Raymond Briggs: a reflection

 

One Wednesday it was announced the story-writer and illustrator Raymond Briggs died.

He was born in 1934 in Wimbledon, Surrey and later moved to Sussex, making his own difference in story telling for being less inclined to write sweet happy ending stories for children for more gritter stuff and writing things also for adults but in form of a comic book.

 

Ethel and Ernest was a looking back of his own upbringing based around his aspirational parents, working to bring in the money, keeping a nice well kept house, helping to ensure their children got a decent education.

Raymond had his views, a life long Labour supporter although no fan at all of the Corbyn era he championed unilateral Nuclear Disarmament which found support during the tensions of the Cold War in the early 1980's taking part in protests.

He wrote the highly influential When The Wind Blows which saw the following of government advice in publications such as Protect And Survive by an elderly couple who'd lived through WW2 exposed for the load of absolute piffle it was (and I favour the deterrent generally speaking) 

The book end on a blank page. The inference was they died from radiation sickness as the measures they followed could never protect them (but made people think everything would be okay).

Christmas was tackled twice by Raymond originally in a story that looked at the challenges of Santa Claus (aka Little Saint Nick) delivering a multitude of presents from Santa's point of view, cursing as things went adrift.

The Snowman is a ritual in our country, every Christmas we all gather to watch this moving tale of the boy who plays in the snow building a Snowman who becomes alive forming a friendship that sees the boy  being taken on a voyage of discovery only to melt the next day with him being mourned by the boy.

The Sinfonia of London play a score for the duration of the cartoon and famously "walking through The Air is song as the boy is flying with the snowman looking in wonder at the world.