Welcome to House With No Name. I write about everything from books and films to education, family and France.
If you’re after a picture book that will have under-fives hooting with laughter then the latest story from Oliver Jeffers is perfect. It Wasn’t Me is the second title in his series about the Hueys, a fabulously quirky group of characters who look a bit like multi-coloured eggs on pin legs. Their name is inspired by the artist’s grandfather, who could never remember the names of his grandchildren so called ...keep reading
A new study has shown that sleep deprivation is a hidden factor in lowering children’s achievement at school. According to research conducted by Boston College in Massachusetts, 73 per cent of nine and ten-year-olds in the US are sleep deprived while a staggering 80 per cent of 13 and 14-year-olds don’t get enough sleep at night. All I can say is that even though the research is alarming it doesn’t surprise ...keep reading
I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve moved house. My father was in the RAF when I was little and we moved all over the shop. Thetford, Ely, Halton, Epsom, I’ve forgotten the names of half the places where we lived and a few of the schools too. I didn’t plan it this way but the pattern has continued for my own children. Before we pitched up in ...keep reading
With the excitement of London 2012 a distant memory the publishers of my Olympic novella have decided to give the book a smart new cover and brand new title. Love’s Hurdles is the story of Mimi Carter, the youngest and least experienced member of the British showjumping team. A brilliant rider who’s had to battle her way to the top, Mimi is desperate to win an Olympic gold medal in front of ...keep reading
It’s 45 years since Enid Blyton died but she’s still one of the best-known and best-loved children’s writers ever. Her books have sold more than 500 million copies worldwide, been translated into 90 languages and adapted countless times for film and TV. So it’s pretty smart of Seven Stories, the national children’s literature centre in Newcastle, to launch a massive Enid Blyton exhibition. Mystery, Magic and Midnight Feasts, the Many ...keep reading
I nearly fell off my chair when I read the item in The Times yesterday. Tucked in amongst reports on the fall-out from the local elections and my old friend Valentine Low’s review of the best restaurant in the world (it’s El Celler de Can Roca in Catalonia), was the shocking news that dungarees are back. According to style writer Hilary Rose, Keira Knightley, Pixie Lott and Alexa Chung have all ...keep reading
The news that two-thirds of parents struggle to use technology and rely on their teenage children to sort them out doesn’t surprise me in the least. With two IT whizzkids in the house I’ve never bothered to get my head round how to sync my phone with my computer or download the latest Laura Marling track on to my iPod. I ask my children to do it for me instead. ...keep reading
The first crime novel I ever read was Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie. From then on I stoically worked my way through all her Miss Marple stories, from The Body in the Library to the 4.50 from Paddington. Me and my mum were such fans that we used to go and see drama adaptations of Christie novels at the Playhouse in Bournemouth on Saturday afternoons. But after a ...keep reading
What a weekend. The Chipping Norton Literary Festival is fast turning into my favourite event of the year. ChipLitFest has only been running for two years but with a star-studded line-up, venues scattered across a pretty Oxfordshire town and a friendly, relaxed atmosphere, it’s fast giving longer established festivals a run for their money. I’m not in the least surprised that a staggering 3,000 tickets were sold this year. I ...keep reading
One was a straight-talking US agent in turquoise trainers who’d flown into Heathrow at dawn. The other was a former philosophy teacher in a charcoal suit who founded the Bragelonne publishing house in Paris. At first sight Christine Witthohn and Stéphane Marsan made an unlikely speaking duo but with years of experience in publishing, a willingness to share their expertise and a dry sense of humour, they each gave a ...keep reading