Alex Rider : Crocodile Tears (8)

Anthony Horowitz discussed Russian Roulette in a special live event streamed into schools on Monday 16th June. For more information go to www.alexrider.com/horowtizlive or watch it on the window below.

Anthony Horowitz was our Guest Editor in June 2011 - click here to see the books he chose.

Anthony Horowitz is the author of the number one bestselling Alex Rider books and The Power of Five series. He has enjoyed huge success as a writer for both children and adults, most recently with his highly acclaimed Sherlock Holmes novel, The House of Silk.

He has won numerous awards, including the Bookseller Association/Nielson Author of the Year Award, the Children’s Book of the Year Award at the British Book Awards, and the Red House Children’s Book Award.

Anthony has also created and written many major television series, including Injustice, Collision and the award-winning Foyle’s War.

Anthony Horowitz as a child:
Born in north London, Anthony says, "I think I knew with certainty that I wanted to be a writer around eight." For birthdays, he asked for books, pens and a typewriter. His schooldays were not especially happy, more like something "out of Dickens or Dahl", and one reason he began writing books for young people was "to make up for the shortcomings of my childhood".

As an adult:
Anthony has an unrivalled reputation for getting boys, especially reluctant readers, into books. In 2007, Anthony was singled out by then Education Secretary Alan Johnson as the not-so-secret weapon to get boys reading. In 2008, Anthony was made the National Year of Reading’s first Champion Author due to his regular outreach work to Youth Offenders and Looked After Children throughout the UK.

Things you didn't know about Anthony Horowitz:
1. Anthony began writing because he wanted to be like Tintin.
2. He has travelled to all the places in the Tintin books (except the moon).
3. Snatchmore Hall (in The Switch) is based on the house where Anthony lived as a child. He had a nanny, two cooks, two gardens, a chauffeur … and he hated it.
4. He was sent to a revolting boarding school, Orley Farm, in north London. The headmaster and his wife featured by name in one of his TV episodes. He depicted them as mad Nazis!
5. He takes research for his books very seriously. He has walked across the Andes and visited forbidden criminal enclaves in Hong Kong. For Point Blanc, he climbed – and operated – a 150m crane opposite the Houses of Parliament.
6. He got married in Hong Kong. He didn’t understand the ceremony because it was in Chinese.
7. He spent a year working as a cowboy in Australia. This was for fun – not for a book.
8. His passion is scuba-diving. He has dived all over the world, including Sipadan in the South China Sea, where he saw hammerhead sharks.
9. He has a chocolate-coloured Labrador called Lucky. Lucky by name, but not by nature – the dog has been run over three times!
10. He is a major film fan and goes to the cinema three or four times a week. His favourite film is The Third Man. He is also a big fan of Alfred Hitchcock’s mysteries.

More books by this author