Pupils from Dean Close Pre-Preparatory School recently met the Olympic cyclist Sir Christopher Hoy MBE at the Cheltenham Literature Festival.
The gold medallist was at the festival with co-author Joanna Nadin and illustrator Clare Elsom promoting their Flying Fergus books, an event that the school was sponsoring. During the talk the children learnt that all of the characters in the books were inspired by friends and colleagues of Sir Chris, such as Calamity Coogan, who is based on his clumsy friend Bradley Wiggins.
The children also learnt that there are lots of people involved in the publishing of a book, from the agents to publishers, to an editor and a person who is responsible for sales. Sir Chris then read an excerpt from one of the stories and answered some cycling and reading-related questions.
Dr Carolyn Shelley, Headmistress of the Pre-Prep, said: “It was an inspiration to meet such a motivated individual and for the children to understand the journey to success as well as the end result. Sir Chris explained that champions are dedicated – not just ‘born’ and that he had been entering races since he was just seven years old, training for five or six hours a day, six days a week. It was also a wonderful opportunity for the children to understand how the Flying Fergus stories were written and to hear all about how the characters came about. We were even treated to seeing illustrations being drawn during the show – it was a fantastic afternoon!”