Charlie Higson

Charlie James Higson
Born	3 July 1958 (1958-07-03) (age 53) Frome, Somerset, England
Occupation	Actor, comedian, author
Spouse	Victoria L Fullick (1995–present)
Children	3 children

Charles Murray Higson (born 3 July 1958), more commonly known as Charlie Higson - also Switch^[1] - is an English actor, comedian, author and former singer. He has also written and produced for television.

Biography

Higson was educated at Sevenoaks School and at the University of East Anglia (where his brother has taught since 1986 and is now a professor of film studies) where he met Paul Whitehouse, David Cummings and Terry Edwards. Higson, Cummings and Edwards formed the band The Higsons of which Higson was the lead singer from 1980 to 1986. They released two singles on the Specials' 2-Tone label. This was after he had formed the punk band The Right Hand Lovers, where he was known as "Switch".^[2] Higson then became a plasterer - including plastering the student house of Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie^[3] - before he turned to writing for Harry Enfield with Paul Whitehouse and performing comedy. He came to public attention as one of the main writers and performers of the BBC Two sketch show The Fast Show (1994–2000). He worked with Whitehouse on the radio comedy Down the Line and is to work with him again on a television project, designed to be a spoof of celebrity travel programmes.^[4]

He worked as producer, writer, director and occasional guest star on Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) from 2000 to 2001. Subsequent television work has included writing and starring in BBC Three's Fast Show spin-off sitcom Swiss Toni. He has starred in Tittybangbang on BBC Three and appeared as a panellist on QI. He recently co-directed and starred in Bellamy's People.

He published many novels through the early to mid 1990s which take a slightly dystopian look at everyday life and have a considerably more adult tone than his other work, with characters on the margins of society finding themselves spiraling out of control, leading him to be described by Time Out as 'The missing link between Dick Emery and Brett Easton Ellis'.^[5]

In 2004, it was announced that Higson would pen a series of James Bond novels, aimed at younger readers and concentrating on the character's school-days at Eton. Higson was himself educated at Sevenoaks School where he was a contemporary of Jonathan Evans, current Director General of MI5. The first novel, SilverFin, was released on 3 March 2005 in the UK and on 27 April 2005 in the U.S. A second novel, Blood Fever, was released on 5 January 2006 in the UK and 1 June in the US. The third novel, Double or Die, was published on 4 January 2007 having had its title announced the day before. The next, Hurricane Gold, came out in hardcover in the UK in September 2007.^[6] In this year he also made a debut performance on the panel show QI. His final Young Bond novel, By Royal Command, was released in hardcover in the UK on the 4 September 2008.^[7]

Higson is currently writing a zombie-horror series of books for children. The first book, The Enemy, was released in the UK by Puffin Books in 2009 and in the US by Disney-Hyperion in 2010. Book 2, The Dead, was released in the UK in September 2010. The third book in the series, The Fear was published on 15 September 2011. Charlie is currently writing the fourth novel in the series that will be out next year.^[8] At a school event at Abingdon School on September 14, 2011, Charlie told children "Originally it was going to be three books and then my publisher, Puffin, said make it five and now we’re up to it being seven." ^[9]

In 2011 it was confirmed that Higson would be appearing alongside the original cast (with the exception of Mark Williams) in an online-only version of The Fast Show sponsored by lager brand Fosters^[10]

Bibliography

Novels

• King of the Ants (1992), ISBN 0-241-13207-X
• Happy Now (1993), ISBN 0-241-13363-7
• Full Whack (1995), ISBN 0-241-00287-7
• Getting Rid of Mister Kitchen (1996) ISBN 0316881066
• Monstroso (2010) ISBN 978-0-141-32845-4

The Enemy

• The Enemy (2009) ISBN 0141384646
• The Dead (2010) ISBN 0141384658
• The Fear (2011) ISBN 0141384662
• The Sacrifice (2012)

Young Bond

1. SilverFin (2005), ISBN 0-14-131859-7
2. Blood Fever (2006), ISBN 0-14-131860-0
3. Double or Die (2007), ISBN 0-14-132203-9
4. Hurricane Gold (2007), ISBN 0-14-138391-7
5. By Royal Command (2008), ISBN 0-14-138451-4
6. SilverFin: The Graphic Novel (2008), ISBN 9780141322537 (with Kev Walker)
7. Danger Society: The Young Bond Dossier (2009), ISBN 9780141327686 (authored short story included in book)

Non-fiction

• The 'Fast Show' Book (1996), ISBN 0-7522-2267-8 (with Paul Whitehouse)

References

1. ^ Odell, Michael (31 August 2008). "This much I know: Charlie Higson, author, 50, London - Life and style - The Observer". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/aug/31/television. Retrieved 7 July 2011. 
2. ^ Odell, Michael (31 August 2008). "This much I know: Charlie Higson, author, 50, London - Life and style - The Observer". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/aug/31/television. Retrieved 7 July 2011. 
3. ^ according to Stephen Fry on the QI programme (Series D, Episode 12) (repeated on the channel Dave, 21 Jul 09)
4. ^ Byrne, Ciar (2007-10-01). "Paul Whitehouse and Charlie Higson: Making (radio) waves". London: The Independent. http://news.independent.co.uk/media/article3013244.ece. Retrieved 2007-10-01. 
5. ^ "Quoted on Publisher's webpage". Little,Brown on 'Full Whack'. http://www.littlebrown.co.uk/Title/9780349108117. Retrieved -3 March 2009. 
6. ^ "Young Bond 4 in September". The Young Bond Dossier. http://web.mac.com/zencato/iWeb/Young_Bond/News/6A4311AE-9427-47FA-9C53-6FCA27CC3F3C.html. Retrieved April 5, 2007. ^{[dead link]}
7. ^ "By Royal Command official announcement". The Young Bond Dossier. http://www.youngbonddossier.com/Young_Bond/Danger_Society_News/Entries/2008/3/6_Young_Bond_5_is_BY_ROYAL_COMMAND.html. Retrieved 22 June 2008. 
8. ^ "Official Enemy Website". http://the-enemy.co.uk/. Retrieved 6 June 2010. 
9. ^ http://mostly-books.blogspot.com/2011/09/master-class-in-dealing-with-undead.html
10. ^ http://www.fosters.co.uk/tagged/The_Fast_Show

External links

• Official Charlie Higson Website
• BBC Talent Guide Profile
• Another BBC profile of Higson
• Charlie Higson profile at MI6.co.uk - interview series and biography
• CommanderBond.net interviews Charlie Higson
• The Charlie Higson CBn Interview II
• New interview (2008): Charlie in Command

Preceded by Raymond Benson 1997-2002

James Bond writer 2005-present

Succeeded by Sebastian Faulks 2008

Persondata
Name	Higson, Charlie
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	3 July 1958
Place of birth	Frome, Somerset, England
Date of death
Place of death