A P Bateman - author

Another fantasitic narration/production by the brillaint Joe Mills! Out now and you won't be disappointed - Joe not only captures the story and characters wonderfully, but his use of music and effects lifts this far and away above other audiobook offerings from the biggest names in the business.

Backlash: Alex King, Book 22 Backlash: Alex King, Book 22

Right, let's see where this goes...

I'm editing and have an anecdote from a teacher about a childhood tragedy involving a character that seemed quite haunting as I read it. People often wonder where writers get their inspiration, but it's generally from their life experience. Here's a few things I recall as a child before 11. I lived at Watergate Bay in Cornwall and went to St. Mawgan Primary School.

1) My playmate was hit by a lorry in front of me at the age of 3 and killed. I saw everything.
2) At 7 my classmate Peter lost an eye climbing a tree at school (later he used to remove his glass eye and place it in locations to scare the girls!)
3) Rough play, teachers watching, and I get my leg broken in two places in a 'pile on'. Dragged myself into class and complained that I was in pain, but still had to finish my work before the school nurse would call my mum. Plaster cast from toes to groin for 2 months...
4) At around the age of 8, there were two boys in my school. They were brothers. One was adopted and the other came along just after the adoption, after the couple thought they couldn't have children. The father left his shotgun out and the adopted brother killed the other in a tragic accident.
5) At 9 a boy in my class died playing at home, strangled by the cord of a window blind.
6) At the age of 10 a disabled girl in my class called Anna was strangled by her mother - the school nurse.
7) At 10 a headless body washed up on Watergate Bay beach - my friend and I discovered it. We didn't know it was a body at first because it was, well, in a horrific state.

We later moved and I changed schools. The headmaster went to prison for sexually assaulting girl and boy boarders, there was also a r**e but I don't recall all the details. The same head previously caned me and some other boys for something or other (thankfully trousers up!) but I seem to remember him enjoying it. The police visited us all at home and some of us were interviewed several times.

My wife is now a head teacher and often jokes that all the paperwork and preventative measures, health and safety, and child protection work she has to do is because of school years like mine!