"Later, he taught for three years teaching in a Hampstead prep school, before going on to a secondary modern school in Holloway Road, north London, where he wrote his best-selling first book, "Roaring Boys" in 1955.Following its success, he gave up teaching in 1959 — although he did some part-time teaching at York University between 1963 and 1965 — in order to devote more time to writing and then to developing a career in broadcasting.