LIKE many of the best stories, this one started at bedtime – but took 22 years to finish.
Colin Davison and his wife used to read tales by Ursula Moray Williams to their children.
But instead of helping them to sleep, they were gripped by The Adventures of the Little Wooden Horse and Gobbolino, the Witch's Cat.
Now, two decades on, former local newspaper editor Mr Davison has written a biography of the author – exactly 100 years after her birth.
Mr Davison, a graduate of Slavonic studies at the University of Nottingham, said: "There was something special about the books – full of adventure, fun and the fantasy that only children could enter. There was something comforting too, in characters whose instinctive courage and kindness brought them through every trouble to find a happy, loving home."
Years later, he moved close to the village in Worcestershire where the author lived, re-igniting his interest in her stories.
She wrote 68 books between 1931 and 1987, the longest career of any children's author of her generation.
In his research for Through the Magic Door: Ursula Moray Williams, Gobbolino and the Little Wooden Horse, Mr Davison discovered how she had influenced many of today's leading names including Wallace and Gromit animator Nick Park, novelist Dame Jacqueline Wilson, and Anne Wood, creator of Teletubbies.
The book is on sale, priced �18.99.
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