The Toby Man

Dick King-Smith served in the Grenadier Guards during the Second World War, and afterwards spent twenty years as a farmer in Gloucestershire, the county of his birth. Many of his stories are inspired by his farming experiences. Later he taught at a village primary school. His first book, The Fox Busters, was published in 1978. He wrote a great number of children's books, including The Sheep-Pig (winner of the Guardian Award and filmed as Babe), Harry's Mad, Noah's Brother, The Hodgeheg, Martin's Mice, Ace, The Cuckoo Child and Harriet's Hare (winner of the Children's Book Award in 1995). At the British Book Awards in 1991 he was voted Children's Author of the Year. In 2009 he was made OBE for services to children's literature. Dick King-Smith died in 2011 at the age of eighty-eight.

Nigel Lambert is a voice actor, best known for his role as the narrator of the first series of the BBC comedy series Look Around You. He is the voice of Mr Curry in the television series The Adventures of Paddington Bear, and also ‘Papa’ in the Dolmio pasta sauce puppet commercials. Lambert has recorded over 50 audiobooks including the classic tale, Black Beauty by Anna Sewell. He is a four-time AudioFile Earphones Award-winner, praised for his flawless timing and masterful characterisations.