Richard Parsons

Who is Richard Parsons?

Richard Parsons of Broughton-in-Furness, Lancashire, England is a former teacher and the author of a series of best-selling GCSE study guides. In a league table of the top UK authors, by number of books sold, compiled by The Bookseller magazine, for the period 2000-2009, he ranked fifth.

Parsons started writing the study guides in 1995 and published them through his company, Coordination Group Publications. By the end of 2009, his 600 titles had sold over nine million books grossing over £48 million. Though he wrote the original books himself, and they all bear his name, later books were written by other teachers. Parsons wrote the motivational book, How to fulfill your wildest dreams!, that was published in 1990, by Mega-Books. He also owns a petrol station and leisure centre in Broughton.

Parsons, a keen cyclist, lives in an apartment in Broughton with his wife Kyra and son. His mother, Heather Parsons, is also a former teacher, and his father is a dentist. Parsons went to Ulverston Victoria High School before gaining a First in Physics at Oxford University. On graduating, he taught mathematics at Furness College, Barrow-in-Furness.