Helen Greathead started school, in Middlesbrough, shortly after the dinosaurs died out. She found lessons tedious, however, and was often told off for staring out of the window. She got her first job in publishing and went on to commission non-fiction books, like the Horrible Histories and Horrible Sciences, in the hope that they might help to make school subjects more interesting. She is now a freelance writer and editor and thinks working from home is brilliant, because nobody can tell her off for staring out of the window. Helen lives in Plymouth with her partner, two kids, two cats, four hamsters and quite a few unwanted spiders.