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Jeremy Strong (author)

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Jeremy Strong (18 November 1949 – 4 August 2024) was an English writer known for his children's books. Strong wrote and published over 100 novels for children and young adults and is best-known for his children's series The Hundred-Mile-an-Hour Dog. [1] His work were known for humour, wordplay and has been described as encouraging "reading amongst ordinary children." [2] Strong won the Children's Book award in 1997 and his books have been adapted for television including the BBC's There's a Viking in My Bed.

Jeremy Strong
Born(1949-11-18)18 November 1949
New Eltham, London, England
Died4 August 2024(2024-08-04) (aged 74)
OccupationWriter, teacher
Period1978–2024
GenreChildren's literature
SpouseGillie Strong
ChildrenDaniel and Jessica
Website
jeremystrong.co.uk

Early life and career

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Jeremy James Strong was born in New Eltham in London on 18 November 1949.[3] His parents were Charles Strong, a pharmacist and Una, a primary school teacher and he has two brothers, Michael and Aidan and a sister, Jenny. [4] He attended Wyborne Primary School, east London, Haberdashers Aske's Boys' School and the University of York where he first studied music before changing courses to English.

After he graduated university, he became a primary school teacher whilst still pursuing his ambition to become a writer. His first teaching position was at Sevenoaks, Kent in 1976. He became deputy head teacher at Birchwood primary and then headteacher of Culverstone Green primary. [1] Strong published his first book Smith's Tail, a picture story for young children in 1978. Strong left teaching in 1991 and wrote full-time for the rest of his life.

Accolades

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Jeremy Strong won the Children's Book Award (UK) (previously the Red House Children's Book Award) in 1997 for The Hundred-Mile-An-Hour Dog. He won the Sheffield Children's Book Award for Short Novel in 1998 for Pirate Pandemonium and then in 2001 for Living with Vampires.

Works

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Jeremy Strong is the author of more than 100 books for young children, and he had a special interest in encouraging children to become independent readers. [5] He also wrote books for teens and non-fiction.

Children's novels

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The Hundred-Mile-An-Hour Dog

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Year Title Notes
1996 The Hundred-Mile-An-Hour Dog
2007 Return of the Hundred-Mile-An-Hour Dog
2008 Lost! The Hundred-Mile-An-Hour Dog
2009 Wanted! The Hundred-Mile-An-Hour Dog
2012 The Hundred-Mile-An-Hour Dog Goes for Gold!
2013 Christmas Chaos for the Hundred-Mile-An-Hour Dog
2014 Kidnapped! The Hundred-Mile-An-Hour Dog's Sizzling Summer
2016 The Hundred-Mile-An-Hour Dog: Master of Disguise

Viking series

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Year Title Notes
1995 Viking in Trouble
1998 Viking at School
2009 There's a Viking in My Bed

Pirate School

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Year Title Notes
2002 Pirate School: Just a bit of Wind
2003 Pirate School: The Birthday Bash
2004 Pirate School: Where's the Dog?
2005 Pirate School: The Bun Gun
2007 Pirate School: A Very Fishy Battle

Pharaoh series

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Year Title Notes
2004 Let's Do the Pharaoh!
2009 There's a Pharaoh in our Bath!

My Brother's Famous Bottom series

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Year Title Notes
2007 My Brother's Famous Bottom
2007 My Brother's Famous Bottom Gets Pinched
2008 My Brother's Famous Bottom Goes Camping
2008 My Brother's Famous Bottom Goes Camping
2009 My Brother's Hot Cross Bottom
2010 My Brother's Christmas Bottom - Unwrapped!
2013 My Brother's Famous Bottom Gets Crowned!
2015 My Brother's Famous Bottom Takes Off!
2017 My Brother's Famous Bottom Makes a Splash!

The Indoor Pirates series

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Year Title Notes
2009 The Indoor Pirates
2009 The Indoor Pirates on Treasure Island

Cartoon Kid series

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Year Title Notes
2011 Cartoon Kid
2011 Cartoon Kid - Supercharged!
2012 Cartoon Kid Strikes Back!
2012 Cartoon Kid - Emergency!
2013 Cartoon Kid - Zombies!

Romans on the Rampage

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Year Title Notes
2015 Romans on the Rampage
2016 Romans on the Rampage: Jail Break
2017 Romans on the Rampage: Chariot Champions!
  • Giant Jim and the Hurricane (1998)
  • Dinosaur Pox (1999)
  • I'm Telling You, They're Aliens! (2000)
  • The Shocking Adventures of Lightning Lucy (2002)
  • The Beak Speaks (2003)
  • My Mum's Going to Explode! (2007)
  • My Granny's Great Escape (2007)
  • My Dad's Got an Alligator! (2007)
  • Krazy-Kow Saves the World - Well Almost (2007)
  • Chicken School (2007)
  • Killers Tomatoes (2007)
  • Weird (2008)
  • The Battle for Christmas (2008)
  • Invasion of the Christmas Puddings (2008)
  • Krankenstein's Crazy House of Horror (2009)
  • We Want to be on the Telly! (2010)
  • Doctor Bonkers! (2010)
  • Batpants! (2010)
  • Batpants and the Vanishing Elephant (2011)


His humorous writing often makes use of his childhood and primary teaching experiences. His story There's A Viking In My Bed was made into a BBC children's TV series and he has won several awards including the prestigious "Children's Book Award 1997" for The Hundred Mile an Hour Dog, the "Manchester Book Award" for his teen novel Stuff and the "Sheffield Book Award" for Beware, Killer Tomatoes.

Strong's final novel, Fox Goes North was published posthumously by Scholastic in October 2024. The story tells of a band of animal companions who travel northwards in a topsy-turvey caravan on their quest to see the Northern Lights. For the elderly fox, it will be her final journey. In an interview with Nikkki Gamble, Strong said that as he was writing the story, he became aware that he was writing the story of his own journey too.[6]

Personal life

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Strong married his first wife Susan Noot, a teacher, in 1973 and they had two children together, Daniel and Jessica. They divorced and in 2006 Strong met Gillian Dean and they married two years later. Strong has two stepdaughters, from his second marriage, Rosa and Isabel. He lived in Bradford-on-Avon, near Bath in England with his wife Gillie and their two cats and four hens. [4]

Jeremy Strong died on August 4, 2024, aged 74, from bone cancer. [1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Eccleshare, Julia (16 August 2024). "Jeremy Strong obituary". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 22 November 2024.
  2. ^ "Tributes paid to 'brilliantly talented' Jeremy Strong". The Bookseller. Retrieved 22 November 2024.
  3. ^ "Summary Bibliography: Jeremy Strong". www.isfdb.org. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  4. ^ a b Times, The (13 August 2024). "Jeremy Strong obituary: writer of madcap children's books". www.thetimes.com. Retrieved 22 November 2024.
  5. ^ "Jeremy Strong - Literature". literature.britishcouncil.org. Retrieved 22 November 2024.
  6. ^ "Jeremy Strong: Fox Goes North. An interview with Nikki Gamble". 10 October 2024.
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