David Wood (actor)

David Wood, OBE (born 21 February 1944 in Sutton, Surrey, England) is an actor and writer whom The Times called "the National Children's Dramatist". Along with John Gould, he founded the Whirligig Theatre, a touring children's theatre company.
He was educated at Chichester High School for Boys and Worcester College, Oxford.
Wood has been an actor, composer, producer, director, lyric writer, magician, author, and playwright.
His most famous story, The Gingerbread Man (1976), has been all around the world since its premiere at the Towngate Theatre in Basildon. Wood, FilmFair, and Central Independent Television adapted the musical into an animated children's television series. The adaptation, also called The Gingerbread Man, aired on ITV in 1992.
Among his film roles are Johnny in Lindsay Anderson's If.... (1968) and Thompson in Aces High (1976). He appeared as the character Bingo Little in the original London cast of the Andrew Lloyd Webber and Alan Ayckbourn musical Jeeves in 1975.
He wrote the screenplay for Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons, released by Anglo EMI in 1974.
He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2004 Queen's Birthday Honours List, for his services to literature and drama.

Original works:

• The Gingerbread Man (1976), a musical inspired by the 19th-century fairy tale "The Gingerbread Man"
• The See-Saw Tree
• The Ideal Gnome Expedition
• Spot's Birthday Party

Adaptations of Roald Dahl's books for children:

• The BFG (1991), adapted from The BFG (1982)
• Fantastic Mr Fox (2001), adapted from Fantastic Mr Fox (1970)
• The Twits, adapted from The Twits (1979)
• The Witches, adapted from The Witches (1983)

Other adaptations of English authors of children's literature:

• Babe, the Sheep-Pig, adapted from Dick King-Smith's The Sheep-Pig (1983)
• Meg and Mog, adapted from Helen Nicoll's books about her characters Meg and Mog
• Noddy, adapted from Enid Blyton's books about her character Noddy
• Rupert Bear, adapted from Mary Tourtel's comic strip Rupert Bear (1920)
• The Owl and the Pussycat went to See.... co-written with Sheila Ruskin, based on the nonsense poetry of Edward Lear (1968)

• If.... (1968)
• Tales That Witness Madness (1973)
• Aces High (1976)
• North Sea Hijack (1979)
• Sweet William (1980)