As a photographer he took pictures for advertising agencies, newspapers and publishers, of pop stars, politicians, fashion models, and tens of thousands of

total strangers. He has also been an antiques dealer and a printer (photographic and silkscreen), has co-owned and run two art galleries, made hundreds of paintings, drawings and experimental digital images, and published around forty-five books for children and five for adults.

Books of his have been widely translated, including into Welsh, Slovakian, Turkish and Chinese. As a children’s author he has visited a great many schools, appeared on Blue Peter by viewer request, and uttered codswallop on the stages of many a literary festival. He no longer puts in personal appearances unless disguised as someone else entirely.