Light in a Dark Place
This is a story I have been given permission to share – although I don’t know the name of the original narrator:
Read more20th February 2021
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A Farm in February
A guest post by historian Adam Chapman, inspired by a picture by Ladybird artist Ronald Lampitt “A Farm in February is the title of this ‘Picture to Talk About’, published in Treasure Magazine, 1963. But what Ronald Lampitt’s illustration does…
Read more6th February 2021
Postcards from Ladybird Land
Not many of us like the sound of their own voices, do we? But in this podcast, recorded recently during (what number are we at now?) the second lockdown, you get not only my voice but the warm, gravelly tones…
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There’s something about this year …
For reasons which I won’t dwell on, I’ve enjoyed escaping into Ladybird Land this year as never before. Every December since I started tweeting about Ladybird books, I’ve offered the nation a Ladybird Advent Calendar on Twitter. In true Ladybird…
Read more30th November 2020
Artist Frank Humphris
I feel a bit of guilt about Frank Humphris. Until now he wasn’t mentioned on my Ladybird Artists‘ web page and he isn’t currently featured in my Ladybird Artists exhibition. My website and the exhibition focus on the golden-age artists…
Read more1st November 2020
The Strange Tale of the Missing Father of Khong Guan
Most people come to vintage-Ladybird-appreciation after using the books in childhood. A few people come to appreciate them as adults. But one of the strangest routes I’ve yet come across is via an Indonesian biscuit tin. Last month a lady…
Read more2nd September 2020
What’s special about this book?
I know the saccharine sweetness of the book cover above will be too much for some people, but this book should be a special one to Ladybird book collectors and is particularly significant to me. Let me explain why. 1）…
Read more27th June 2020
Charles Tunnicliffe – by close friend and fellow-artist Kyffin Williams
Charles Tunnicliffe – by close friend and fellow-artist Kyffin Williams. I thought I would share it here (lightly abridged) because it offers a beautiful and personal insight into the man and his work
Read more13th June 2020
Is there a ‘Ladybird Style’?
There isn’t one ‘Ladybird’. The name means different things to different people. No one, (no – not even I) grew up in a house with every Ladybird book available. We may have had a few around the house and then…
Read more10th May 2020
In a Big Store
Part of the pleasure of re-reading the ‘People at Work’ books today is that, unlike so many Ladybirds which dealt with fiction, history or Nature – their stated aim was to show children contemporary, urban Britain. But when the contemporary…
Read more5th March 2020