The revolutionist English best selling children author Ronald Gordon King-Smith better known as Dick King-Smith died at the age of 88 on 4th January 2011. The renowned children author was the creator behind the 1995 ‘Babe’ movie, since the movie was based on his book ‘The Sheep Pig’. His agent has confirmed his death.
Dick King Smith was made on OBE two years ago. The influential and creative writer died while sleeping in his bed at his home. The agent also told that the prolific writer had been in poor health for past years. The work of Dick King-Smith included animals and featured them as if the story was reality. He was one of the UK’s most ingenious writers publishing a total of 100 books since 1978.
The writer was born on 27th March 1922 in Bitton Gloucestershire. Before he became a teacher, he had been fighting in World War II in Italy as a soldier. He was a farmer for 20 years before becoming and author and teacher. He was awarded by the University of the West England as an Honorary Master of Education.
His books have been translated into 12 languages across the globe. He had two wives, Myrle who died in 2000 and Zona who is a family friend. He had 3 children and 14 grand children.
The popular book titles of Dick King-Smith include Harriet the Hare, The invisible Dog and The Witch of Blackberry Bottom. His first book named ‘The Fox Busters’ was published in 1978. He also won numerous awards and has sold over 15 million copies of his work worldwide.
Though the content of Mr. Dick King-Smith had always been unique yet the books didn’t gained success in terms of revenue initially. However after the hit film Babe, the collectors realized the importance of the marvelous writer and the copies started generating chunks of revenue.
The Queen’s Nose is another creation of Dick King-Smith that was adopted by BBC as a series and broadcasted BBC for seven years i.e. from 1995 to 2003. Many of his work have taken the form of movies or series. This is a result of writer’s ability to mold words into emotions.
A feature film of 2007 starring David Morrissey and Emily Watson was also inspired by The Water Horse, yet another creation of Dick King-Smith. His agent also told that his most delightful moment was the time when he received the honorary of OBE.
The writer has left behind his second wife Zona, 3 children, 14 grandchildren, four great-grand children and one great-great grandchild. Though the family is big enough but still cannot bear the loss of such a valuable person.