Rob Childs (born 3 November 1950, in Derby, England) is a British author, who has written over eighty books, mainly aimed at young people. Most of the books have a sporting theme, with over fifty being about football. Rob has also written non-sports books based on historical characters: for example, Guy Fawkes and Sir Francis Drake.
Rob studied social sciences at Leicester University from 1969 until 1972. While at the university, he was Features Editor of the students' newspaper and wrote articles and short stories on a wide variety of subjects. He also met his future wife, whom he married in 1973. That same year, he began his teaching career at a high school in Loughborough, Leicestershire. In 1974, he moved to Kibworth Primary School, also in Leicestershire.
Besides being a class tutor, Rob ran the school's sports teams. Drawing on his experiences, he began writing for children and his first book, Soccer at Sandford, was published by Blackie's in 1980. The publication of The Big Match by Transworld in 1987 inspired Rob to give up full-time teaching and work both as a writer and part-time teacher. He taught at Manor High School (Oadby) until 1994.
After doing a year's training at the Dyslexia Institute, Rob became a full-time writer due to the increasing popularity of his books. He has several successful series to his credit and his latest book, 'Zero to Hero', was published on 1 September 2011.