RAYMOND BRIGGS was born in London in 1934 and studied at the Wimbledon School of Art and the Slade School of Art, working first in advertising before moving into the wonderful world of children's book illustration. He is the beloved children's book author-illustrator of the hugely successful Father Christmas (1973), Father Christmas Goes on Holiday (1975), Fungus the Bogeyman (1977), The Snowman (1978), When the Wind Blows (1982), and The Tin-Pot Foreign General and the Old Iron Woman (1984). These books have been translated into many languages and adapted into films, plays and animated TV shows. His graphic novel Ethel & Ernest (1998) -- the story of how his father, a milkman, met his mother, a lady's maid, and the forty-one years they spent together -- is currently in production to be become a feature film.