Beyond the Book: Background information when reading The Dangerous Book for Boys

Beyond the Book

This article relates to The Dangerous Book for Boys

Conn Iggulden was born in 1971. He read English at London University and then taught for seven years at a high school in London. His mother is Irish and from an early age told her children history as an exciting series of stories - with dates, and his great-grandfather was a Seannachie (Irish storyteller). His father flew in Bomber Command in WWII, then taught maths and science. Iggulden says, "Though it seems a dated idea now, I began teaching when boys were told only girls were good at English, despite the great names that must spring to mind after that statement. My father loved working with wood and equations, but he also recited Vitai Lampada* with a gleam in his eye and that matters, frankly."

*A poem by Henry Newbolt.

Conn cut his teeth on Hornblower and Tai-Pan, Flashman, Sharpe and Jack Aubrey, and still remembers the sheer joy of reading his first Patrick O’Brian book and discovering there were nineteen more in the series! He also loves anything by David Gemmell, or Peter F. Hamilton or Wilbur Smith. He lives with his wife and two children in Hertfordshire, England.

Hal Iggulden was born in 1972 and lives in Leicester, England; where he is a theatre director with a love of astronomy, gadgets, dogs and football.

Conn Iggulden's Bibliography

Emperor Series

• The Gates of Rome (2003)
• The Death of Kings (2004)
• The Field of Swords (2004)
• The Gods of War (2006)
  

Conqueror Series

• Wolf of the Plains (2007)
  published as Gengis in the USA
• 2nd in the series, title not announced, due to be published Jan 2008
  

Novellas

• Blackwater (2006) - psychological thriller

Non fiction (with Hal Iggulden)

• The Dangerous Book for Boys (UK: 2006, USA 2007)
• The Dangerous Yearbook; Pocket Book etc
• Dangerous Heroes - to be published 2008

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This article relates to The Dangerous Book for Boys. It first ran in the June 7, 2007 issue of BookBrowse Recommends.