A VICAR has credited his daughter when she was a toddler for inspiring him to create a book.

The Rev Rick Williams has published Animal House, his first book, which he has both written and illustrated.

The book is in comic verses and has been in the making for 16 years, since his daughter Lizzy, now 17, stood on the bottom of the stairs and growled at him.

He said: “I said to her ‘There’s a tiger at the bottom of our stairs’, and it struck me this was a good opening line for a comic verse. So I wrote the verse, and then started adding others.

“I made up verses to entertain my children Lizzy and Tom, now 15, as we walked to school. So the poem grew and grew with lots of different animals.

“I eventually wrote them all down and then took a sabbatical in 2010 to do the artwork for the book.

“Lizzy was definitely my inspiration and now I’m working on my second book.”

Mr Williams, 49, was the vicar of St Saviour’s, in Westcliff , for 14 years before taking time out. His wife Louise, 46, is the rector at a Shoebury church.

Mr Williams has also been working on a homeless projects at St Andrew’s church, Westcliff, and will soon take up the post as a chaplain at Havens Hospices. His comic verse may be already be familiar to members of St Saviour’s and former pupils of Chalkwell Hall Infants School.

Mr Williams, who has a degree in art, has also had work at the Essex Open Exhibition, at the Beecroft, Westcliff, on Westcliff Art Trail, Southend Art Club, and Art on the Railings.

Animal House, aimed at junior school children, was picked up by the manager of Waterstone’s, Southend, through Mr Williams’s Facebook page.

It will be available at the store in Southend High Street , from Saturday, October 6, when he will hold his first book signing from 2.30pm to 3.30pm.