Raymond Briggs

Raymond Briggs was born in London in 1934, and studied at Wimbledon School of Art and the Slade School of Art, London. His first work was in advertising, but he soon began to win acclaim as a children's book illustrator as well as teaching illustration at Brighton College of Art. He came to public attention when he illustrated a book of nursery rhymes, "The Mother Goose Treasury," in 1966, winning a Kate Greenaway medal. Since then he has become one of the most innovative and popular author-illustrators. As well as illustrating books for authors such as Allan Ahlberg, Briggs has written and illustrated many of his own books, including the hugely successful children's strip illustration books "Father Christmas" (1973) and "The Snowman" (1978). These books have been translated into many languages and adapted into films, plays and TV cartoons. A further strip illustration book, "Ethel & Ernest" (1998)- a biography of his parents' lives - tells the story of how his father met his mother, a lady's maid, and how they continued to live in the same house for forty-one years. Other books he has written and illustrated himself include "Fungus the Bogeyman" (1977), "Unlucky Wally" (1987) and "The Bear" (1994). Briggs also writes books for adults: "When the Wind Blows" (1982), a grim satire on nuclear war, which has also been made into a play and a film, and "The Tin Pot Foreign General and The Old Iron Woman" (1984), an attack on the Falklands war.