Jeremy James Strong (18 November 1949 – 4 August 2024) was an English writer known for his children's books. Strong wrote and published over 100 novels for children and young adults and is best known for his children's series The Hundred-Mile-an-Hour Dog. His work were known for humour, wordplay and has been described as encouraging "reading amongst ordinary children." Strong won the

Children's Book award Children's Book Award is a generic term that has been applied to: * Caldecott Medal, Caldecott Medal, annual "most distinguished American picture book for children" * Children's Book Award (UK), from the Federation of Children's Book Groups * Dorot ...

in 1997 and his books have been adapted for television including the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

's ''There's a Viking in My Bed''.

Early life and career

Jeremy James Strong was born in

New Eltham New Eltham is a suburban area of South East Greater London, London, England, primarily in the Royal Borough of Greenwich with some parts in the London Borough of Bexley. It is located south east of Eltham and north west of Sidcup. History New E ...

in London on 18 November 1949. His parents were Charles Strong, a pharmacist and Una, a primary school teacher and he has two brothers, Michael and Aidan and a sister, Jenny. He attended Wyborne Primary School, east London, Haberdashers Aske's Boys' School and the

University of York The University of York (abbreviated as or ''York'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public Collegiate university, collegiate research university in York, England. Established in 1963, the university has expanded to more than thir ...

where he first studied music before changing courses to English. After he graduated university, he became a primary school teacher whilst still pursuing his ambition to become a writer. His first teaching position was at

Sevenoaks, Kent Sevenoaks is a town in Kent with a population of 29,506, situated south-east of London, England. Also classified as a civil parish, Sevenoaks is served by a commuter main line railway into London; the town is from Charing Cross, the traditio ...

in 1976. He became deputy head teacher at Birchwood primary and then headteacher of Culverstone Green primary. Strong published his first book ''Smith's Tail'', a picture story for young children in 1978. Strong left teaching in 1991 and wrote full-time for the rest of his life.

Accolades

Jeremy Strong won the Children's Book Award (UK) (previously the Red House Children's Book Award) in 1997 for The Hundred-Mile-An-Hour Dog. He won the Sheffield Children's Book Award for Short Novel in 1998 for Pirate Pandemonium and then in 2001 for Living with Vampires.

Works

Jeremy Strong is the author of more than 100 books for young children, and he had a special interest in encouraging children to become independent readers. He also wrote books for teens and non-fiction.

Children's novels

The Hundred-Mile-An-Hour Dog

Viking series

Pirate School

Pharaoh series

My Brother's Famous Bottom series

The Indoor Pirates series

Cartoon Kid series

Romans on the Rampage

* Giant Jim and the Hurricane (1998) * Dinosaur Pox (1999) * I'm Telling You, They're Aliens! (2000) * The Shocking Adventures of Lightning Lucy (2002) * The Beak Speaks (2003) * My Mum's Going to Explode! (2007) * My Granny's Great Escape (2007) * My Dad's Got an Alligator! (2007) * Krazy-Kow Saves the World - Well Almost (2007) * Chicken School (2007) * Killers Tomatoes (2007) * Weird (2008) * The Battle for Christmas (2008) * Invasion of the Christmas Puddings (2008) * Krankenstein's Crazy House of Horror (2009) * We Want to be on the Telly! (2010) * Doctor Bonkers! (2010) * Batpants! (2010) * Batpants and the Vanishing Elephant (2011) His humorous writing often makes use of his childhood and primary teaching experiences. His story ''There's A Viking In My Bed'' was made into a

children's TV series and he has won several awards including the prestigious "Children's Book Award 1997" for ''The Hundred Mile an Hour Dog'', the "Manchester Book Award" for his teen novel ''Stuff'' and the "Sheffield Book Award" for ''Beware, Killer Tomatoes''. Strong's final novel, ''Fox Goes North'' was published posthumously by Scholastic in October 2024. The story tells of a band of animal companions who travel northwards in a topsy-turvey caravan on their quest to see the Northern Lights. For the elderly fox, it will be her final journey. In an interview with Nikkki Gamble, Strong said that as he was writing the story, he became aware that he was writing the story of his own journey too.

Personal life

Strong married his first wife Susan Noot, a teacher, in 1973 and they had two children together, Daniel and Jessica. They divorced and in 2006 Strong met Gillian Dean and they married two years later. Strong has two stepdaughters, from his second marriage, Rosa and Isabel. He lived in

Bradford-on-Avon Bradford-on-Avon (sometimes Bradford on Avon) is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in west Wiltshire (district), Wiltshire, England, near the border with Somerset. The town's canal, historic buildings, shops, pubs and restauran ...

, with his wife and their two cats and four hens. Strong died from bone cancer on 4 August 2024. He was 74 years old.

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Strong, Jeremy 1949 births 2024 deaths Alumni of the University of York English children's writers English male writers People educated at Haberdashers' Boys' School People from Eltham Writers from the Royal Borough of Greenwich