John Fardell

John Fardell was brought up near Bristol, England, where he spent many hours in his dad's workshop, learning to make model planes and boats. He has always enjoyed making up comic strips and drawing inventions. Since growing up, John has been all sorts of things: potato picker, toilet cleaner, care worker, drama student, film extra, door-to-door salesman, pierrot, barman, and viola player but has mostly earned his living as a freelance cartoonist, illustrator, and occasional designer of puppet theatre shows.

His comic strips and cartoons have appeared in a wide variety of UK publications including Viz, the List, the Independent and the Herald. John Fardell is the author of three children's novels, including The Seven Professors of the Far North, The Flight of the Silver Turtle and The Secret of the Black Moon Moth. Manfred the Baddie is his first picture book. He is married with two boys and lives in Edinburgh.