Jake Anthony
The driving force behind this series of publications was born in England just one year into World War Two. The sound of air raid sirens and bombs dropping were his earliest subliminal memories.
The aftermath of a World War meant relative poverty and food shortages. However, caring parents and a Grammar School education were the highly positive catalysts which helped Jake develop his own potential.
A wish to become an actor and writer was fulfilled through difficult to obtain professional training, hard work and dedication against the odds. Ultimately, Jake Anthony obtained a degree of ‘celebrity’ over the years and his work as a character actor can still be seen on TV and DVD from time to time.
Eventually shunning the limelight of the acting world, Jake became one of the most published writers who absolutely no one knew or knows about. This was due to his work as a copywriter and journalist in PR, going predominately uncredited. His work as author was mainly published under pseudonyms, or as ghost writer and/or editor for other authors. Few writers have received so many consistently good reviews for their work or so high a percentage of published articles from unwanted press releases, on an international level, with absolute anonymity.
A period working as actor, writer and occasional director in Theatre in Education in the West, followed by twenty years in South East Asia, gave Jake a global perspective on the many different ways children can be educated and their potential expanded. These experiences inspired Jake to invest much of his life researching and writing Prodigy.
Joshua Anthony
A participant in the Prodigy Programme from before conception, and throughout childhood, Joshua Anthony merely thought he was having fun.
Parental divorce plus international moves during childhood, ensured that Joshua did not commence full time schooling until well into his seventh year. Soon after, he recommenced his education in another language and three years behind his new classmates. To say his educational life was disrupted, would be an understatement.
However, a series of activities outside school as well as many home based projects ensured that Joshua’s intellect as well as his education, progressed. Numerous outdoor pursuits and adventures, plus movies, theatre and sporting events, ensured that Joshua was provided with continuous challenge and new experiences in fun settings. So despite lacking conventional education during the first eight years or so of his life, Joshua ultimately became one of just a few thousand or so of the highest measured IQs on the planet!
Scoring maximum on everything with his third series of Educational Psychologist’s tests, at age fourteen, the Psychologist eventually stopped testing as it was becoming tedious. From that time on, Joshua commenced making documentaries and movies in his spare time, using IT to give his projects a professional finish despite budgets of just a few pounds. One of his half hour movies made when he was just fifteen - a spoof on Hollywood horror movies of the nineteen fifties, ‘Project X’ - won two awards at the Swedish Film and Video Association’s Film Festival.
A Master’s Degree in Computer Science obtained at Sweden’s prestigious Uppsala University, at age 23 - would have been earlier but he took a year out to study for a B. Arts in Business Administration - ensured that Joshua was headhunted by various international companies. However, he opted to work as an IT consultant, his work including developing new uses for Microsoft’s development tools. He often lectures on the subject of IT to major corporations. Joshua is married with two children, and has utilised his own knowledge as a parent and as one of the early participants in the Prodigy Programme, to co-write this book.