The Sad Loss of Raymond Briggs

As I write this, it has been a few days since Raymond Briggs passed away.  It is quite likely most people will immediately think of ‘The Snowman’ as soon as they hear this name.  And this is because he made such an impact with his work; it wasn’t only readers of children’s books who were aware of him.

  Of course, ‘The Snowman’ became known to far more people once it had made the transition from book to animation.  When this was first shown on Channel 4 in 1982, it was introduced by Mr Briggs himself.  He probably had a feeling that his wordless story which had already become a smash in book form was going to do well…. but perhaps even he did not foresee it becoming quite as successful as it would be.  By the time it was repeated for a couple more Christmases (and Mr Briggs intro had been updated with a David Bowie one instead) the animation had suddenly become a festive TV tradition.  It was up there on the cathode advent calendar, sitting pretty right alongside other Yuletide staples such as the Queens Speech and the obligatory Bond film.

  Most people will remember Raymond Briggs for ‘The Snowman’ and there is nothing wrong with this.  But it is worth noting how much else he created and published during the course of his life.  ‘Fungus the Bogeyman’ with its borderline political incorrectness was another defining moment.  As was his harrowing and thought-provoking, ‘When the Wind Blows’ (there is a film adaptation of this which everyone should watch and learn from – more so still if they are to ever consider a career in politics).  But there are also many others worth hunting down to read, such as the underground classic, ‘Gentleman Jim’ with its toilet humour (excuse the pun).

Losing the artistic input of Raymond Briggs is a terrible thing, but he will never be forgotten.  He has left us with too many wonderfully penned and beautifully drawn stories for that to ever happen.  There are also quite a few fifty pences featuring his work.  The Isle of Man have released two different designs of ‘The Snowman’ over the years (one of these was issued twice).  And since 2018, when The Royal Mint began playing copycat, we have had four UK designs with him on them too.  There are also British Indian Ocean Territories fifty pences with the blooming ever-cheerful ‘Father Christmas’ on them.

  The truth is, Raymond Briggs was one of the most important and influential children’s writers and illustrators of modern times.  He pushed boundaries (as all artists should), he scared kids witless with a few of his characters (which all good children’s authors should) and he inspired a great many budding ‘good drawerers’.  Briggs was on the same high level as Maurice Sendak, Roahl Dahl and Jane Hissey.  He also managed to achieve such greatness whilst avoiding being twee or allowing himself to become one of the dreaded ‘luvvies’ of literature.  Basically, he remained his own man and true to what he was.

Goodbye Mr Briggs.  It really was a pleasure.

 

© Article copyright Mik Smith 2022

MAIN IMAGE – reblogged from empireonline.com

PORTRAIT IMAGE – reblogged from newstatesman.com

OTHER IMAGES – reblogged from wikipedia