25 Facts About Edward Ardizzone

For Tim All Alone, which he wrote and illustrated, Ardizzone won the inaugural Kate Greenaway Medal from the Library Association for the year's best children's book illustration by a British subject.

Edward Ardizzone was born in the port city of Haiphong, Tonkin, in the north of French Indo-China, a city now in Vietnam, while his father was working for the Eastern Extension Telegraph Company.

In 1905, Margaret Edward Ardizzone returned to England with her three eldest children.

The Edward Ardizzone family lived in Corder Road, Ipswich, between 1905 and 1910, and then in Gainsborough Road from 1911 to 1912.

Edward Ardizzone was educated first at Ipswich School and then, from 1912, at Clayesmore School, a boarding school in Dorset.

Edward Ardizzone left school in 1918 and twice tried to enlist in the British Army but was refused.

Edward Ardizzone produced advertising material for Johnnie Walker whisky, and illustrations for both Punch and The Radio Times, including the 1937 and 1948 Christmas covers of the latter.

Edward Ardizzone's style was naturalistic but subdued, featuring gentle lines and delicate watercolours, with great attention to particular details.

Edward Ardizzone first served with the British Expeditionary Force and depicted its retreat through France and Belgium before he was evacuated back to Britain from Boulogne in May 1940.

Edward Ardizzone spent the early part of 1941 travelling around Scotland.

Edward Ardizzone travelled on through Italy with the Eighth Army until April 1944, when he flew to Algiers, from where he sailed back to Britain.

Edward Ardizzone again travelled widely there and witnessed the fall of Reggio Calabria and Naples.

Edward Ardizzone spent the winter of 1944 in Italy before travelling to Germany for the final months of the War.

Edward Ardizzone was commissioned to produce a watercolour portrait of Winston Churchill and continued to write and illustrate books.

Beside writing and illustrating his own books, Ardizzone illustrated books written by others, including some editions of Anthony Trollope and H E Bates's My Uncle Silas.

Edward Ardizzone illustrated the C Day Lewis children's novel, The Otterbury Incident.

Edward Ardizzone illustrated some novels by the American author Eleanor Estes, including Pinky Pye, The Witch Family, The Alley, Miranda the Great, and The Tunnel of Hugsy Goode.

For illustrating Titus in Trouble, written by James Reeves, Edward Ardizzone was a commended runner-up for the 1959 Greenaway Medal.

Edward Ardizzone is particularly noted for having not just illustrated the covers and contents of books, but inked in the title text and author's name in his own hand, giving the books a distinctive look on shelves.

Early in the 1970s, Edward Ardizzone illustrated a new edition of the 20-year-old Little books by Graham Greene: The Little Train, The Little Fire Engine, The Little Horse Bus, and The Little Steamroller.

Edward Ardizzone illustrated a re-telling of the Don Quixote story for children by James Reeves and his illustrations for The Land of Green Ginger by Noel Langley are regarded as classics in their own right.

Edward Ardizzone illustrated several telegrams for the Post Office in the 1950s and 1960s, many of which are considered collectors' items.

Edward Ardizzone held a number of teaching posts, working part-time as an instructor in graphic design at Camberwell School of Art and as a visiting tutor at the Royal College of Art.

In 1929, Edward Ardizzone had married Catherine Josephine Berkley Anderson and the couple had two sons and a daughter.

Edward Ardizzone died of a heart attack in 1979 at his home in Rodmersham Green.