Raymond Briggs

Author profile

born

January 18, 1934 in Wimbledon, London, The United Kingdom

gender

male

genre

Children's Books, Comics & Graphic Novels

About this author

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Raymond Redvers Briggs is an English illustrator, cartoonist, graphic novelist, and author who has achieved critical and popular success among adults and children. He is best known for his story "The Snowman", which is shown every Christmas on British television in cartoon form and on the stage as a musical.

His first three major works, Father Christmas, Father Christmas Goes on Holiday (both featuring a curmudgeonly Father Christmas who complains incessantly about the "blooming snow"), and Fungus the Bogeyman, were in the form of comics rather than the typical children's-book format of separate text and illustrations. The Snowman (1978) was entirely wordless, and illustrated with only pencil crayons. The Snowman became Briggs' best-known wo...more Raymond Redvers Briggs is an English illustrator, cartoonist, graphic novelist, and author who has achieved critical and popular success among adults and children. He is best known for his story "The Snowman", which is shown every Christmas on British television in cartoon form and on the stage as a musical.

His first three major works, Father Christmas, Father Christmas Goes on Holiday (both featuring a curmudgeonly Father Christmas who complains incessantly about the "blooming snow"), and Fungus the Bogeyman, were in the form of comics rather than the typical children's-book format of separate text and illustrations. The Snowman (1978) was entirely wordless, and illustrated with only pencil crayons. The Snowman became Briggs' best-known work when in 1982 it was made into an Oscar nominated animated cartoon, that has been shown every year since on British television.

Briggs continued to work in a similar format, but with more adult content, in Gentleman Jim (1980), a sombre look at the working class trials of Jim and Hilda Bloggs, closely based on his parents. When the Wind Blows (1982) confronted the trusting, optimistic Bloggs couple with the horror of nuclear war, and was praised in the British House of Commons for its timeliness and originality. The topic was inspired after Briggs watched a Panorama documentary on nuclear contingency planning, and the dense format of the page was inspired by a Swiss publisher's miniature version of Father Christmas. This book was turned into a two-handed radio play with Peter Sallis in the male lead role, and subsequently an animated film, featuring John Mills and Peggy Ashcroft. The Tin-Pot Foreign General and the Old Iron Woman (1984) was a scathing denunciation of the Falklands War. However, Briggs continued to produce humour for children, in works such as the Unlucky Wally series and The Bear.

He was recognized as The Children's Author of the Year in 1993 by the British Book Awards. His graphic novel Ethel and Ernest, which portrayed his parents' 41-year marriage, won Best Illustrated Book in the 1999 British Book Awards.(less)

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Books by Raymond Briggs

Average rating: 4.13 · 4,663 ratings · 447 reviews · 69 distinct works

	The Snowman 4.21 avg rating — 2,787 ratings — published 1978 — 27 editions	My rating:
	When the Wind Blows 4.21 avg rating — 354 ratings — published 1982 — 7 editions	My rating:
	Fungus the Bogeyman 4.06 avg rating — 297 ratings — published 1977 — 5 editions	My rating:
	Father Christmas 4.31 avg rating — 277 ratings — 8 editions	My rating:
	Ethel and Ernest 4.08 avg rating — 315 ratings — published 1998 — 5 editions	My rating:
	Gentleman Jim 3.56 avg rating — 103 ratings — published 1981 — 4 editions	My rating:
	Father Christmas Goes on Holiday 4.14 avg rating — 65 ratings — published 1975 — 3 editions	My rating:
	Ug: Boy Genius of the Stone Age 3.61 avg rating — 71 ratings — published 2001 — 5 editions	My rating:
	The Bear 4.06 avg rating — 49 ratings — 7 editions	My rating:
	Jim and the Beanstalk 3.59 avg rating — 44 ratings — published 1970 — 8 editions	My rating:

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Quotes by Raymond Briggs

“I must break out...
...start a new life...
been here for years...
might be getting into a rut...
something a bit more exciting...
more adventurous...
something with more of a challenge...
There's not much opportunity for self-advancement in toilets...”
― Raymond Briggs, Gentleman Jim

tags: dreams , self-advancement

1 person liked it

“Dear sir, Mr. B.J. Thing... er... we the people of Britain are fed up with being bombed. We had enough of it last time with old Hitler so will you just leave us in peace, you live your life and we'll live ours, hope you are well... please don't drop any bombs.
Yours sincerely, Mr. and Mrs. J. Bloggs”
― Raymond Briggs, When the Wind Blows

1 person liked it

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