Kathleen Hale married Douglas McClean, a young doctor working in medical research, and they settled in Hertfordshire. She created the marmalade cat Orlando and his world to entertain her children at bedtime, and in the late 1930s she began producing her series of books about him, among the earliest picture books produced using photolithography. [5] In 1941 Orlando's Evening Out became the first fictional picture book published by Puffin Books, the children's imprint of Penguin Books. [6] a b Oxford University Press (21 June 2012). Benezit Dictionary of British Graphic Artists and Illustrators. OUP USA. p.502. ISBN 978-0-19-992305-2. Kathleen Hale died in Bristol on 26 January 2000, aged 101. [8] Bibliography [ edit ] Orlando series [ edit ] The Orlando (The Marmalade Cat) books were created by Kathleen Hale for her two children, and Orlando was inspired by their real-life cat Orlando. [1] When Country Life first published Orlando (the Marmalade Cat): A Camping Holiday, it became an instant success. Kathleen Hale then continued the series, giving Orlando a magic carpet in 1958, and ended the series with Orlando and the Water Cats (1972). Orlando the Judge (1950) - When Mr. Gorgon suspects Mr. Zola of stealing his cheese, Orlando is in despair that his two friends are arguing. He is then called to Judge Wiggins, who has a cold and is not getting better as his arrogant pet cat named Fluffy takes everything he needs to eat. Orlando eventually takes his place while Grace boils Wiggins some milk, and the kittens investigate the mystery of the missing cheese. At the end of the book, it is revealed that Fluffy stole the cheese for his mouse-trap (for he is frightened of mice), and he eventually becomes a guard for the Old Mice's Home as punishment. Mr. Gorgon and Mr. Zola become friends again, and Wiggins' cold begins to get better.

David Lewis (12 November 2012). Reading Contemporary Picturebooks: Picturing Text. Routledge. p.143. ISBN 978-1-135-12152-5. Kathleen Hale was part of a very English artistic tradition of mild bohemianism and modest bloodymindedness. "I broke all the rules of decent behaviour," she once said. Her marriage in 1926 to Douglas Maclean, a doctor working in medical research, was unconventional in that it had been suggested by his father, Dr John Maclean, medical superintendent of the London Fever Hospital, whose treatment of Hale for suspected diptheria had led to "a great and loving friendingship". Maclean Sr felt that the gap in their ages was too large to marry her himself.Kathleen Hale OBE (24 May 1898 – 26 January 2000) was a British artist, illustrator, and children's author. She is best remembered for her series of books about Orlando the Marmalade Cat. The idea of Orlando came to her in Italy, when she was travelling with her husband. The train had pulled into a country station, and there was a voluminous woman standing behind a table selling lemonade. She called out "Orlando," rolling the Italian vowels. A small boy emerged from under the white tablecloth, with hair the colour of a Seville orange. Kathleen Hale was born in Broughton, Salford, Lancashire and was brought up in a suburb of Manchester. Her childhood was far from idyllic: her father died when she was very young and she was forced to endure long periods of separation from her mother. This, along with the frustrations of an unexpressed artistic talent, produced a rebellious reaction in the young girl's naturally ebullient nature. However, her talent as an artist was recognised at school by a sympathetic headmistress at Manchester High School for Girls and she went on to attend art courses in Manchester and at the University College, Reading. In this enchanting tale, Orlando wants to take his wife, Grace, their children Pansy, Blanche and Tinkle to the seaside for a summer holiday. Unfortunately all the hotels and boarding houses are full so he looks as though he is going to have to abandon the idea. Orlando - The hero of the series, he is a marmalade-coloured cat with eyes like two green gooseberries. He sometimes keeps his watch on his tail, and later on in the series he is friends with a living magic carpet named Fatima.

Hale was the castaway on Desert Island Discs on BBC Radio 4 on 30 October 1994. She was interviewed by Sue Lawley and chose the Catalan song " Cobla La Principal de Peralada [ ca]" as well as pieces by Anton Karas, Gertrude Lawrence and Scott Joplin as her favourite records, Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time as her choice of book, and a djellaba made from golden cloth as her luxury item. [7] She once described herself as someone with a talent for being in the right place at the right time. Bernard Meninsky taught her at the Central School; she became an Augustus John groupie and claimed that his beautiful and taciturn wife, Dorelia, influenced her more than anyone - she remembered Dorelia with an armful of Siamese kittens, and, in her books, the kittens often come in armfuls. Augustus himself makes an appearance as the art master in Orlando's Home Life (1942). Orlando (The Marmalade Cat) is the fictional eponymous hero of the series (of the same name) of 19 illustrated children's books written by Kathleen Hale between 1938 and 1972, issued by various publishers including Country Life and Puffin Picture Books. The series involves a marmalade cat (most likely a ginger tabby) named Orlando, and his adventures with his family and wife named Grace. Grace - The wife of Orlando, she and the kittens almost always accompany Orlando. She often wears large hats and skirts, and once wore a wedding-dress made of fish on their (Orlando's and Grace's) wedding day, and in Orlando's Home Life wore a fur coat in the pattern of a leopard's fur. She is a tabby cat, with a small, stubby nose like a ripe apricot. [3]She was constantly sketching the family cats, and their antics gave her ideas for further stories. The horse 'Vulcan' who appears in some was based on a huge Shire horse called 'Prince' that she had had to learn to manage when she was in the Land Army in 1918. Eventually there were 18 books in all, some produced by Country Life and some by other publishers; they have been reprinted numerous times. The last to appear was The Water Cats in 1972.