Ladybird books – tiny books with big ideas!
A recent interview/chat with the lovely David Wilson for the On Another Track podcast. Hope you enjoy our conversation.
Read more3rd December 2025
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‘A Window Into Ladybird Land’ — The Nostalgic World of Helen Day
An interview with the curator of ‘The Wonderful World of the Ladybird Artists’. Laura Dodsworth Dec 14, 2024 [I was interviewed by Laura last year and the interview was published on her substack ‘The Free Mind” (see link above). These…
Read more3rd March 2025
The Story of a Portrait
This is the story of why I have a portrait of a very serious, elderly stranger in prime position in my Ladybird bookroom – and why I am proud to be his guardian. Are you sitting comfortably? A long time…
Read more20th November 2024
Goodbye to the bookshed
What bibliophile hasn’t dreamt of a magnificent library with wall to ceiling sliding ladders, nooks and comfy chairs? I got pretty close to my dream with my bookshed – which has sat in my garden being beautiful for the last…
Read more4th September 2024
People at Work – writers Ina and Jack Havenhand
“Mum and Dad and Ladybird books” Ina and Jack Havenhand wrote the popular ‘People at Work’ series of Ladybird books, which were published between 1961 and 1973. The following was written for me by their son, Barry. “This note is…
Read more25th August 2024
Magic in Ladybird Land
Coincidences – really nice ones – abound in Ladybird Land. I don’t know why and perhaps I don’t want to know why, in case the magic one day stops. But last week I heard of a really special coincidence –…
Read more4th April 2024
The Ladybird Party Gift
There’s a much-loved book in Ladybird Land from 1960 called ‘The Party’ in which two young children go to their friend Ann’s birthday party. In the story, they give Ann a gift which she unwraps right away – and to…
Read more12th March 2024
Classroom posters
I love the original classroom posters that you can still occasionally find right at the back of school cupboards. Made to support the 1960s Peter and Jane Key Words reading scheme, they were the interactive whiteboard of their day. Collector…
Read more27th January 2024
Artists, writers etc, Collecting Ladybird books, Events, History, News & reviews, Parody & pastiche, Reading schemes, Society
A brief history of Ladybird
… in the form of an 11-minute interview Yesterday the latest showing of my exhibition ‘The Wonderful World of the Ladybird Book Artists’ opened at the Victoria Gallery in Bath. Just before it opened I was interviewed by a local…
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‘Before there were Ladybird books’. The earliest books
Collecting pre-1940s Ladybird books
Read more19th September 2023