Patrick Skene Catling

Patrick Skene Catling
Catling in February 2014
Born	14 February 1925 London, England
Occupation	Writer, journalist
Education	Oberlin College

Patrick Skene Catling (born 14 February 1925)^[1] is a British journalist, author and book reviewer best known for writing The Chocolate Touch in 1952.^[2] He has written 12 novels, 3 works of non fiction and 9 books for children.

Background

Catling was born and schooled in London and was educated there and at Oberlin College in the United States. Catling served in the Royal Canadian Air Force as a navigator and as a journalist at The Baltimore Sun^[3] and The Manchester Guardian.

He has traveled extensively. His present home is in the Republic of Ireland.^[2] He continues writing books, and writes reviews for The Spectator, The Telegraph, and other publications.^[4][5]

Career

His first publication of The Chocolate Touch in 1952 received enthusiastic responses from several reviewers. Catling has since written dozens of books, and has developed the popular The Chocolate Touch character John Midas into the children's book series: John Midas in the Dreamtime (1986), John Midas and the Vampires (1994), John Midas and the Radio Touch (1994), and John Midas and the Rock Star (1995). Of John Midas in the Dreamtime, School Library Journal wrote, "...children who have been dragged around tourist sights will relate to John's boredom".^[6]

Selected works

• The Chocolate Touch^[7]
• Better Than Working^[8]
• John Midas in the Dreamtime^[9]
• The Exterminator^[10]
• Jazz, Jazz, Jazz^[11]
• The Experiment^[12]
• Best Summer Job^[13]
• Tourist Attraction^[14]
• Freddy Hill: The Story of a Modern Man of Pleasure^[15]
• Eskimo Surprise^[16]
• Chocolate Magic^[17]
• The Catalogue^[18]
• John Midas and the Vampires^[19]
• John Midas and the Radio Touch^[20]
• A Trunkful of Tricks^[21]
• John Midas and the Rock Star^[22]

Journalism

• "Rich pickings". The Spectator 311 (9446): 34, 36. 12 September 2009. Retrieved 20 June 2011. Review of Gardam, Jane (2009). The man in the wooden hat. Chatto. ISBN 978-0-7011-7798-0.

References

1. Catling, Patrick Skene (2006). Better Than Working. Liberties Press. p. 11. ISBN 9781905483068.
2. "Patrick Skene Catling bio". HarperCollins website. Retrieved 2009-01-21.
3. Better Than Working by Patrick Skene Catling. New York: Macmillan. 1960. Also: The Baltimore Sun 1837-1987 by Harold A. Williams. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. 1987. p.335-336
4. "list of Patrick Skene Catling reviews". The Spectator. Retrieved 2009-01-21.
5. "Reasons to be paranoid". The Daily Telegraph. 3 July 2008. Retrieved 2009-01-21.
6. "review of John Midas of The Chocolate Touch". School Library Journal. Retrieved 2009-01-21.
7. Catling, Patrick Skene; Margot Apple (1979). The Chocolate Touch. Juvenile Fiction. HarperCollins. p. 128. ISBN 9780688321871.
8. Catling, Patrick Skene (2004) [1960]. Better Than Working. Journalists. Macmillan, Secker & Warburg. pp. 212, 356. ISBN 9780436206245.
9. Catling, Patrick Skene (1986). John Midas in the Dreamtime. Juvenile Fiction. Morrow. p. 119. ISBN 9780688321871.
10. Catling, Patrick Skene (1969). The Exterminator. Bodley Head. p. 252. ISBN 9780370006550.
11. Catling, Patrick Skene (1981). Jazz, Jazz, Jazz. Fiction. St Martins Press. p. 320. ISBN 9780312440732.
12. Catling, Patrick Skene (1968). The Experiment. p. 317.
13. Catling, Patrick Skene (1974). Best Summer Job. Simon & Schuster. p. 283. ISBN 9780671217532.
14. Catling, Patrick Skene (1963). Tourist Attraction. Macmillan, London. pp. 185, 220, 175. ISBN 9780722121740.
15. Catling, Patrick Skene (1969). Freddy Hill: The Story of a Modern Man of Pleasure. Bodley Head. p. 220. ISBN 9780370014128.
16. Catling, Patrick Skene; Mark Foreman (1993). Eskimo Surprise. Juvenile Fiction. Heinemann. p. 42. ISBN 9780434962655.
17. Catling, Patrick Skene; Philip Hopman (2000). Chocolate Magic. Girls. Mammoth. p. 96. ISBN 9780749742119.
18. Catling, Patrick Skene (1972). The Catalogue. HarperCollins. p. 203. ISBN 9780586035894.
19. Catling, Patrick Skene; Tony Ross (1994). John Midas and the Vampires. Children's. Methuen. p. 111. ISBN 9780416189179.
20. Catling, Patrick Skene (1994). John Midas and the Radio Touch. Mammoth. p. 109. ISBN 9780749717681.
21. Catling, Patrick Skene; Mark Foreman (1994). A Trunkful of Tricks. Heinemann. p. 48. ISBN 9780434978236.
22. Catling, Patrick Skene; Tony Ross (1995). John Midas and the Rock Star. Methuen. p. 90. ISBN 9780416191240.

External links

• Patrick Catling at Library of Congress Authorities, with 22 catalogue records