Football Mad

About Alan MacDonaldHelena PielichatyJohn Goodwin

At 16 John Goodwin went out to work selling fruit and vegetables in a market. One of his jobs was to empty the pennies out of ladies loos. By his late 30's he'd somehow stumbled into taking the post of a university lecturer. However it was only in his third career as a writer that he really found himself. He has now written over twenty plays for BBC radio and had a number of books published. These have included fiction for children an educational drama series and a number of non-fiction titles.Alan MacDonald was born in Watford and went to university in Bangor North Wales where he studied English and Drama. He started working life in a travelling theatre company visiting schools all over the country writing much of their material. It was as he says a useful apprenticeship - if the audience didn't like the play they talked through it or threw bits of paper at the actors. Hence he very quickly learned what children liked. He has since written stories and dramas for the BBC (both television and radio) as well as many children's books. A keen football fan Alan has supported Watford FC since childhood. Many of his stories have a football focus - which he rates as the next best thing to playing for England!Helena Pielichaty (pronounced Pierre-li-hatty) was born in Stockholm Sweden but most of her childhood was spent in Yorkshire. As a result she became a supporter of Huddersfield Town F.C.. Her English teacher wrote of her in Year Nine that she produced 'lively and quite sound work but she must be careful not to let the liveliness go too far'. Following this advice Helena never took her liveliness further south than East Grinstead where she began her career as a teacher. She didn't begin writing until she was 32. Since then Helena has written numerous books for young readers.