Birmingham-raised author Lee Child has long-said that he owes his success to the city, because of the work ethic and attitude it gave him.
A free exhibition celebrating his work is opened at Grand Central, in the city centre, with the creator of the world-famous Jack Reacher character there for the launch of called ‘Exit Strategy,’ which is his 30th novel.
Of his life growing up in the city, he said: “A lot of successful people had come from Birmingham, where we learn, do the work, and do it right".
Born James Grant, Child described himself as a "Birmingham boy," even though he hasn’t lived there for more than 50 years. “The place is where I spent my formative years and It’s the place that created me.
“It’s very emotional to be back where I grew up,” he added, “and I’m grateful to anybody in Birmingham who remembered me.” The author said he carried a lot of the attitudes he learnt in the city, and the way that other people did their jobs taught him how to do his.
He said: "Do the work, don't make a big fuss about it, turn out a quality product and everything will be alright."
The life-long Aston Villa fan said he had included the names of many players in his Reacher novels as an in-joke, as he went on: "It’s partly because that's my one weakness as a writer - dreaming up convincing names - so it's very nice to have a list I can pick from." Lee Child says entertaining people was all his career had been about.
“It was such a great thing that it worked,” he said.
