Children's illustrator and writer, born in London, UK. He studied at Wimbledon School of Art and the Slade School of Art, London. He became a freelance illustrator in 1957. In 1966 his Mother Goose Treasury appeared with over 900 pictures, winning him the Kate Greenaway Medal. Father Christmas (1973), using the comic-strip format, won a second Greenaway Medal. The Snowman (1978, animated film, 1982) enchanted adults and children alike. His anxiety for the future well-being of the planet is expressed in When the Wind Blows (1982), which has also appeared as a play (1983) and an animated film (1987). Later books include Unlucky Wally (1987), The Bear (1994), and Ethel and Ernest (1998).
Raymond Briggs (born January 18, 1934) is a British illustrator, cartoonist, and author who has achieved critical and popular success among adults and children.
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 almost entirely wordless, and became Briggs' best-known work when 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, a somber look at the working-class trials of Jim and Hilda Bloggs, closely based on his parents.
His graphic novel Ethel and Ernest, which portrayed his parents' 41-year marriage, won Best Illustrated Book in the 1998 British Book Awards.
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