ABOUT JACK
Jack Sheffield was born in 1945 and grew up in the tough environment of Gipton Estate in north-east Leeds. His first job was ‘pitch boy’, carrying buckets of boiling bitumen up a ladder to repair roofs.
From an early age he always loved to read and write. His mother taught him to read using his school reading book, a Beacon Reader about a farm with an assortment of animals.
On Christmas morning 1953, Jack finally owned his first book, Five Go off to Camp by Enid Blyton. It was second hand and cost six old pence. He read it every night under the sheets by the light of his 3-colour torch and life seemed complete. Only in later years did he realise how difficult it must have been for his
mother to afford that book.
In the 60s Jack trained to be a teacher at St John’s College, York, and spent his summers as a Corona Pop Man.
In the early 70s, he was a teacher in Keighley in West Yorkshire, during which time he earned a reputation as a hard-tackling wing-forward for Wharfedale RUFC.
In the late 70s and 80s, Jack was head teacher of two schools in North Yorkshire. It was during this time, that he began writing short stories about the humorous, and occasionally sad times in his working life.
In 1980 he wrote the short stories ‘The Carrot Champion’ and ‘Dance With Your Eyes’ and these appear as chapters in Teacher Teacher!
Jack also become Senior Lecturer in Primary Education at Bretton Hall College of the University of Leeds. It was then he began to record his many amusing stories of village life, which now feature in the best selling Teacher series.
However, it wasn’t until Jack retired that he began writing full-time! In 2005, Jack attended the Winchester Writers’ Conference and gave a copy of his novel to a London Literary Agent, Philip Patterson of Marjacq Scripts.
Jack’s best Christmas present of 2005 was a telephone call from Philip saying he had enjoyed his book and was prepared to be his Literary Agent. In 2006, Philip secured a contract for Jack with Transworld Publishers.
Since then, Jack has continued to grow his bestselling series of books and in 2017, was awarded the honorary title of Cultural Fellow of York St John University.
