I was born in London, and have lived there ever since. When I was 17 years old I went to Hornsey College of Art for five years, leaving with a first class degree. I then became a freelance illustrator, and had my first picture book published in 1971 when I was 22 - THE LITTLE MOHEE, an American folk song. I love traditional stories of all kinds and from any country throughout the world. Ideas for my picture books have come from myths, legends, folk tales, fairy stories, folk songs and oral poetry.
Over the past 40 years I have worked on my own series of picture books - FOLK TALES OF THE WORLD, which I wrote and illustrated. The BBC and Channel 4 have made three of these books into short animated films for Children's TV- WHAT MADE TIDDALIK LAUGH, TORTOISES' DREAM and THE TIGER CHILD. I have illustrated books for many other authors: Kevin Crossley-Holland, Geoffrey Trease, James Reeves, Adel Geras, Jamila Gavin, and Robert Nye. I also worked for BBC TV, illustrating for JACKANORY and. JACKANORY PLAYHOUSE.
I taught illustration at Harrow, Barnet, West Herts and Croydon Colleges of Art. I have visited schools and libraries all over Britain, to give talks about my work, as well as being a writer in residence for a few of those schools. For the last three years I worked as a part time teaching assistant, helping children who are new to English.
