Notes from the Sofa

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 the Kate Greenaway medal. Since then he has become one of the most innovative and popular author-illustrators. His books include the hugely successful Father Christmas (1973), Father Christmas Goes on Holiday (1975), Fungus the Bogeyman (1977), The Snowman (1978) When the Wind Blows (1982) The Tin-Pot Foreign General and the Old Iron Woman (1984). These books have been translated into many languages and adapted into films, plays and TV cartoons. A further graphic novel, Ethel & Ernest (1998)- a biography of his parents' lives - tells the story of how his father, a milkman, met his mother, a lady's maid, and how they continued to live in the same house for forty-one years. Ethel & Ernest is now in production to become a cinema film.