When Pete Johnson was eight he wrote a fan letter to Dodie Smith because he had loved 101 Dalmatians so much. She wrote back and the two began exchanging letters, which inspired Pete to become a writer. He sent his first story to a publisher when he was 11. It was rejected!Pete worked as a film critic for Radio One before becoming a teacher in a secondary school. It was teaching which gave him the ideas for his first book, Secrets from the School Underground. He asked his students to advise him about his style, and they gave him loads of hints on how to toughen his writing up and, especially, how important it is not to use clichés.