Ronald Gordon King-Smith OBE, Hon.MEd (born March 27, 1922) was a prolific English writer of children's books, primarily using the pen name Dick King-Smith. He is best known for The Sheep-Pig (1983), better known in the US as Babe the Gallant Pig. He was awarded an Honorary Master of Education degree by the University of the West of England in 1999 and appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2010 New Year Honours.
Dick King-Smith grew up in the West Country, where his family ran several paper mills, and was educated at Beaudesert Park School and Marlborough College. He was a soldier in World War II, serving with the Grenadier Guards in Italy and a farmer for 20 years before he became a teacher and author. King-Smith's first book was The Fox Busters, published in 1978. He was one of Britain's most prolific authors and wrote over a hundred books. In later life he lived in Queen Charlton, a small farming village near Bristol, contributing to the maintenance and conservation of the local area as the vice-president of the Avon Wildlife Trust. He married his first wife, Myrle, in 1943. They had three children Juliet, Giles and Liz. Myrle died in 2000, and King-Smith subsequently married Zona Bedding, a family friend.
He presented a feature on animals on TV-AM's children's programme Rub a Dub Dub. and also appeared regularly (in a similar capacity) on the similarly named Saturday morning TV series Rub-a-Dub Tub (1983).
King-Smith died at his home near Bath, Somerset, on 4 January 2011 at the age of 88. He was survived by three children, 14 grandchildren, four great-grandchildren and one great-great grandchild.
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