David Wood, OBE is an actor and writer whom The Times called "the National Children's Dramatist". Along with John Gould, he founded the Whirligig Theatre, a touring children's theatre company. He was educated at Chichester High School for Boys and Worcester College, Oxford. Wood has been an actor, composer, producer, director, lyric writer, magician, author, and playwright. His most famous story, The Gingerbread Man, has been all around the world since its premiere at the Towngate Theatre in Basildon. Wood, FilmFair, and Central Independent Television adapted the musical into an animated children's television series. The adaptation, also called The Gingerbread Man, aired on ITV in 1992. Among his film roles are Johnny in Lindsay Anderson's If.... and Thompson in Aces High. He appeared as the character Bingo Little in the original London cast of the Andrew Lloyd Webber and Alan Ayckbourn musical Jeeves in 1975. He wrote the screenplay for Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons, released by Anglo EMI in 1974. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2004 Queen's Birthday Honours List, for his services to literature and drama. [More at Wikipedia]

February 21st, 1944 in London Borough of Sutton (Age 80)