| I
was born in Cape Town, South Africa. My parents came to Britain when
I was a year old. My father is an Anglican priest and we lived in
a series of large but dilapidated Victorian vicarages in North Yorkshire,
Bristol and The Cotswolds.
My
first commission was a series of blood thirsty battle scenes, pencil
on paper, executed in a back pew during my father's Sunday sermons. |
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My patron was
an elderly lady called Mrs. Stock who paid me in wine gums. We moved
to Brixton, South London and I went to the school that overlooks
The Oval Cricket ground where the prefects wore gowns and we had
to bow to the headmaster. I escaped to art school where I discovered
life drawing, printmaking and girls, not necessarily in that order.
It was at Brighton Polytechnic, with the encouragement of Raymond
Briggs, my personal tutor, that I started illustrating children's
books. My big break came when Sebastian Walker came down to visit
and Raymond showed him round the deserted art school studios. I
was one of the few students perverse enough to actually like working
in the studio rather than in their digs and, I suspect to impress
Raymond, Sebastian commissioned me to do a fairytale book there
and then.
With my overdraft paid off, a book under my belt, I set off for
the bright lights of London and got as far as Catford and a shared
house on the South Circular. After a fateful meeting with Klaus
Flugge at Andersen Press I began writing my own picture books starting
with Mr. Underbed and subsequently The Trouble With Elephants, The
Wish Factory and, my personal favourite, The Bear Dance, amongst
others. I also got married, had children and moved back to Brighton
and became, by accident I think, a political cartoonist. Drawing
elephants, bears and big bad dreams was good training for the leader
pages of the Sunday Correspondent, The Independent On Sunday, and
now, The Observer. Every now and then, an esteemed political commentator
will collar me in the lift with a puzzled expression on their face
and ask "was I reading one of your books to my five year old
last night?" And when my children, Jack, Katy and William misbehave
I subject them to similar punishment.
Five years ago I met the writer Paul Stewart at our children's nursery
gates and we began working on what has become The Edge Chronicles.
Plenty of blood thirsty battle scenes, Mrs. Stock would love it.
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