Raymond Briggs, the British illustrator and author, has died aged 88. For some, Briggs was just the guy that created the stunning Christmas classic picturebook and film The Snowman, but for others he was a giant of their childhood, introducing characters Fungus the Bogeyman and a crotchety Father Christmas to their fizzing imagination.
Briggs began his six-decade career as a professional illustrator, working in children’s books and teaching before embarking on his solo creations. His most notable first works were written as comics – Father Christmas (1973); Father Christmas Goes on Holiday (1975); and Fungus the Bogeyman (1977). He went on to make dozens more books - some of which were adapted to film - which started to incorporate darker adult themes.
Reflecting the man himself, Briggs’s characters also often had a sprinkling of the grumps - which was what made them so endearing and unique.
“Raymond liked to act the professional curmudgeon, but we will remember him for his stories of love and of loss,” said Briggs’s literary agent, Hilary Delamere to the Guardian. “I know from the many letters he received how his books and animations touched people’s hearts. He kept his curiosity and sense of wonder right up to the last.”
If you haven’t yet delved deeper into the writer/illustrator’s world, you’re in for a treat. With so much to choose from, here’s our round-up of his best work.
Father Christmas (1973)
Although Briggs’s Father Christmas looks the part, he’s actually just a normal bloke living in a normal house working his usual Christmas Eve shift. He’s got a heart of gold, but he hides it behind a shield of grumpiness, and though he loves his job, he grumbles anyway.
Briggs’s first major work won the author the annual Kate Greenaway Medal from the Library Association, and in 1991 it was combined with its sequel Father Christmas Goes on Holiday and turned into a film. It’s a great interpretation of the figure we all love so much.
Fungus the Bogeyman (1977)
Running on a similar theme, Briggs reworked the character of the Bogeyman in this 1977 picture book. The Bogeyman is a working-class gent whose job is to scare humans. The book follows a day in his life as he ponders his life and work: he has a little existential crisis and loves gross things like dampness, flies and over-ripe fruit.
It was made into a BBC three-part comedy in 2004 and turned into a stage production at Artsdepot in North London which ran from November 2007 to January 2008, but for most people, it’s Briggs’s original Bogeyman illustration that has stayed with them.
The Snowman (1978)
The most famous of all of Briggs’s work, The Snowman is a wordless picturebook about a boy who makes a snowman which comes to life. They become friends, play together, make a feast, go flying and watch the sunrise, but of course, the snowman has melted by the morning.
In 1982 it was made into an animated TV-film, which has been played over the Christmas season ever since. Over the years it has inspired dozens of spin-offs including a video game, a stage show and a 2012 Channel 4 sequel, The Snowman and the Snowdog.
Gentleman Jim (1980)
Jim Bloggs is a lavatory attendant who wants more from his life but hasn’t got the education to facilitate an easy exit. So instead, he uses his imagination as an escape and he is a voracious reader. His wife Hilda is also keen on having more adventures and so Jim sets out to turn their dreams into reality.
Despite the seemingly depressing material, it’s a charming tale; Jim has a childlike way of looking at the world that’s quite inspiring.
When the Wind Blows (1982)
At a time when nuclear threats towards Britain were at their peak, Briggs created When the Wind Blows. Retired couple Jim Bloggs and his wife Hilda (from Gentleman Jim) are caught in a nuclear attack and the story follows what happens to them. The subject matter is pretty awful, as the couple starts to get affected by the radiation (they get headaches, Hilda vomits, her hair falls out), but somehow, in Briggs’s special way, it’s tender too.
It was made into a BBC drama in 1983, and then director Jimmy Murakami turned it into a film in 1986.
Ethel & Ernest: A True Story (1998)
Another heart-melting tale, Ethel & Ernest is a graphic novel about Briggs’s parents, from their first meeting in 1928 to their deaths some forty years later. At the 1999 British Book Awards, it won the Best Illustrated Book of the Year, and then it was made into a feature-length animated film in 2016. Just lovely.
Ug: Boy Genius of the Stone Age (2001)
Ug lives in the Stone Age and everything is stone: his food, his cave, his blanket and even his trousers. He’s bright though, and lobbies his parents to make some modern improvements. They are originally resistant to his ideas, but Ug is very determined.
Time For Lights Out (2019)
A little different from his previous work, Time For Lights Out is a sketchbook-style collection of the author’s thoughts as he neared the end of his life and contemplated old age, his upbringing and death. Despite the melancholy content, it maintains some levity (are you detecting a theme here?) and provides great insight into the mind of the late artist.
In its review, the Guardian said, “He won’t even try to make a joke of the anxiety, the dark thoughts, the invisibility and the growing forgetfulness that attend him now,” but added, “There is a certain clemency here, too: a self-forgiveness. Above a quotation from DH Lawrence about how hard it is to die... Briggs has drawn two doors on a landing, one closed and the other slightly ajar. Over the second, there falls a shadow: a beloved genius of storytelling and illustration, his hand not quite on its handle, but very close.”
