When Martin Brown was little he loved drawing and he loved animals, particularly lesser-known animals, so it was only a question of time before he ended up drawing them.

Quite a lot of time ... In the meantime, he grew up, moved from Melbourne to England, and illustrated the phenomenally successful Horrible Histories series. Now, at last, it's time for the animals.

Terry Deary is one of the UK's most well known authors of children's books. With over 6 million copies of the Horrible Histories series sold in the UK alone, Terry Deary's name is a prominent feature on bookshelves across the land.

It was with great glee that Terry Deary realised, at the age of 13, that he could write. It took him another twenty years to discover he could be paid for it. Since then, Terry has written over 200 books!

Terry writes from his home in County Durham where he lives with his wife an d daughter. It takes him anything between six hours and six weeks to write a book! In writes for six days a week, so free time is rare. However when h e does have free time he enjoys acting, local cricket, supporting his beloved Sunderland United football team and running to half-marathon distance for charity.

The Horrible Histories series has been translated into twenty-five different languages, from Welsh to Russian! It has also been produced as a TV series on CBBC.