Eric Pringle was born and bred in Morpeth, Northumberland, and took a degree in English and American Literature at Nottingham University. After spending several years working in insurance, he ended up writing and editing various publications, including staff newspapers. After deciding to take up writing as a career, Pringle wrote plays and one-off episodes for series on HTV, Yorkshire TV and BBC 2, including The Cornforth Practice in 1974. His play, Jogger, was made by Radio 4 in 1983 and a play in the series The Ten Commandments was transmitted by the BBC's World Service. Much of Pringle's more recent work has been for the radio, including adaptations of The Wolves of Willoughby Chase and J. B. Priestley's The Good Companions. His 2001 Radio 4 play Hymnus Paradisi about the life of composer Herbert Howells won a Sony Award. Also in 2001, his children's novel, Big George, illustrated by Colin Paine, was published by Bloomsbury. This has been followed by two sequels: Big George and the Seventh Knight (2002) and Big George and the Winter King (2004).