Frank Collins Richardson was born in Paddington, Middlesex (as it was then) on 21 August 1870. Choosing subjects he knew, but with a comedic twist, his first, The King's Counsel, was published by Chatto and Windus in 1902, and three more followed in 1903, all with a strong vein of satire and gratuitous references to whiskers. Widowed before he turned 40, his appetite for writing had all but dried up by the time he published a book of poetry, Shavings, in 1911.
David Brawn has worked for over 20 years in book publishing.
He is the accredited author of four titles in the bestselling Little Instruction Book humour series, the parody A Day in the Life of Humphrey, the Downing Street Cat, and four Lord of the Rings film tie-in books.