Students at Ivybridge Community College know this now, after learning all about the infamous death touch, and other ancient martial art techniques, when Chris Bradford visited the College on Tuesday, 20  November.  

Chris Bradford is author of the Young Samurai and Bodyguard series, as well as a Black-Belt in the martial arts.  Students who have demonstrated determination and made progress on their Book Quest (the College’s new whole-school reading challenge) were invited to witness Chris’ superior skills with his seriously sharp samurai sword.  He taught us all about his Katana – its deadly blade, sharp enough to cut through four bodies; its intricately designed guard personalised to each samurai; and how a sword is supposed to contain the samurai’s soul and so should not be touched by any other person.

After describing how he researched for his books by travelling to exotic locations, as well as working as a bodyguard himself, Chris did a live-action reading from his book, The Way of the Warrior, which had students literally ducking for their lives as his sword swooped down over their heads.

Later, some students learnt how to write their own dynamic action scenes following Chris’ advice that you should “write the type of books you’d want to read,  books filled with relentless action, believable characters and a plot that twists and turns through the pages!”