Kjartan Poskitt (born 15 May 1956 in

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

) is a British writer and TV presenter who is best known for writing the ''

Murderous Maths Murderous Maths is a book series, series of United Kingdom, British educational books by author Kjartan Poskitt. Most of the books in the series are illustrated by illustrator Philip Reeve, with the exception of "The Secret Life of Codes", which i ...

'' children's series of books.

Early life and education

Poskitt was born in

York, England York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a minster, castle and city walls, all of which are G ...

, grew up in

Selby, Yorkshire Selby is a market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England, south of York on the River Ouse. At the 2021 Census, it had a population of 17,193. The town was historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire; from 1974 until 2023, ...

and was educated at the Selby Abbey School, at Terrington Hall, North Yorkshire, and at

Bootham School Bootham School is a private Quaker boarding school, on Bootham in the city of York in England. It accepts boys and girls ages 3–19 and had an enrolment of 605 pupils in 2016. It is one of seven Quaker schools in England. The school was ...

, York, before studying engineering at Collingwood College,

Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...

Career

Poskitt was a member of a comedy group while at Durham University, and toured with it to the US in 1979, playing the piano and singing, performing skits and doing a ventriloquist act with a dummy which wouldn't speak. He participated in the

National Student Drama Festival The UK based National Student Drama Festival (NSDF) was founded in 1956 with the purpose of creating new art, new artists and new communities. It also runs a charity aimed at empowering young artists. The NSDF is targeted towards people aged ...

from 1976-1980, and also performed solo at the

Edinburgh Fringe Festival The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

from 1979 to 1981. He was a member of the pop group

Candlewick Green Candlewick Green were a five-piece English pop group, formed in the 1970s. It is best known for its song, "Who Do You Think You Are" (1974), also recorded by artists such as Jigsaw and Bo Donaldson and The Heywoods. The group's name is an allus ...

in the early 1980s. He has written and directed a number of pantomimes performed by the National Student Theatre Company, including ''Jack and the Beanstalk'' (1979), ''The Sleeping Beauty'' (1980), ''Cinderella'' (1981), ''Jack and the Beanstalk'' (1983), as well as a nativity play, ''The Road to Bethlehem'' (1980), and a "musical ghost pantomime", ''Sammy's Magic Garden'' (1985). Early children's television appearances included '' Swap Shop'' during its Edinburgh Festival broadcasts, and

ITV Yorkshire ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV (TV network), ITV network. Until 19 ...

's ''Behind the Bike Sheds''.

Writing

In addition to his science and maths books, which include books on Isaac Newton (Dead Famous: Isaac Newton and his Apple), and various galaxy puzzles, practical jokes and secret codes, Poskitt has written a book of magical tricks (''Magic Tricks with Underpants'', Scholastic 2004), a GCSE Maths support book and four ''

Rosie and Jim ''Rosie and Jim'' (sometimes written as ''Rosie & Jim'') is a British children's television programme which was produced by Ragdoll Productions and aired on the Children's ITV block on ITV from 3 September 1990 to 16 May 2000. The programm ...

'' annuals. In 2007, Poskitt published the first in a series of children's novels called ''Urgum the Axeman''. Since then he has written the "Borgon the Axeboy" series and the award winning "Agatha Parrot" series. He also wrote the theme tune for the children's art program ''

SMart ''SMart'' was a British CBBC television programme based on art, which began in 1994 and ended in 2009. The programme was recorded at BBC Television Centre in London. Previously it had been recorded in Studio A at Pebble Mill Studios in Birmingha ...

'', as well as the title theme and music for the first two series of '' Brum''. He is also the creator of a logic puzzle, Kjarposko. He has been a presenter for a number of (mostly

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 ...

) educational children's TV shows.

References

External links

Official website

Murderous Maths official website

British children's writers British non-fiction writers Living people People from Aylesbury 1956 births English people of Hungarian descent British male writers Alumni of Collingwood College, Durham British male non-fiction writers {{UK-nonfiction-writer-stub

Early life and education

Career

Writing

See also

References

External links