Ivor Baddiel Speaker | Creative & Literacy & Media

Ivor Baddiel

Ex-teacher turned author and scriptwriter hopes to inspire children and get them writing with insights, practical activities and a bit of lateral thinking

Over the last thirty years Ivor has been writing extensively for television on such shows as The BAFTAs, The X Factor, Mock The Week, Dancing On Ice, The National Television Awards, The Voice and The Oliviers. He has written for the likes of Stephen Fry, Graham Norton, Claudia Winkleman, Ant and Dec, Dermot O’Leary, Hannah Waddingham, Miranda Hart and many others.

Ivor is also the author of 25 books for children and adults including picture books, novels, non-fiction and jokes books.

Ivor shares his writing journey, explains the practicalities of the job, tries to finally answer the question about where ideas come from and gets children writing in fun activities that could see them becoming the next big thing on television.

Ivor’s session is a fun and effective way to get children and students writing. It encourages them to think creatively, whilst also getting them to use all the basic writing skills such as grammar and spelling. His only worry is that one of the students will be too good at it and he’ll end up out of a job.

Testimonials from Teachers

“Following a short introductory presentation Ivor’s workshop became dynamic and all about participation - giving the children an opportunity to voice their ideas and, with Ivor’s help, develop some of their writing techniques and skills. Ivor was able to keep the children interested and on task while ensuring they were being stretched in terms of their experience and abilities. Ivor’s background in teaching was indeed useful in terms of planning and delivering the workshop and his ability to manage a classroom. However, what the children really took away with them was his creativity, unique sense of humour and joy in his craft. Crucially for our children he was able to do this at this same time as demonstrating the professionalism, hard work and rigour necessary for success in his field. The children and staff involved in the workshop have asked Ivor to return to school at the next opportunity he has. I couldn’t recommend Ivor more highly for similar workshops or events in the future.”

– Michelle Hegarty, Vice Chair of Governors, Frederick Bremer School

"Just to say that this morning's talk by Ivor was great, and I have had lots of positive feedback already. Thank you!"

– Rebecca Speight, Librarian, Thomas’s Putney Vale