John Foster was born and grew up in Scotby, a village outside Carlisle. His family didn’t have a television, so John spent a lot of time reading.

He always wanted be a writer. At school he wrote poems and later he wrote sports reports for his university newspaper and for the Times. He became a teacher and began writing school textbooks. He also made up poems for his own children, especially on long car journeys.

As a writer, John still writes reference books as well as writing and performing his poetry.