The first three important works that Briggs both wrote and illustrated were in comics format rather than the separate text and illustrations typical of children's books; all three were published by Hamish Hamilton. Father Christmas (1973) and its sequel Father Christmas Goes on Holiday (1975); both feature a curmudgeonly Father Christmas who complains incessantly about the "blooming snow". For the former, he won his second Greenaway. [1] Much later they were jointly adapted as a film titled Father Christmas. The third early Hamilton "comics" was Fungus the Bogeyman (1977), featuring a day in the life of a working class bogeyman. [18] a b c d e (Greenaway Winner 1966). Living Archive: Celebrating the Carnegie and Greenaway Winners. CILIP. Retrieved 14 July 2012.

Briggs had a stable childhood in the 1930s and 40s, growing up in a terraced house in Ashen Grove, Wimbledon Park, southwest London. The house and its old-fashioned kitchen, scullery and outside lavatory feature repeatedly in Briggs’s work, from Father Christmas onwards—where Briggs based the title character, and his “blooming” cursing at the anti-social hours and conditions of his work, on the grind of his father Ernest’s labour, delivering milk to people’s doorsteps at all hours and in all weathers. In the half-century following his parents’ death in 1971, Briggs made regular return visits to the house, whose later owners kept it largely as Ethel and Ernest had left it, down to the 1930s wallpaper that still lined the inside of a hallway cupboard. The essence [of being an illustrator] is to be a mini actor. If the figure is to crouch low in fear, you have to feel that from the inside... At the same time you have to be observing the figure from the outside. It’s an odd business really." Aitkenhead, Decca (24 December 2016). "Raymond Briggs: 'There could be another world war. Terrifying, isn't it?' ". TheGuardian.com.Briggs's wife Jean, who had schizophrenia, died from leukaemia in 1973, two years after his parents' death. They did not have any children. [28]

In Fungus the Bogeyman I wanted to show the petty nastiness of life - slime and snot and spit and dandruff, all this awful stuff which is slightly funny because it detracts from human dignity and our pretensions.' The story of a little girl who befriends a mischievous polar bear, this playful, funny and heart-warming tale is one of imagination and growing up. From the creator of The Snowman, Father Christmas and Fungus the Bogeyman - now a live theatre show! Read more Details We publish a Literature Newsletter when we have news and features on UK and international literature, plus opportunities for the industry to share.He was very amused when Liz Benjamin's three-year-old granddaughter announced one day at the dining table that “Raymond is not a normal person”. “The best compliment I have ever had,” he said. And words that he would like as his epitaph.

Touring from the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration, the retrospective highlights a selection of Briggs’ most significant works and reveal his expert draughtsmanship, captivating storytelling and the subversive humour throughout some of the most popular and influential children’s books and graphic novels of the 20 th century.Archived copy". Archived from the original on 11 March 2016 . Retrieved 11 March 2016. {{ cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title ( link) A brilliantly clever and funny tale about an unlikely friendship, from beloved children's author Raymond Briggs. The show won a Peabody Award in 1998. [2] In 2000, it won the Golden Butterfly Award for the best short film in the international cinema competition of the 15th Isfahan International Film Festival for Children and Youth in Iran. [3] Yet the careful construction of the story, showing the growing friendship between snowman and boy, makes its sudden end more resonant and moving than this pragmatic explanation allows. Hardcover. Briggs, Raymond (illustrator). 1st ed. 1st ptg. Folio, illustrated boards, a delightful tale of the large bear in Tilly's house, laid out in graphic novel format. Fine in near fine, unclipped dj, no previous owner's marks.

The Mother Goose Treasury ( Hamilton, 1966), from Mother Goose – winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal [3] The hilarious and heartwarming tale of a magical friendship between a girl and a polar bear, from beloved author of The Snowman, Raymond Briggs.Tilly soon finds out that a big bear can cause big problems - he takes a LOT of looking after! When she describes the bear's latest antics to her parents they think he's a figment of her imagination - but is he? D. Martin, "Raymond Briggs", in Douglas Martin, The Telling Line: Essays on Fifteen Contemporary Book Illustrators (Julia MacRae Books, 1989), pp.227–42