Child’s street-fighting years

Lee Child is a real tough guy, said Steve Oney in Playboy. The author of the best-selling Jack Reacher series grew up in Birmingham, an industrial city in central England. “Birmingham is the New Jersey of Great Britain,” says Child, 57. “It was a sort of inarticulate society where if you had problems the only recourse was violence.” He became a target for bullies when, at age 11, he won a scholarship to a prestigious local high school. “I had to get in and out of my inner-city neighborhood twice a day. I wore the school uniform—a blue blazer with a purple and yellow tie—and it was a badge of shame that essentially got me attacked [by other kids].” Child learned how to fight dirty and enjoyed it. “For a while I head-butted someone once a week. I also had a knife. Once or twice some kids, including me, got double-edged razor blades and sewed them under our lapels. If anybody grabbed us, they’d shred their fingers.” His aggression ebbed with puberty. “My teenage years overall were fantastic. It really started happening for me in the spring of 1969, when I lost my virginity at the age of 14 and a half [at a house party],” he says. “I went to bed with this blonde.” Was that better than brawling? “It was.”

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