Denis Bond
Encyclopedia
Denis Bond, is a British
writer of children's books and television. His TV programmes include The Munch Bunch
and Picme, and his books include Avenue, Pop Rivals and, for younger children, The Witch Who Loved To Make Children Cry.
and acted on stage and TV. After a period of working as a teacher, he was commissioned to write 26 episodes for the Children's ITV series Pipkins
. He also wrote for the series Rainbow
, Let's Pretend
and The Munch Bunch.
, as well as a feminisation of his own name, No 1, an in-depth look at the dark side of the pop music scene, and Avenue, about a soap opera
.
. This has been nominated for a BAFTA.
Except where stated, all of the above titles are illustrated by Valeria Petrone.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
writer of children's books and television. His TV programmes include The Munch Bunch
Munch bunch
The Munch Bunch is the title of a series of children's books, written by British author Denis Bond and illustrated by Angela Mitson, a teenager who had created the characters. They were published between 1979 and 1984 by Studio Publications Ltd. in the UK and Rourke Publications, Inc. in the US...
and Picme, and his books include Avenue, Pop Rivals and, for younger children, The Witch Who Loved To Make Children Cry.
Children's ITV
Bond was trained in drama at the Rose Bruford CollegeRose Bruford College
Rose Bruford College of Theatre & Performance is a British drama school, offering university-level and professional vocational training for theatre and performance and the BA and MA degrees, based in Sidcup, Southeast London.-History:Founded in 1950, Rose Bruford "pioneered the first acting degree...
and acted on stage and TV. After a period of working as a teacher, he was commissioned to write 26 episodes for the Children's ITV series Pipkins
Pipkins
Pipkins was a British children's TV programme. Hartley Hare, Pig, Topov and the gang were the stars of ATV's pre-school series which ran from January 1973 to 29 December 1981....
. He also wrote for the series Rainbow
Rainbow (TV series)
Rainbow is a British children's television series, created by Pamela Lonsdale, which ran twice weekly at 12:10 on Tuesdays and Fridays on the ITV network, from 16 October 1972 to 6 March 1992...
, Let's Pretend
Let's Pretend (TV series)
Let's Pretend was a 1980s children's television series aimed at preschool ages. It was shown across the ITV Network at 12.10 on Tuesdays, then later Mondays, replacing the popular Pipkins which had been cancelled at the end of 1981...
and The Munch Bunch.
The Munch Bunch
Although Rainbow remains a cult classic, the Munch Bunch stands alone among the three for being written entirely by Bond. He had already begun written a series of Munch Bunch books launched under the pseudonym Giles Reed a year previously.Dagon
His next publishing venture was a series of books about Dagon, a boy from space. These were published, like the Munch Bunch, by the Ipswich-based Studio Publications, but both ranges were terminated when a fire at Studio Publications destroyed all of the original artwork.Scholastic
Bond had, however, already moved on by then. He had two novels published by Methuen but success really came when he began being published by Scholastic. His first book for the publishers was The Dragon Who Couldn't Help Breathing Fire (1990) and, by 1994, he was having books for teenagers published as well. These included three books for Scholastic's Point Romance series under the pseudonym Denise Colby, a clear reference to the US TV series DynastyDynasty (TV series)
Dynasty is an American prime time television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 12, 1981 to May 11, 1989. It was created by Richard & Esther Shapiro and produced by Aaron Spelling, and revolved around the Carringtons, a wealthy oil family living in Denver, Colorado...
, as well as a feminisation of his own name, No 1, an in-depth look at the dark side of the pop music scene, and Avenue, about a soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
.
Picme
Bond returned to the field of television with Picme an animated educational series written for the Irish broadcasters RTERTE
RTÉ is the abbreviation for Raidió Teilifís Éireann, the public broadcasting service of the Republic of Ireland.RTE may also refer to:* Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, 25th Prime Minister of Turkey...
. This has been nominated for a BAFTA.
Workshops
As well as continuing to write, Denis Bond regularly conducts writing workshops at schools and libraries both in the UK and abroad.For younger readers
- The Dragon Who Couldn't Help Breathing Fire (1990)
- The Train Who Was Frightened of the Dark (1992)
- The Granny Who Wasn't Like Other Grannies (1993)
- The Monster Who Couldn't Scare Anyone (1994)
- The Witch Who Loved To Make Children Cry (1996)
- The Shark Who Bit Things He Shouldn't (1998)
- The Big Bad Story Book (containing, The Witch Who Loved To Make Children Cry, The Dragon Who Couldn't Help Breathing Fire and The Monster Who Couldn't Scare Anyone) (2000)
- The Very Clever Farmer (illustrated by Steve Cox) (2000)
Except where stated, all of the above titles are illustrated by Valeria Petrone.
For teenagers
- No 1 (1995)
- Avenue (2000)
- Pop Rivals (2004) a condensed version of No 1 published by Red Fox
Point Romance (as Denise Colby)
- Two Weeks in Paradise (1994)
- Spotlight On Love (1995)
- Love Letters (1997)