See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sid\_Chaplin Sid Chaplin was a remarkable man, a miner who became a popular writer, and someone who was dedicated to his roots in the North East. Born in Shildon in 1916, he left school at 14, spent a year working in a bakery, and then went down the pit. He was lucky that his grandfather's cupboards contained lots of good books, by authors like Conan Doyle, P.G. Wodehouse, W.W. Jacobs, and H.G. Wells. "I never had any instruction in grammar," Sid said, "but my reading made me a writer." He wanted to be a union or political leader when he was in his teens, and went to Fircroft College to study economics. "I wrote an essay which the tutor liked, and he said my economics were bad but my writing was entertaining. He suggested I take up writing, so I transferred to an English literature course." He worked in the pit by day and wrote at night, and his break came in 1946 with a publisher accepting a collection of stories under the title of The Leaping Lad. Sid later joined the magazine "Coal" and came out of the pit. For a time the fact that he was producing journalism by day and trying to write fiction by night affected his ability to produce the novels and stories he wanted; but eventually he began to get more of his books published. Sid never left his native area, and loved to walk out for miles around his Newcastle home and, as he had always done, listen to tales of his native land. KF