshunds, geese and guinea fowl, and bred guinea pigs and English rabbits.[citation needed]

He presented a feature on animals on TV-AM's children's programme Rub a Dub Dub.[6] and also appeared regularly (in a similar capacity) on the similarly named Saturday morning TV series Rub-a-Dub Tub (1983).[7]

King-Smith died at his home near Bath, Somerset, on 4 January 2011 at the age of 88.[8]

Bibliography

Adaptations

References

  1. ^ a b c Eccleshare, Julia (5 January 2011). "Dick King-Smith obituary". The Guardian.
  2. ^ "Honorary Graduates of the University of the West of England". University of the West of England. Retrieved 5 January 2011.
  3. ^ "No. 59282". The London Gazette (invalid |supp= (help)). 31 December 2009.
  4. ^ "Patrick Stewart leads arts honours with a knighthood". BBC News. 31 December 2009. Retrieved 5 January 2011.
  5. ^ "Animal Magic". Heraldscotland.com. 2 February 2008. Retrieved 5 January 2011.
  6. ^ "Dick King-Smith". Telegraph. 27 March 1922. Retrieved 6 January 2011.
  7. ^ "Rub-a-Dub-Tub". imdb. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
  8. ^ "BBC News - Babe creator Dick King-Smith dies aged 88". Bbc.co.uk. 5 January 2011. Retrieved 6 January 2011.

External links

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