Raymond Briggs

Infobox comics creator
name = Raymond Briggs


imagesize = 150
caption =
birthname = Raymond Redvers Briggs
birthdate = birth date and age|1934|01|18
location = Wimbledon, London
deathdate =
deathplace =
nationality = English
area = Artist, writer, cartoonist, graphic novelist
alias =


notable works = "Father Christmas"
"Fungus the Bogeyman"
"The Snowman"
"When the Wind Blows"
awards =
website =

Raymond Redvers Briggs (born 18 January 1934) is an English illustrator, cartoonist, graphic novelist, and author who has achieved critical and popular success among adults and children. He attended Rutlish School for Boys (then a grammar school), and trained at Wimbledon School of Art and the Slade. [ [http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,12084,1375227,00.html Profile: Raymond Briggs | Review | Guardian Unlimited Books ] ]

Biography

He was born in Wimbledon, London, England, in the home of his parents Ethel and Ernest Briggs, a maid and a milkman. Briggs pursued cartooning from an early age and, despite his mother's attempts to discourage him from this unprofitable pursuit, he attended the Wimbledon School of Art and the Slade School of Fine Art. After briefly pursuing painting, he became a professional illustrator and soon began working in children's books.

In 1958, he illustrated "", a fairy tale anthology by Ruth Manning-Sanders that was published by Oxford University Press.

His first three major works, "Father Christmas", "Father Christmas Goes on Holiday" (both featuring a curmudgeonly Father Christmas who complains incessantly about the "blooming snow"), and "Fungus the Bogeyman", were in the form of comics rather than the typical children's-book format of separate text and illustrations. "The Snowman" (1978) was entirely wordless, and became Briggs' best-known work when it was made into an Oscar nominated animated cartoon that has been shown every year since on British television.

Briggs continued to work in a similar format, but with more adult content, in "Gentleman Jim", a sombre look at the working class trials of Jim and Hilda Bloggs, closely based on his parents. "When the Wind Blows" (1982) confronted the trusting, optimistic Bloggs couple with the horror of nuclear war, and was praised in the British House of Commons for its timeliness and originality. This was turned into a two-handed radio play with Peter Sallis in the male lead role, and subsequently an animated film, featuring John Mills and Peggy Ashcroft. "The Tin-Pot Foreign General and the Old Iron Woman" (1984) was a scathing denunciation of the Falklands War. However, Briggs continued to produce humour for children, in works such as the "Unlucky Wally" series and "The Bear".

His graphic novel "Ethel and Ernest", which portrayed his parents' 41-year marriage, won Best Illustrated Book in the 1998 British Book Awards.

elected bibliography

* 1966: "Mother Goose Treasury" — awarded the Kate Greenaway Medal
* 1969: "The Elephant and the Bad Baby" (text by Elfrida Vipont) ISBN 0-698-20039-X.
* 1969: "Shackleton's Epic Voyage"
* 1971: "Jim and the Beanstalk"
* 1973: "Father Christmas" — awarded a second Kate Greenaway Medal
* 1975: "Father Christmas Goes on Holiday" ISBN 0-698-30584-1; LoC: 75-2541
* 1977: "Fungus the Bogeyman"
* 1978: "The Snowman" US ISBN 0-394-88466-3 (pbk.) 0-394-93973-5 (lib. bdg.)
* 1980: "Gentleman Jim"
* 1982: "When the Wind Blows"
* 1984: "The Tin-Pot Foreign General and the Old Iron Woman"
* 1986: "All in a Day" (with Mitsumasa Anno et al) ISBN 0-399-21311-2
* 1987: "Unlucky Wally"
* 1989: "Unlucky Wally 20 Years On"
* 1992: "The Man"
* 1994: "The Bear"
* 1998: "Ethel and Ernest"
* 2001: "UG: Boy Genius of the Stone Age" ISBN 0-375-81611-9 (trade)
* 2001: "The Adventures of Bert" (text by Allan Ahlberg) US ISBN 0-374-30092-5
* 2002: "A Bit More Bert" (text by Allan Ahlberg) US ISBN 0-374-32489-1
* 2004: "The Puddleman" ISBN 0-099-45642-1

Film and television adaptations

*"The Snowman" (1982) VHS ISBN 0-7912-0007-8
*"When the Wind Blows" (1986)
*"Father Christmas" (1991)
*1998 DVD NTSC fullscreen ISBN 0-7678-2670-1 UPC 4339603227 combines::"The Snowman" (1993) 29 min; and:"Father Christmas" (1997) 25 min (including material from "Father Christmas Goes on Holiday")
*"The Bear"
*"Ivor the Invisible" (2001)
*"Fungus the Bogeyman" (2004)
*"Ethel and Ernest" (2008)(still in production)

Notes

References

* Anita Silvey (editor), "The Essential Guide to Children's Books and Their Creators", ISBN 0-618-19082-1

External links

*imdb name|id=0109076|name=Raymond Briggs
*contemporary writers|id=C2D9C28A1da9f1EA3FRqW3424C56
*iblist name|id=1268|name=Raymond Briggs
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/aug/10/booksforchildrenandteenagers Big kid, 'old git' and still in the rudest of health] , interview, "The Observer", 10 August 2008