John Harvey
1938
Born in December 1938 in Tufnell Park (North London), the prolific British crime fiction writer John Harvey became famous for his jazz-influenced novels Charlie Resnick. He is the author of more than 100 books, which were published under different names, as well as poetry and scripts for TV and radio. During his childhood his father, who was working in the clerical section of Shell Mex, used to take him to a bookshop in Kentish Town, in order to buy copies of Biggles. When he was five years old, Charlie really liked reading Alison Uttley’s Rabbit books. He moved to the peaceful Nottingham town in the 60s. In 2009 he received an honorary degree (Doctor of Letters) from the University of Nottingham. He was teaching English for more than 12 years, educated at Goldsmiths College, London, and taught literature, drama nad film in several colleges across the country before he decided to turn his writing career into full time. His move into writing came almost by accident, when a writer asked him to help him and he soon found himself producing westerns and more novels. In addition, throughout his famous career he wrote under his own name and with different pseudonyms various books for motorcycles, for juvenilles, He also began to write for television, adapting classic series, as well as some popular ones. Today he lives in London and he is also a big Notts County fan. He has been a professional writer for more than forty years and he continues writing.