JOHNNY O'BRIEN

Q: What did you want to be when you were a child?

Train driver

Q: What is your favourite word?

Rumbustious

Q: What are you afraid of?

Ghosts

Q: When did you last have a really good laugh?

Watching Michael Macintyre's sketch about the spices in his cupboard

Q: What is your most treasured possession?

My stuffed rat from the first world war

Q: What’s your favourite food?

Smarties

Q: What’s the most outrageous thing you’ve done?

I went sleep walking at night at a residential corporate training event that took itself very seriously.

Q: What profession other than yours would you like to attempt?

Dolphin training

Q: Do you feel younger or older than your current age?

Younger

Q: If you could meet one person, dead or alive, who would it be?

My Grandfather

Q: What quality do you most admire in a person?

Humanity

Q: What is the most interesting place you have ever visited?

Namche Bazaar in the Nepal Himalaya

Q: What is the best advice anyone has ever given you?

KBO

Q: What has life taught you?

Patience is a virtue and virtue is a grace and Grace is a little girl that didn't wash her face

Q: How long have you been a writer?

Two years

Q: Was there a specific moment in your life when you decide to become a writer?

When my wife said 'you should write a book for kids...'

Q: Where do you do your writing?

In a very small room

Q: What are the best and worst things about being an author?

Best - talking and listening to young people about writing and books.

Q: Where do you get your greatest ideas from?

History

Q: Which of your own characters do you most identify with?

Angus Jud

Q: What do you do to combat “writers’ block”?

Go to the pub

Q: What was your favourite book as a child?

Flight 714

Q: What book do you wish you had written?

The Castafiore Emerald

Q: What advice would you give to aspiring authors?

Get honest informed feedback and act on it.