BBC Radio 4 - Desert Island Discs, Raymond Briggs (original) (raw)

Raymond Briggs

Sue Lawley's castaway is writer and illustrator Raymond Briggs.

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the writer and illustrator Raymond Briggs. For millions of children, Christmas would be incomplete without Briggs's story The Snowman, which has been shown on television every year since its first release, in 1982, and his enduringly popular Father Christmas.

Raymond was born in 1934 in Wimbledon. His mother, Ethel, was a lady's maid and his father, Ernest, a milkman. He wanted to draw cartoon strips from an early age but, at art school, found his tutors looked down on his aspirations. After leaving, he quickly secured work as a commercial artist, doing illustrations for advertisements, journals and books. He said he was so appalled at the standard of the children's books he was asked to illustrate he thought he could do better himself. And he did - his first attempt was immediately accepted for publication and he went on to twice win the Kate Greenaway Medal - the principal award for illustration.

[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]

Favourite track: Parce Mihi Domine (from Officium Defunctorum) by Christobal de Morales
Book: Complete Works of Beachcomber by J B Morton
Luxury: A full-size billiard table with Radio 4 built into each of the legs

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Music Played

The Bonzo Dog Band

The Intro and The Outro

Gorilla.
United Artists.

Jan Garbarek

Saga

Ragas and Sagas.
ECM.

The Dufay Collective

La Rotta

A L'Estampida.
Contiuum.

The Dave Brubeck Quartet

Unsquare Dance

Time Further Out.
Columbia.

Tom Waits

Big in Japan

Mule Variations.
Epitaph.

Tasmin Little

Spiegel im Spiegel

Tamsin Little: Fratres.
EMI.

Nitin Sawhney

River Pulse Rain Mix

Migration.
Outcaste Records.
Castaway's Favourite
Cristóbal de Morales
Parce Mihi Domine (from Officium Defunctorum)
Soloist: Jan Garbarek Orchestra: The Hilliard Ensemble
* Officium.
* ECM New Series.
Book Choice
- Complete Works of Beachcomber - J B Morton
Luxury Choice
- A full-size billiard table with Radio 4 built into each of the legs
Show more / Show less

Credits

Role	Contributor
Presenter	Sue Lawley
Interviewed Guest	Raymond Briggs

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