'Child' places his books alphabetically on bookshop and library shelves between crime fiction greats Raymond Chandler and Agatha Christie. Calling anything 'Lee' became a family gag. His pen name 'Lee' comes from a family joke about a heard mispronunciation of the name of Renault's Le Car, as 'Lee Car'. He starts each new book of the series on an anniversary of his starting the first book after losing his job. Writing career Īfter being made redundant from his job because of corporate restructuring, Grant decided to start writing novels, stating they are 'the purest form of entertainment.' In 1997, his first novel, Killing Floor, was published, and he moved to the United States in the summer of 1998. He worked at Granada from 1977 to 1995 and ended his career there with two years as a trade union shop steward. Grant was involved in the transmission of more than 40,000 hours of programming for Granada, writing thousands of commercials and news stories.

There he was involved with shows including Brideshead Revisited, The Jewel in the Crown, Prime Suspect, and Cracker. Grant joined Granada Television, part of the UK's ITV Network, in Manchester as a presentation director. He received a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree from the University of Sheffield in 1977 and returned to the university to receive an honorary Doctor of Letters (DLitt) in 2009. After graduating, he worked in commercial television. In 1974, at the age of 20, Grant studied law at University of Sheffield, though he had no intention of entering the legal profession and, during his student days, worked backstage in a theatre. He attended King Edward's School, Birmingham. Grant attended Cherry Orchard Primary School in Handsworth Wood until the age of 11. Grant's family relocated to Handsworth Wood in Birmingham when he was four years old so that the boys could receive a better education. He is the second of four sons his younger brother, Andrew Grant, is also a thriller novelist. His Northern Irish father, who was born in Belfast, was a civil servant who lived in the house where the singer Van Morrison was later born. His first novel, Killing Floor (1997), won both the Anthony Award and the Barry Award for Best First Novel. The books follow the adventures of a former American military policeman, Jack Reacher, who wanders the United States. James Dover Grant CBE (born 29 October 1954), primarily known by his pen name Lee Child, is a British author who writes thriller novels, and is best known for his Jack Reacher novel series.

Recorded December 2013 from the BBC Radio 4 programme Bookclub

Personal by Lee Child