He also made guest appearances on television programmes including Celebrity Squares, Seaside Special and The Ronnie Corbett Show. By adding to the contemporary work of authors such as Malorie Blackman, Nadia Shireen and Nathan Bryon, Henry says he’s loving being part of an “upflowering” of minority children’s writing.

Book of Legends: A hilarious and fast-paced quest The Book of Legends: A hilarious and fast-paced quest

While lunching on a pastrami sandwich and a Coke, he is recognised by commuters, security guards and library visitors. In fact, Henry was born to Winifred and another man, Albert Green, whom she’d met in the Midlands in the 1950s, before Winston travelled over to join her from Jamaica. In both this and his first children’s book, ‘The Boy With Wings’, Henry focuses upon young black characters, and is consciously addressing the lack of diversity in children’s literature.

Advance copies of that book come with a letter from Henry explaining his history as a fan of Tolkien’s Middle-earth and Lewis’s Narnia. Fran and Bran end up on a quest looking for their parents who have disappeared - taken by hooked lightening. And now I can talk about my birth father without feeling like …” He does an impression of a tortured superhero in pain.

Book of Legends | BookTrust The Book of Legends | BookTrust

My daughter Billie arrived in 1991 and I remember when she was little – it was a sharp sting – there were hardly any books that spoke to her, who she was, a baby of colour. Yet it turns out that her stories serve as a portal to a another world: the Nine Dominions Along the way they face evil princes, murder fairies, mud monsters and even Vikings!Bran and Fran just love living with their mum, everyday is different as she Loves telling them daily stories. As a reader of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman comics, Henry was accustomed to seeing the central character of Death as she appeared on the page, a white woman, originally inspired by the goth fashion designer Cinamon Hadley. K. Audio for a review copy of the unabridged audiobook edition, both via NetGalley, of ‘The Book of Legends: What if all the stories were real?