Dick King-Smith: author of The Gallant Pig dies in Bath, England

Dick King-Smith, whose children’s novel “The Sheep-Pig” inspired the hit 1995 movie “Babe,” died Tuesday at his home near Bath. He was 88.


His publisher, Random House Children’s Books, said he had been in poor health in recent years.

Mr. King-Smith worked for 20 years as a farmer before he trained as a primary school teacher. In his 50s he began to write his first story, “The Fox Busters,” about chickens taking their revenge on foxes. The book was published in 1978.

He published more than 100 books — mostly about animals and often about pigs, his favorites — which have sold more than 15 million copies worldwide. The movie “Babe,” based on his story about a pig that behaves like a sheepdog, made his books a global hit. “The Sheep-Pig” was retitled “Babe: The Gallant Pig” for the American market.

He once said of his work: “Much as I love ‘The Wind In The Willows’ and the works of Beatrix Potter, I never dress my animals in clothes. They behave as animals should behave, with the exception that they open their mouths and speak the queen’s English.”