Raymond Briggs RIP 9 August 2022

[A380]

Raymond Briggs has died. In my opinion the man was a genius and was well before his time.

Starting with children's books with far more in them for adults. He moved on to what are now graphic novels for adults.

When the Wind Blows and his Falklands book are still pertinent and his two Unlucky Wally books are heartbreaking.

 

[SpookyFrank]

When The When Blows has stayed with me like little else from my childhood. RIP Ray.

E2a: Don't think it was actually for kids. When my mum saw I'd got it out the library she hid it, not knowing I'd already read it.

 

[surreybrowncap]

Met him a couple of times at the publishing house I once worked for...
RIP Raymond...

 

[DaphneM]

Blooming old age

 

[Plumdaff]

I can't have this thread pass without a mention of Fungus the Bogeyman which absolutely delighted me as a child. RIP.

 

[starfish]

The only book of his i can remember reading was Gentleman Jim. Which was very good if a bit bleak and sad.

RIP.

 

[DaveCinzano]

Nice fan site with lots of anecdotes and summaries of lesser known books like his early illustrated children's novels like The Strange House:

Gentleman Briggs - A Raymond Briggs Fansite

raymond briggs biography bibliography and filmography

www.toonhound.com

 

[editor]

Naturally, there's a Bowie connection too!

RIP Mr Briggs.

 

[DaveCinzano]

I can't have this thread pass without a mention of Fungus the Bogeyman which absolutely delighted me as a child. RIP.

And the Plop-Up Book was a masterful piece of paper engineering

 

[Artaxerxes]

 

[skyscraper101]

Loved the Snowman as a kid, and also Father Christmas. When The Wind Blows too, haunting. Farewell RB.

 

[Edie]

Loved him and all his work. What a gift. May he rest in peace.

 

[The39thStep]

Good author , I think the success of the Snowman ironically detracted from rather than being a gateway to his other works .The film version of When The Wind Blows was released in an era when the Cold War was very high on the agenda with Thatcher and Reagan, CND was very active, Frankie Goes to Hollywood were in the charts with Two Tribes and there were a number of post apocalypse TV programmes . The soundtrack was by Roger Waters as I recall. Although I felt the portrayal of the two main characters , Jim and Hilda , was patronising ( they were a working class couple believing everything the government said about Protect and Survive) the film was a very very powerful anti war message . Tragically , produced now it may not have the same impact.

My son was a baby when it came out and it really made me think of/for his future . Briggs in later life was very anti Corbyn

 

[Siouxsie]

R.I.P Mr Briggs
This always signifies Christmas for me

 

[Shellee]

He was very talented ( and he hated Christmas)

He didn’t like the commercialised Snowman much. Remember, the book ends it’s a little boy crying over a pile of melted snow, none of this happy, clappy stuff

When the Wind Blows scared the bejasus out of me when I first read it because the couple reminded me of my mum an dad

He did a book about his getting old and dying, Time for Lights out. it looks interesting but maybe a bit to close to home

 

[hitmouse]

Sad to hear, although I have to admit I didn't really realise he was still alive.

 

[cesare]

Sad to hear, although I have to admit I didn't really realise he was still alive.

I bet you didn't realise that Martin Luther King Jnr was a few months older than Anne Frank either?

 

[hitmouse]

I bet you didn't realise that Martin Luther King Jnr was a few months older than Anne Frank either?

You're not going to tell me that he's died as well, are you?

 

[Elpenor]

You're not going to tell me that he's died as well, are you?

Was he shot by Anne Frank?

 

[tim]

Was he shot by Anne Frank?

The Anne Frank who owned the dairy?

 

[AmateurAgitator]

Loved Fungus the Bogeyman, Father Christmas and the Snowman as a kid R.I.P.

 

[Voley]

Fungus the Bogeyman was ace. A kids book about existential doubt with a Milton-quoting hero. With boils. Brilliant.

I loved Father Christmas moaning about the weather and being sick from eating too much French grub. Ace books.

 

[Poot]

He was a friend of my aunt and uncle (both dead now.) I believe he was - and I know you'll be shocked - a bit grumpy.

 

[hash tag]

Appropriately he was not one for a happy ending! Ethel and Ernest is now showing on BBC2

 

[editor]

I'd never watched Ethel and Ernest before. I was a flubbering mess of tears at the end.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

When The When Blows has stayed with me like little else from my childhood. RIP Ray.

Remember that too

 

[co-op]

I'd never watched Ethel and Ernest before. I was a flubbering mess of tears at the end.

Fucking me too, it was so close to my own family, maybe half a generation of "betterment" before mine, but my favourite family man was a milkman! Genius, absolutely wonderful.

Eta the pathos for me was the snobbery of those "lower class" people (I mean obviously working class but some of them hated those words) and their use of these terms like "educated" as if that were all that separated them from the full participation they should have had and the life-destroying sacrifices they made so that my generation got them. Tragic. It's something to live up to.

 

[platinumsage]

He wrote about his own death:

Looking round this house,
What will they say,
The future ghosts?

There must have been
Some barmy old bloke here,
Long-haired, artsy-fartsy type,
Did pictures for kiddy books
Or some such tripe.

You should have seen the stuff
He stuck up in that attic!
Snowman this and snowman that,
Tons and tons of tat.

https://uk.bookshop.org/books/time-for-lights-out/

 

[hitmouse]

Fungus the Bogeyman was ace. A kids book about existential doubt with a Milton-quoting hero. With boils. Brilliant.

I did not get the Milton references when I read it!

 

[Voley]

I did not get the Milton references when I read it!

Nor me until I did Paradise Lost for A Level English Lit. 'Whence and what art thou execrable shape?' says Fungus as he looks in the mirror brushing his teeth. Quoting Satan himself, if memory serves. I had a right chuckle about it when I read it in the original text.