'Birmingham created me' says author Lee Child

Lee Child said he had loved Birmingham as a child and he still loves it now

Birmingham-raised author Lee Child has said he owes his success to the city, because of the work ethic and attitude it gave him.

A free exhibition celebrating his work has opened at Grand Central, above Birmingham's New Street station.

The creator of the world-famous Jack Reacher character was there for the launch of his 30th novel, called Exit Strategy.

A lot of successful people had come from Birmingham, he said, because "we learn, do the work, do it right".

Lee Child, who was born James Grant, described himself as a "Birmingham boy" even though he had not lived in the city for more than 50 years, and said the place where he spent his formative years had created him.

It was "very emotional" to be back where he grew up, he added, and he was grateful anybody in Birmingham remembered him and thought he was worthy of an exhibition.

The author said he carried a lot of the attitudes he learnt in the city, and the way that other people did their jobs taught him how to do his.

"Do the work, don't make a big fuss about it, turn out a quality product and everything will be alright," he said.

An exhibition of Child's story and work is running until December

Aston Villa fan Child said he had included the names of many players in his Reacher novels as an in-joke.

"Partly because that's my one weakness as a writer, dreaming up convincing names, so it's very nice to have a list I can pick from."

He said entertaining people was all his career had been about, and it was "such a great thing that it worked".