Richard Parsons (born 1966) of Broughton-in-Furness,

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumb ...

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is a former teacher and the author of a series of best-selling

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...

study guide Study guides can be broad based to facilitate learning in a number of areas, or be resources that foster comprehension of literature, research topics, history, and other subjects. General topics include study and testing strategies; reading, wr ...

s. 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. Dissatisfied with the quality of study guides during his teaching career at Furness College, Parsons quit in 1995 and began writing his first manuscript, which was later published through his own 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 (Broughton-in-Furness). 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 two children. His mother, Heather Parsons, is also a former teacher, and his father is a dentist. Parsons went to

Ulverston Victoria High School Ulverston Victoria High School (UVHS) is a secondary school and sixth form located in the town of Ulverston, Cumbria, England. It is the successor school to Ulverston Grammar School and Victoria Secondary Modern, which were combined in 1967 to ...

before gaining a First in Physics at

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. On graduating, he taught mathematics at Furness College, Barrow-in-Furness. Parsons donated £100,000, in January 2008, to the parish of Broughton and Duddon to pay for essential repairs to

St Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to his crucifixion and resurre ...

and the Holy Innocents Church. His company, Coordination Group Publications, is valued at £120 million, giving Parsons, who owns 95%, a net worth of £114 million.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Parsons, Richard English writers British textbook writers People from Broughton-in-Furness Alumni of the University of Oxford 1966 births Living people People educated at Ulverston Grammar School