From steel town to tinseltown as former Corby author's Christmas book sparkles

CJ Livingstone's latest book Santa Inc started as a Hollywood film script
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A former Corby musician-turned-author and one-time Gary Oldman body double has released his third novel in time for Christmas.

California-based Chris Livingstone has written what he hopes to become a Christmas classic - Santa Inc. - about an orphan who discovers a secret tunnel to Father Christmas' HQ.

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The former pupil at Woodnewton School, who was one of the first intake of students at Brooke Weston Academy, became a professional musician in a career that led him to becoming a Hollywood script writer and novelist.

His mum Eric and Christine Livingstone worked at Tresham College and Woodnewton Primary respectively, with the family moving to Middleton.

Chris,42, said: "Santa Inc. is already getting great feedback and reviews - kids and adults alike are loving it. It's a new take on a Santa Christmas story."

The book tells the story of Eric, a ‘different’ eight-year-old with a vivid and untamed imagination who lives in a decrepit orphanage where he discovers a tunnel to the building next door.

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There he finds Santa Inc., the global headquarters of Father Christmas’ business empire and starts an adventure that changes Eric's life forever and reawakens in Santa the true spirit of Christmas.

Chris LivingstoneChris Livingstone
Chris Livingstone

Chris said: "While Santa Inc doesn't take any inspiration from Corby, my previous books 'Hogtown', that were all about music, took a whole bunch of inspiration from Corby.

"They were set in a mid-western industrial town that was occupied by a large factory where the only outlet was playing the guitar."

Beginning his music career on the Corby music scene, his industrial-metal outfit Contempt appeared in the Northants Telegraph. Leaving Corby, Chris completed a degree in Manchester then moved down to London where his band were briefly signed to Parlophone Music.

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He turned his talents to writing screenplays supported by his day job in finance

Chris at Brooke Weston CTC in 1993. He is on the front row second from the right.Chris at Brooke Weston CTC in 1993. He is on the front row second from the right.
Chris at Brooke Weston CTC in 1993. He is on the front row second from the right.

He said: "I met my wife in London who was from LA and I moved here in 2005. I have been here ever since.

"I worked in movies for a while and was a member of BAFTA LA before starting writing books."

Whilst working reading scripts at a production company he managed to get a biography of the last years of Napoleon’s life, which he had written with his dad, optioned. Al Pacino was attached to star but it never materialised.

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He did get to play Gary Oldman’s body double in a movie and Christian Slater bought him an XBox - which he sold on Ebay.

The former Works and Raven barman, who also worked in the town's factories including the night shift at Solway Foods, now lives with his wife Regan and their children Jack and Keaton.

He said: "I wrote Santa Inc. as a script more than ten years ago. I love Christmas time but I wanted to write a story that had the spirit of Dickens or Dahl about it – something a little dark, a little funny and with a little twist. So I spent a long time working on the story and the characters until I felt they were just right.

"I'm really excited about the release of Santa Inc. It's a new take on a Christmas story that I think everyone will enjoy."

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