Barney is a solitary eight-year-old, given to wandering off by himself. One day he is lying on the edge of disused chalk-pit when he tumbles over, lands in a sort of cave, and meets 'somebody with a lot of shaggy hair and two bright black eyes' - wearing a rabbit-skin and speaking in grunts. He names him Stig. They learn to understand one another, and together they raid the rubbish dump at the bottom of the pit, improve Stig's cave dwelling, and enjoy a series of adventures that are sometimes wildly improbably and sometimes extremely practical.
Clive King was born in Richmond, Surrey in 1924. When he was a baby his family moved to a village called Ash, near Sevenoaks in Kent, which is the setting for Stig of the Dump. He went to local schools, then King's School, Rochester and Downing College, Cambridge. During the war he served in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve and later joined the British Council. He now lives in a cottage in Norfolk, and has three children and several grandchildren.
