See also
| Husband: | Ronald Gordon KING-SMITH (1922-2011) | |
| Wife: | Zona Margaret BEDDING (1943-2011) | |
| Marriage | Q2 2001 | Bath and NE Somerset, England |
| Name: | Ronald Gordon KING-SMITH | |
| Sex: | Male | |
| Alt. Name: | Dick KING-SMITH | |
| Father: | Ronald KING-SMITH (1894-1980) | |
| Mother: | Grace BOUCHER (1902-1980) | |
| Birth | 27 Mar 1922 | Bitton, Gloucestershire, England |
| Baptism | 6 May 1922 (age 0) | Bitton, Gloucestershire, England |
| Military Regiment | Grenadier Guards | |
| Military Rank | Acting Lieutenant | |
| Enlisted (Military) | 19411 | |
| Education | 1940 (age 17-18) | Tytherington Farm; Wylye Valley, Wiltshire1 |
| He took up a farming apprenticeship and was paid £1 per week. | ||
| Posted (Military) | 9 Sep 1943 (age 21) | Italy1 |
| As a platoon commander he took part in the Salerno landings. Then with his platoon fought their way up through Italy, taking some months. Then he was wounded in July 1944. | ||
| Wounded (Military) | 12 Jul 1944 (age 22) | Italy1 |
| Dick was seriously injured by a British hand grenade thrown by a German soldier. He was only saved from certain death by the fact that he was sheltering behind a tree, which took the brunt of the explosion. He suffered extensive shrapnel wounds and later, when he was back in England, a cerebral embolism, either of which could have killed him. He was sent to a military hospital in Liverpool, and then to a convalescent home in Weston-Super-Mare. |
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| Military Service No. | 253886 | |
| Occupation | Writer of children's books1 | |
| Ronald Gordon King-Smith OBE was an English writer of children's books, primarily using the pen name Dick King-Smith. He is best known for The Sheep-Pig (1983). It was adapted as the movie Babe (1995) and translations have been published in fifteen languages. King-Smith and The Sheep-Pig won the 1984 Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, a once-in-a-lifetime book award judged by a panel of British children's writers. WORKS The Fox Busters (1978) Daggie Dogfoot; US title, Pigs Might Fly (1980) Magnus Powermouse (1982) The Mouse Butcher (1982) The Queen's Nose (1983) The Sheep-Pig (1983); US title, Babe: The Gallant Pig Harry's Mad (1984) Lightning Fred (1985) Saddlebottom (1985) Dumpling (1986) E.S.P. (1986) Noah's Brother (1986) The Hodgeheg (1987) Tumbleweed (1987) Country Watch (1987) Town Watch (1987) Farmer Bungle Forgets (1987) Friends and Brothers (1987) Cuckoobush Farm (1987) George Speaks (1988) Emily's Legs (1988) Water Watch (1988) Dodo Comes to Tumbledown Farm (1988) Tumbledown Farm – The Greatest (1988) The Jenius (1988) Martin's Mice (1988) Ace (1990) Alice and Flower and Foxianna (1989) Beware of the Bull (1989) The Toby Man (1989) Dodos Are Forever (1989) The Trouble with Edward (1989) Jungle Jingles (1990) Blessu (1990) Paddy's Pot of Gold (1990) Alphabeasts (1990) The Water Horse (1990) The Whistling Piglet (1990) Mrs. Jolly (Series) The Jolly Witch (1990) Mrs. Jollipop (1996) Mrs. Jolly's Brolly (1998) The Jolly Witch Trilogy (2000) The Cuckoo Child (1991) (illustrated by Leslie W. Bowman) The Guard Dog (1991) Lightning Strikes Twice (1991) Caruso's Cool Cats (1991) Dick King-Smith's Triffic Pig Book (1991) Find the White Horse (1991) Horace and Maurice (1991) Lady Daisy (1992) Pretty Polly (1992) Dick King-Smith's Water Watch (1992) The Finger Eater (1992) The Ghost at Codlin Castle and Other Stories (1992) Super Terrific Pigs (1992) The Invisible Dog (1993) All Pigs Are Beautiful (1993) The Merrythought (1993) The Swoose (1993) Uncle Bumpo (1993) Dragon Boy (1993) Horse Pie (1993) Connie and Rollo (1994) The School Mouse (1994) Triffic: A Rare Pig's Tale (1994) Mr. Potter's Pet (1994) Harriet's Hare (1994) The Excitement of Being Ernest (1994) I Love Guinea Pigs (1994) Three Terrible Trins (1994) Happy Mouseday (1994) Bobby the Bad (1994) The Clockwork Mouse (1995) King Max the Last (1995) Omnibombulator (1995) The Terrible Trains (1995) Warlock Watson (1995) All Because of Jackson (1995) The Stray (1996) Clever Duck (1996) Dirty Gertie Macintosh (1996) Smasher (1996) Godhanger (1996) Hogsel and Gruntel (1996) Treasure Trove (1996) Mixed-Up Max (1997) What Sadie Saw (1997) The Spotty Pig (1997) A Mouse Called Wolf (1997) Robin Hood and His Miserable Men (1997)(illustrated by John Eastwood) Thinderella (1997) Puppy Love (1997) The Merman (1997) Round About 5 (1997) Mr. Ape (1998) How Green Was My Mouse (1998) The Big Pig Book (1998) Creepy Creatures Bag (1998) The Robber Boy (1998) The Crowstarver (1998) Pig in the City (1999) Poppet (1999) The Witch of Blackberry Bottom (1999) The Roundhill (2000) Spider Sparrow (2000) Just in Time (2000) The Magic Carpet Slippers (2000) Julius Caesar's Goat (2000) Mysterious Miss Slade (2000) Lady Lollipop (2000) The Biography Center (2001) Back to Front Benjy (2001) The Great Sloth Race (2001) Fat Lawrence (2001) Funny Frank (2001) Chewing the Cud (2001) (autobiography) Titus Rules! / Titus Rules OK! (2002) Billy the Bird/All Because of Jackson (2002) Story Box (2002) The Golden Goose (2003) Traffic (2003) Clever Lollipop (2003) The Adventurous Snail (2003) The Nine Lives of Aristotle (2003) Aristotle (2003) Just Binnie (2004) The Catlady (2004) Under the Mishmash Trees (2005) Hairy Hezekiah (2005) Dinosaur Trouble (2005) Nosy (2005) The Mouse Family Robinson (2007) SOPHIE Sophie's Snail (1988) Sophie's Tom (1991) Sophie Hits Six (1991) Sophie in the Saddle (1993) Sophie is Seven (1994) Sophie's Lucky (1995) |
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| Education | Beaudesert Park School and Marlborough College.1 | |
| Residence | btw 1944 and 1946 (age 21-24) | Bitton, Gloucestershire, England1 |
| Homelea He lived with Myrle and his parents, until he was feeling recovered. |
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| Occupation | btw 1946 and 1967 (age 23-45) | Farmer1 |
| He spent some time studying agriculture, and then persevered as a farmer at a number of farms, including one owned by the family paper mills, but he was never very successful. | ||
| Occupation | btw 1967 and 1971 (age 44-49) | Time and Motion man; Bristol, Gloucestershire, England1 |
| Education | btw 1971 and 1974 (age 48-52) | Cert. Ed; Bristol, Gloucestershire, England1 |
| College of St Matthias Primary School Teacher Training |
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| Education | btw 1974 and 1975 (age 51-53) | B.Ed (Hons); Bristol, Gloucestershire, England1 |
| University of Bristol | ||
| Occupation | btw 1975 and 1982 (age 52-60) | Primary School Teacher; Bath, Somerset, England1 |
| Farmborough primary school | ||
| Occupation | frm 1978 (age 55-56) | Children's Book Writer1 |
| In 1982 he gave up teaching and became a full-time writer. | ||
| DecoratrionsHonours | 2010 (age 87-88) | OBE |
| For services to children's literature. | ||
| Death | 4 Jan 2011 (age 88) | |
| Burial | 2011 | Queen Charlton, Bath, Somerset, England1 |
| Church of St Margaret | ||
| Name: | Zona Margaret BEDDING1 | |
| Sex: | Female | |
| Father: | - | |
| Mother: | - | |
| Birth | Q2 1943 | |
| Residence | 2011 (age 67-68) | Keynsham, Bristol, England |
| Diamond's Cottage, Queen Charlton, BS31 2SJ | ||
| Death | 2011 (age 67-68) | |
Awards he won included: 1984 Guardian Children’s Book Award for The Sheep-Pig;
Children’s Author of the Year at the 1991 British Book Awards;
Children’s Book Award for Harriet’s Hare in 1995,
as well as a number of honorary degrees from different universities.
He was appointed OBE in the 2010 New Year’s Honours.
| 1 | Peter Murray, Peter Murray. |