Julia was born in Stafford, but has also lived in Australia, Stockport and Oxford. Unfortunately, since she was a toddler at the time, she can’t remember much about Australia, other than that she’s pretty sure that the spiders were nearly as big as she was and that there were shark-watchers on the beaches. She’s certain this is why Jaws remains her favourite film.

Julia has had lots of jobs, including keeping a photographic library of petrol stations for an oil-company, deciding what colour packets sausages look their best in and teaching eight-year olds. As Miss Wills her favourite lesson was history since it was here that she and the children first discovered the Ancient Greeks, their fabulous monsters and the problem with wearing a chiton on a windy day.

She now lives in Warwickshire with her partner Jim and Bosworth the dog, who is half-cocker-spaniel, half-poodle (and all teddy bear). She enjoys planting her garden with roses and violas – the flowers, not the instruments, as they tend to twang in the breeze and there’s nothing like a furious orchestra stomping across your lawn to retrieve them to spoil the grass.