David Bernard Wood OBE (born 21 February 1944) is an English actor, author, composer, director, magician and producer. ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' called him "the National Children's Dramatist". In 1979, he joined

Bernard Cribbins Bernard Joseph Cribbins (29 December 1928 – 27 July 2022) was an English actor and singer whose career spanned over eight decades. During the 1960s, Cribbins became known in the UK for his successful novelty records " The Hole in the Ground" ...

Maurice Denham William Maurice Denham (23 December 1909 – 24 July 2002) was an English actor who appeared in over 100 films and television programmes in his long career. Early life Denham was born on 23 December 1909 in Beckenham, Kent, the son of Eleanor ...

, and Jan Francis in a reading of ''

The Hobbit ''The Hobbit, or There and Back Again'' is a children's fantasy novel by the English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published in 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the ...

'' for the BBC Television show ''

Jackanory ''Jackanory'' was a BBC children's television series which was originally broadcast between 1965 and 1996. It was designed to stimulate an interest in Reading (activity), reading. The programme was first transmitted on 13 December 1965, and the ...

''.

Early life

Wood was born on 21 February 1944 in

Sutton Sutton (''south settlement'' or ''south town'' in Old English) may refer to: Places United Kingdom England In alphabetical order by county: * Sutton, Bedfordshire * Sutton, Berkshire, a List of United Kingdom locations: Stu-Sz#Su, location * S ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

. He was educated at Chichester High School for Boys and

Worcester College, Oxford Worcester College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms was ad ...

Stage work

Along with John Gould, he founded the Whirligig Theatre, a touring children's theatre company. His most famous story, '' The Gingerbread Man'' (1976), has been all across the world since its premiere at the Towngate Theatre in

Basildon Basildon ( ) is a town in Borough of Basildon, the borough of the same name, in the county of Essex, England. It had a recorded population of 115,955 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census. In 1931, the town had a population of 1,159. ...

. Wood, FilmFair, and Central adapted the musical into an animated

children's television series Children's television series (or children's television shows) are Television show, television programs designed specifically for Child, children. They are typically characterised by easy-going content devoid of sensitive or adult themes and are ...

. The adaptation, also called '' The Gingerbread Man'', aired on ITV in 1992. He was appointed Officer of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(OBE) in the 2004 Queen's Birthday Honours List, for his services to literature and drama. From 1966–70, he was married to actress Sheila Ruskin.

Film career

Among his film roles are Johnny in

Lindsay Anderson Lindsay Gordon Anderson (17 April 1923 – 30 August 1994) was a British feature-film, theatre and documentary director, film critic, and leading light of the Free Cinema movement and of the British New Wave. He is most widely remembered fo ...

's '' If...'' (1968) and Thompson in ''

Aces High Aces High may refer to: *Aces High (comics), ''Aces High'' (comics), a comic book series by EC Comics *Aces High (video game), ''Aces High'' (video game), a combat flight simulator/massively multiplayer online game *Aces High (film), ''Aces High'' ...

'' (1976). He appeared as the character Bingo Little in the original London cast of the

Andrew Lloyd Webber Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born 22 March 1948) is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End theatre, West End and on Broadway theatre, Broad ...

and Alan Ayckbourn musical ''

Jeeves Jeeves (born Reginald Jeeves, nicknamed Reggie) is a fictional character in a series of comedic short stories and novels by English author P. G. Wodehouse. Jeeves is the highly competent valet of a wealthy and idle young Londoner named Bertie W ...

'' in 1975. He wrote the

screenplay A screenplay, or script, is a written work produced for a film, television show (also known as a '' teleplay''), or video game by screenwriters (cf. ''stage play''). Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of w ...

for the 1974 adaptation of Arthur Ransome's '' Swallows and Amazons'', released by Anglo EMI.

Plays

Original works: * ''The Plotters Of Cabbage Patch Corner'' (1970) * ''Flibberty and the Penguin'' (1971) * ''The Papertown Paperchase'' (1972) * ''Hijack Over Hygenia'' (1973) * '' The Gingerbread Man'' (1976), a

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

inspired by the 19th-century fairy tale " The Gingerbread Man" * ''Nutcracker Sweet'' (1977) * '' The Ideal Gnome Expedition'' (1980) * ''The Selfish Shellfish'' (1983) * ''The See-Saw Tree'' (1986) Adaptations of

Roald Dahl Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British author of popular children's literature and short stories, a poet, screenwriter and a wartime Flying ace, fighter ace. His books have sold more than 300 million copies ...

's books for children: * ''The BFG'' (1991), adapted from '' The BFG'' (1982) * ''The Witches'' (1992), adapted from '' The Witches'' (1983) * ''The Twits'' (1999), adapted from '' The Twits'' (1979) * '' Fantastic Mr Fox'' (2001), adapted from '' Fantastic Mr Fox'' (1970) * ''James And The Giant Peach'' (2001), adapted from '' James And The Giant Peach'' (1961) * ''Danny The Champion Of The World'' (2004), adapted from '' Danny the Champion of the World'' (1975) * ''George's Marvellous Medicine'' (2009), adapted from '' George's Marvellous Medicine'' (1981) * ''The Magic Finger'' (2013), adapted from '' The Magic Finger'' (1962) Other adaptations of English authors of children's literature: * ''The Owl and the Pussycat went to See....'' (1968) co-written with Sheila Ruskin, based on the nonsense poetry of

Edward Lear Edward Lear (12 May 1812 – 29 January 1888) was an English artist, illustrator, musician, author and poet, who is known mostly for his literary nonsense in poetry and prose and especially his limerick (poetry), limericks, a form he popularised. ...

* ''Meg and Mog'' (1981), adapted from Helen Nicoll's books about her characters Meg and Mog * ''Noddy'' (1993), adapted from

Enid Blyton Enid Mary Blyton (11 August 1897 – 28 November 1968) was an English children's writer, whose books have been worldwide bestsellers since the 1930s, selling more than 600 million copies. Her books are still enormously popular and have been tra ...

's books about her character Noddy * ''Rupert Bear'' (1993), adapted from Mary Tourtel's comic strip ''

Rupert Bear Rupert Bear is an English children's comic strip character and franchise created by Herbert Tourtel and illustrated by his wife, the artist Mary Tourtel, first appearing in the ''Daily Express'' newspaper on 8 November 1920. Rupert's initi ...

'' (1920) * ''Babe, the Sheep-Pig'' (1997), adapted from Dick King-Smith's '' The Sheep-Pig'' (1983) * ''Spot's Birthday Party'' (2000), adapted from the '' Spot'' books by Eric Hill (1980) * ''Tom's Midnight Garden'' (2000). adapted from '' Tom's Midnight Garden'' by

Philippa Pearce Ann Philippa Pearce OBE FRSL (22 January 1920 – 21 December 2006) was an English author of children's books. Best known of them is the time-slip novel '' Tom's Midnight Garden'', which won the 1958 Carnegie Medal from the Library Associati ...

(1958) * ''The Tiger Who Came To Tea'' (2008), adapted from Judith Kerr's '' The Tiger Who Came To Tea'' (1968) * ''Guess How Much I Love You'' (2010), adapted from Sam McBratney's '' Guess How Much I Love You'' (1994) * ''Goodnight Mister Tom'' (2011), adapted from

Michelle Magorian Michelle Magorian (born 6 November 1947) is an English people, English author of children's books. She is best known for her second novel, ''Goodnight Mister Tom'', which won the 1982 Guardian Prize for British children's books. The novel has ...

's '' Goodnight Mister Tom'' (1981) Other * ''The Old Man of Lochnagar'' (1986), adapted from King Charles III's ''The Old Man of Lochnagar'' (1980) Adaptations of adult literature: * ''The Go-Between'' (2011; West End 2016),

Lyn Gardner Lyn Gardner is a British theatre critic, children's writer, and journalist who contributes reviews and articles to ''The Stage'' and '' Stagedoor'' and has written for ''The Guardian''. Theatre critic and educator A graduate in drama and English ...

The Go-Between – review
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', 19 September 2011 adapted from L.P. Hartley's '' The Go-Between'' (1953)

Filmography

Notes

References

Biography from his official website
*

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, David 1944 births Living people 20th-century English male actors 21st-century English male actors Alumni of Worcester College, Oxford English children's writers English dramatists and playwrights English male dramatists and playwrights English male film actors English male television actors Male actors from London Officers of the Order of the British Empire Actors from the London Borough of Sutton