Lee Child, who was born James Grant, described himself as a “Birmingham boy” even though he had not lived in the city for more than 50 years, and said the place where he spent his formative years had created him.
It was “very emotional” to be back where he grew up, he added, and he was grateful anybody in Birmingham remembered him and thought he was worthy of an exhibition.
The author said he carried a lot of the attitudes he learnt in the city, and the way that other people did their jobs taught him how to do his.
“Do the work, don’t make a big fuss about it, turn out a quality product and everything will be alright,” he said.
