John O'Farrell (author)
| John O'Farrell | |
|---|---|
| Born |
27 March 1962 Maidenhead, Berkshire, England |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Nationality | British |
| Period | 1986–present |
| Genre | Fiction, non-fiction |
John O'Farrell (born 27 March 1962) is a British author and comedy scriptwriter. Previously a lead writer for such shows as Spitting Image and Have I Got News For You, he is now best known as a writer of humorous books such as The Man Who Forgot His Wife and An Utterly Impartial History of Britain. He is one of a small number of British writers to have achieved best-seller status with both fiction and non-fiction. He has also published three collections of his weekly column for The Guardian and set up Britain’s first daily satirical news website ‘NewsBiscuit’. He co-wrote the musical Something Rotten! which opened on Broadway in April 2015 and has co-written a screenplay for Aardman Animations which went into production in May 2015. In November 2015, he published his fifth novel, There's Only Two David Beckhams a comic fantasy set at Qatar 2022. His books have been translated into around 25 languages and adapted for radio and television.
O'Farrell grew up in Maidenhead, Berkshire, the youngest of three children, attending Courthouse Primary School and then Desborough Comprehensive. His father was a book dealer from Galway, Ireland. He attended classes at the renowned Redroofs Theatre School (now Redroofs School for the Performing Arts) and he played Christopher Robin in the West End at the age of ten, and appeared in the horror film From Beyond the Grave with Diana Dors and Donald Pleasence. O'Farrell went on to study English and drama at Exeter University.
O'Farrell moved to London in 1985, winning a talent competition at Jongleurs in Battersea, but gave up stand up-comedy in favour of comedy writing. After turning up at the open meetings for Radio 4's Week Ending he teamed up with Mark Burton and the writing partnership received their first commission from Harry Thompson (who later named his two pet rats Burton and O'Farrell). The duo won the BBC Light Entertainment Contract Award, and contributed to a number of radio series, including Little Blighty on the Down, McKay the New and, with Pete Sinclair, A Look Back at the Nineties and Look Back at the Future in which O'Farrell also performed. The latter series won a British Comedy Award, a Gold Sony Radio Academy Award and a Premios Ondas.
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