Timeshift - BBC4

Rather belatedly, here's news of some of the Ladybird Land business I mentioned in my last post. Episode 1.

The BBC4 Series Timeshift is going to do a whole long documentary on Ladybird Books!

They've been getting in touch with a whole load of Ladybird folk over the past couple of months and when my time came I spent a very nice time indulging in all things Ladybird.  The focus is going to be chronological, I think - 1940 to ... 2000?  Tied together with the story of Douglas Keen.

The director was impressively on top of her brief - I would even suggest she might have been bitten by the bug, so enthusiastic was she about most aspects of the Ladybird story.  She was even able to tell me information I didn't know about Ladybird - not bad after only a few weeks to research!

I've had a few experiences before of journalists and programme makers before.  This team, though, win my nomination for "nicest people to share an afternoon with".  I hope the programme they make is as engaging and interesting as Merryn, Claire and Adam.

When I hear more about when the programme will be shown, I'll share it here.

Busy busy in Ladybird Land

The normal tranquillity of Ladybird Land has been rather disrupted lately.  For one reason or another, there have been lots of journalists and programme makers looking into the subject.  The main reason seems to be the forthcoming 'centenary' of Ladybird.  Centenary of what? You may ask.  Good question, as the the books we most associate with Ladybird first made their appearance in 1940.

But the trade name 'Ladybird' was first used by Wills and Hepworth some time before that - when the commercial printing company started to publish rather rough and ready children's books when there was little other work around.  You can find a picture of a typical pre-1940s Ladybird Books here:
http://www.easyontheeye.net/ladybird/prewar/chums.htm

Apparently the establishment of the brand is the centenary in question.

In addition, and I think co-incidentally, the One Show - BBC1, has latched on to ITA.  The post I did about ITA Ladybird Books has consistently attracted more comments than anything else I've written, which just goes to show how little there must be out there on this fascinating topic.  Here was my original post.

I'll keep you posted about further programmes as I find out more about the breeze rippling the Ladybird pond at the moment. 

Robert Lumley and Well Loved Tales - 606d

Robert Lumley and Eric Winter are the two artists I am most often asked about.  This reflects the enduring popularity of the 27 Well Loved Tales titles issued between 1964 (starting with Cinderella) until The Musicians of Bremen (1974).

(For a quick 'walk-through' of all the titles see this quick video:)


Between them, Winter and Lumley illustrated them all (except for one title, The Princess and the Frog) by 'Capaldi'.  That their powerful, evocative illustrations were the reason for the huge success of this series is evidenced by the fact that the revised version of these books initially kept Vera Southgate's original text, but were re-illustrated.  These later books have never achieved the same popularity of the earlier.

I've just posted a new artist biography, supplied to me by Robert Lumley's son (and winner of this year's poor excuse for a Christmas quiz!).

It's full of great Ladybird anecdotes and details.

Robert Lumley

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

B H Robinson - Ladybird artist

I've just made a new page about the life and work of the Ladybird artist B H Robinson.

He illustrated a large number of books for Ladybird in the late 70s and 80s, including 'Horses' 'Dogs' and many of the 'How it Works' and 'Leaders' series.












You'll find it here:

http://www.ladybirdflyawayhome.com/pages/robinson.htm

Batty Ladybird Woman

A rather cringe-worthy Daily Mirror feature today

And they've made the 3 years older than I am!  The indignity!

My brother isn't too pleased about being accused of vandalism by the Daily Mirror (Ok, by his sister).

Look out in the Sunday Mirror for another Ladybird feature - I think they're hoping to interview Martin Aitchison, who always has good Ladybird stories to tell.

Easy on the Eye

I thought I'd lost it - the first Ladybird website I found online, all those years ago when I first started collecting LBs and was first getting to know how this thing everyone kept talking about, this 'internet' worked.

Although NR hasn't updated his site for a while (I know, I'm a fine one to talk) I was delighted to find the link again.  My previous link had stopped working and, despite searching around, thought it had been taken down.  But here it ism, full of useful info and LB stuff:

Old Ladybird Books on TV

If you live in the Midlands, you may have seen a lovely feature on Ladybird Books on BBC 1 yesterday.

If features Martin Aitchison, Jenny Pearce lots of my books and artwork and me!

If you live in another region, you can see it here for 1 week only:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01pwrs9/Inside_Out_East_Midlands_14_01_2013/

Enjoy!