So, who does he think he is?
Hayden Gribble was born in Cambridge in the summer of 1989. As a little boy growing up in a small village on the Essex/Suffolk border, he quickly developed a love of writing, resulting in him writing his own versions of Roderick Hunt’s THE MAGIC KEY books and reading them out in his school assembly aged just six.
Before long he began to find the things that he would love right into adulthood. This included a passion of sport, especially football, cricket and tennis, music, especially rock and TV and film, especially science fiction, adventure and horror.
Despite a difficult time at school, he entered further education as a trainee plumber and sports journalism and spent a number of years as a factotum and somehow as the time has rolled on has managed to settle down. Presently, he and his wife are excitedly awaiting the birth of their first child.
But what are his interests? His hobbies? His likes and dislikes? Well, why don’t we ask him…
Name – Hayden Gribble
Really? – Yep. Although you may think I am a fictional character left on the cutting room floor of an early Harry Potter draft, I am actually named Hayden after my Great Uncle who fought in the navy in the Second World War and Gribble after my Father because he was blessed with it as a surname also. So the name is as real as can be.
Occupation – Writer and Podcaster
Favourite book – To Kill a Mockingbird, or The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, or Doctor Who and the Web Of Fear…it’s hard to pick!
Favourite film – Back to the Future
Favourite TV Show – Doctor Who/The Simpsons
Favourite band – Oasis
Favourite album – OK Computer by Radiohead
Which football team do you support? – Tottenham Hotspur FC….pity me.
Earliest Memory – Watching Freddie Mercury’s tribute gig on the tele and telling my Nan about it on the phone. I would have only been three so it clearly left and impression…speaking of Queen…
First CD – …My parents got me Queen Greatest Hits II when I was really little but the money I first bought with my own money was Parklife by Blur, so technically it’s Parklife.
Places you have visited – I’ve been to Germany, France, Holland, Spain, Mallorca, Scotland, Wales, the USA, Austria, Hungary, Italy and Mexico. I have been very lucky!
Hobbies – Walking, listening to music and podcasts, working out, reading, writing, playing the Xbox.
What do you do to relax? – Play my Xbox, do a jigsaw, have a bath, chill out to music.
Book you are most proud of – Ouch! In a way I am proud of all of them! The Man In The Corner because it was the first and having that published was a proud moment, seeing Child Out Of Time in Doctor Who Magazine was a special moment too but I have to say I find so much joy in writing the Captain Random books…but I am proud of them all.
Things you hate – Ignorance, stupidity, egotism, rudeness, Arsenal FC, social media (although it is a necessary evil, there goes my soul!) and being a bit of a slave to technology. Sometimes its nice just to go analogue, leave the mobile phone in another part of the room and put a vinyl record on to detox.
Food that you love – Italian, Mexican, Seafood, a good Sunday roast, BBQs. Trying new things and learning how to cook them. I now do a mean halloumi flatbread too!
Where do you want to be in five years? – Writing more, bringing my children up, living my life through them and looking at life in a more peaceful way.
What is your advice to aspiring authors? – Keep writing!
Hayden Gribble 