Father-of-four Tony, of Burcot Lane, Bromsgrove, had worked in advertising and as an art director for a greeting card company for many years.

But he had always wanted to write children's books and kept submitting ideas to publishers until his first book, Spike, the sparrow who couldn't sing, was published in 1989.

"If someone had told me I would be making a living from writing children's books I never would have believed them as I wasn't the greatest reader at school but I did love being read stories," said Tony.

His favourite teacher from his Northfield school, Mr Court, used to read to the class and for half an hour each day, and Tony's imagination was whisked away with Huckleberry Finn, the Biggles stories and adventures by Rudyard Kipling.

"I suppose it was quite a touchstone in my life. I used to really enjoy those stories," he added.

Tony has had 15 books published but his most popular series is that of patch-eyed puppy Fergus and his adventures. Last month, the latest in the series was published in paperback, called Fergus the Sea Dog, where the popular pup has a day out at the seaside.

Grandfather Tony's beautiful drawings capture the imagination of children and parents alike, and Tony says that is the most difficult thing about writing children's books. "It is hard to come up with original ideas, but the hardest thing is to try and make the words and storyline simple enough for children to understand and the pictures sophisticated enough so parents appreciate them."

Fergus has become a popular character across the world and has been translated into Welsh, French, German, Dutch, Italian, Finnish and even Korean. Tony's latest creation is Oliver Owl, and his first title, Not So Loud, Oliver!, was out in March. And the boisterous owl character is loosely based on Tony's son Christopher.

Tony says his son used to come home from school each day bursting with energy, noisily running round the house and his dad would say 'not so loud!' The next book, Look Behind You, Oliver!, will be out in spring next year -- and if Tony's previous stories are anything to go by they will make perfect bedtime reading for little ones in every family.