JOHN DOUGHERTY lives in London. A supply teacher with plenty of experience of classroom activities in primary education, he is also a singer-songwriter with one CD already available - and has appeared on TV when his living room was designed in a Gothic style by Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen. In 2004, he also ran the London Marathon to raise funds for a charity to help children in care. This is his third book for the Young Corgi list. His first, ZEUS ON THE LOOSE, was shortlisted for the Branford Boase Award and JACK SLATER was shortlisted for the Ottaker's Children's Book Award, pre-publication.