15 Facts About Raymond Briggs

Raymond Redvers Briggs was an English illustrator, cartoonist, graphic novelist and author.

Raymond Briggs was a patron of the Association of Illustrators.

Raymond Redvers Briggs was born on 18 January 1934 in Wimbledon, Surrey, to Ernest Redvers Briggs, a milkman, and Ethel Bowyer, a former lady's maid-turned-housewife, who married in 1930.

Raymond Briggs attended Rutlish School, at that time a grammar school, pursued cartooning from an early age and, despite his father's attempts to discourage him from this unprofitable pursuit, attended the Wimbledon School of Art from 1949 to 1953 to study painting, and Central School of Art to study typography.

In 1961, Raymond Briggs began teaching illustration part-time at Brighton School of Art, which he continued until 1986; one of his students was Chris Riddell, who went on to win three Greenaway Medals.

Raymond Briggs was a commended runner-up for the 1964 Kate Greenaway Medal and won the 1966 Medal for illustrating a Hamilton edition of Mother Goose.

The first three important works that Raymond 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.

Raymond Briggs continued to work in a similar format, but with more adult content, in Gentleman Jim, a sombre look at the working class trials of Jim and Hilda Bloggs, closely based on his parents.

The topic was inspired after Raymond 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.

Raymond Briggs stated that he used to be a staunch supporter of the Labour Party, although he lost faith in the party under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn.

Raymond Briggs died of pneumonia at Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton on 9 August 2022, aged 88.

Raymond Briggs won the 1992 Kurt Maschler Award, or the "Emil", both for writing and for illustrating The Man, a short graphic novel featuring a boy and a homunculus.

In 2014, Raymond Briggs received the Phoenix Picture Book Award from the Children's Literature Association for The Bear.

Raymond Briggs was one of two runners-up for the illustration award in 1984.

Raymond Briggs was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to literature.