| Facts | Gervase Phinn was a teacher for 14 years before becoming a school inspector. He is now a freelance lecturer and adviser, and Visiting Professor of Education at the University of Teesside. In 2004 he was honoured to receive "The Speaker of the Year Award' from the Association of Speakers' Clubs. Gervase Phinn is married with four grown-up children and lives in a village just outside Doncaster. |
Phinn is best-known for his known for his Dales series of books, detailing his real-life observations as a school inspector in North Yorkshire. He has also written a number of books for children and is widely sought after as a public speaker.
 | | Gervase Phinn |
Phinn puts his success as a storyteller down to advice given to him by a tutor when he was at university in Leeds. "He said the best advice I can give you is this - read, read, read, read and read. Be a bibliomaniac. "And secondly - always write things down. "I'm 58 now and since I was 21 I've kept a journal and I write things down. Anything children say to me or people say to me is written down. "When people come to book signings and tell me their stories I write it down and it might turn up in a book. So the stories are real, although they are embellished." Listen to the whole interview by clicking on the link on the right hand side of this page. | 
