Your questions answered

Why did you want to become a writer?

To be rich and famous, though that hasn't happened yet.
Oh all right then:- Because through books and plays, we can share ideas with lots of people all over the world, make them laugh, and hopefully -sometimes -give them some new ideas to think about (or some new ways to think about old ideas), too.

Where do you get your ideas from?

Life. Stuff that happens. Take a look at our book pages, on some of them we tell you where the initial idea came from.
We don't pinch ideas (unless we're taking the mickey out of someone else's work, as we did in Star Bores). Getting ideas is easy. It's making them work that's difficult.

Is it easy to get published?

Only, apparently, if you're famous for doing something else besides writing books. The main thing is to have faith in your work, and never give up. We were lucky that we had an idea that the publishers liked straight away.

How many books have you written?

Tricky to say- if you count books the books we've had published in English, with just our names on the cover, it's about 75. If you count books with our names on or in somewhere, it's about 170!

What's the best book you've ever written?

Hard to say -it's like asking a parent, 'Who's your favorite kid?' All our books are different and we like them for different reasons.

What's your most embarrassing moment?

Barlow - Probably when I was in a play, and I threw my walking stick down, and it bounced into the audience and knocked the Lady Mayoress of Crewe out cold.
Skidmore - I'm not telling you -it's too embarrassing!

What's the strangest job you've ever had?

Barlow - I've had lots - strawberry picker, laundry van driver, postman, dustbin man and they were all pretty strange, but being an author must be the strangest of the lot. I could write a book!
Skidmore - counting pastry pie lids

What makes you laugh?

Barlow - Politicians pretending they're telling the truth. Road Runner cartoons. I guess I have quite a cruel sense of humour. I like it when cute furry things get squished, but only if they deserve it. (Of course, everything cute deserves to get squished anyway.)
Skidmore - Air being forced up through my mouth.

 What sort of music do you like?

Barlow - Most sorts, but especially classical and early music. As far as rock music goes, I'm stuck in a 1970s time warp and happy to be there.
Skidmore - All kinds of stuff, from classical to hip hop.

What were you like at school?

Barlow - Everyone else was rebelling by growing their hair and wearing flares, so I rebelled against the rebellion by cutting my hair and wearing a tie. Yeah, you're right -a bit of a prat to be honest.
Skidmore - Short.

What did you want to be when you grew up?

Barlow - An airline pilot, but I was scared of heights!
Skidmore - taller.

What is your star sign?

Barlow - Scoobidoo
Skidmore - Kylie Minogue.

Who is your favourite writer?

Barlow - T H White
Skidmore - A A Milne

 What is your favourite:-

Food?

Barlow - Shellfish
Skidmore - Fish

TV programme?

Barlow - The Prisoner
Skidmore - The Simpsons

Film?

Barlow - The Dish
Skidmore - The Princess Bride

Book?

Barlow - The Once and Future King by T H White
Skidmore - Catch 22 by Joseph Heller & The Princess Bride by William Goldman (okay, so that's two)

Play?

Barlow - The Lion in Winter by James Goldman
Skidmore - Richard III by William Shakespeare

Colour?

Barlow - Blue
Skidmore - Blue

Animal?

Barlow - Cat
Skidmore - Tiger (big cat!)