The Snowman

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A Visit from St. Nicholas" (also known as "'Twas the Night Before Christmas", 1823) attributed to Clement Clarke Moore Snowman producer John Coates dies". BBC News Online. 18 September 2012 . Retrieved 25 December 2012. The Snowman was originally released on VHS in 1982 by Palace Video. It has been re-released several times by Palace and later PolyGram Video, and Universal Studios Home Entertainment UK after Palace went out of business. We know that Raymond’s books were loved by and touched millions of people around the world, who will be sad to hear this news. Drawings from fans - especially children’s drawings - inspired by his books were treasured by Raymond, and pinned up on the wall of his studio” the statement read. But friends knew another side to Briggs – loyal and playful, an inveterate practical joker. Lord once made the mistake of confessing to a dislike of dogs in the presence of Briggs, thereby immediately committing himself to becoming the recipient of all manner of canine-related gifts on subsequent birthdays and Christmases. Like so many of his characters, Briggs’s grumpiness never quite managed to conceal an underlying warmth and kindness. In 2017 he was appointed CBE.

Snowman creator Raymond Briggs – grumpy old man or great big softie?". Radio Times. 24 December 2012. For example: Barclay, Ali (4 December 2000). "The Snowman (1982)". BBC – Films. BBC . Retrieved 24 May 2008. Briggs attended the local Rutlish school and went on to study at Wimbledon School (now College) of Art, the Central School of Arts and Crafts (now Central Saint Martins) and, after a two-year break for national service, the Slade. His father, a milkman, had tried to dissuade his son from studying at art school, fearing that it would not equip him for stable employment. The secretary of the Inter-Church Peace Council (IKV) in the Netherlands, Mient Jan Faber (left), receiving the first copy of the comic book When the Wind Blows (called When the Bomb Fell in the Dutch version) by Raymond Briggs (right) in 1983 Photo: Dutch National Archives I don’t remember when exactly. I must have been, oh, about four years old. It was before I went to school anyway. It was near Christmas, that much I do remember. The Snowman in question is a story book, pictures without words by Raymond Briggs, another book for children and those who love children. Like Heidi it tells of a bond, this time between a little boy and the snowman he builds one wintry afternoon in his garden. By magic it comes to life; by magic the boy and the snowman fly.Raymond Briggs, the British author and illustrator of the classic children’s books Father Christmas (1973), Fungus the Bogeyman (1977), and The Snowman (1978), died on 9 August, aged 88. Raymond was unique. He has inspired generations of creators of picture books, graphic novels, and animations. He leaves an extraordinary legacy, and a big hole.”

Singh, Anita. "The Snowman and the Snowdog: a first look". Telegraph Media Group Limited 2012 . Retrieved 16 August 2012.I was reminded recently of Heidi, a book for children and those who love children by the Swiss author Johanna Spyri. I was particularly fond of the story of Heidi and her grandfather because I had a very close relationship with my own grandfather, my father’s father, with whom I used to stay when my parents were away on lengthy business trips. It was my grandfather who introduced me to the Snowman. By far the best bit is the flying sequence. In the animation it is accompanied by Walking in the Air, a song that still makes me teary with nostalgia; Write an alternative ending for the story and imagine a new adventure that the boy and snowman could have together. Briggs was drawn to illustration by his love of the newspaper comic strips of his childhood, when Mary Tourtel and Alfred Bestall’s Rupert Bear was a publishing phenomenon in the mass-circulation Daily Express newspaper and, from 1936, as an annual. He also grew up in the golden age of comics: the first Superman comic strip appeared in 1938 and the first comic book devoted to the character in 1939, the year that also saw the launch of Marvel Comics. It was also a time when art's boundaries had been expanded by flight and aerial photography, whether it was the the airborne cinematic perspectives of the Italian Futurists such as Guglielmo Sansoni and Tullio Crali or the paintings of the British war artist Eric Ravilious, with an aerial vantage point level with RAF aircraft in flight over the patchwork landscape of southern England.

The idea of a sequel had been resisted by Raymond Briggs for several years, but he gave his permission for the film in 2012. [21] Howard Blake was one of the few crew members not asked to return; he was allegedly asked to "send a demo", which he refused citing the success of the original score. [22] The new film instead features the song "Light the Night" by former Razorlight drummer Andy Burrows and incidental music by Ilan Eshkeri. [23] He was very amused when Liz Benjamin's three-year-old granddaughter announced one day at the dining table that “Raymond is not a normal person”. “The best compliment I have ever had,” he said. And words that he would like as his epitaph. The film ranked at number 71 on the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes, a list drawn up by the British Film Institute in 2000, based on a vote by industry professionals. [3] It was voted number 4 in UKTV Gold's Greatest TV Christmas Moments. It came third in Channel 4's poll of 100 Greatest Christmas Moments in 2004. Its broadcast, usually on Christmas Eve on Channel 4, has become an annual festive event in the UK. [4] A sequel, The Snowman and the Snowdog, was released in 2012. Raymond was a brilliantly observant, funny storyteller, honest about how life is rather than how adults might wish to tell it to children. A kindness, integrity, and generosity run through all his books. And so in life: Raymond was a generous, unjealous spirit who was a pleasure to work with, as well as to visit in his Sussex cottage and experience his teasing genius in its home. He was funny! He made us laugh a lot. I will miss him. All of us who had the privilege of working with him will miss him.Kate Greenaway Medal". Curriculum Lab. Elihu Burritt Library. Central Connecticut State University . Retrieved 18 July 2012. A scene from Ethel and Ernest, the 2016 film of Raymond Briggs’s book devoted to the story of his parents. Photograph: Vertigo Films We are the verge of a very old-fashioned blizzard here in Chicago, in much of the country, piles of the stuff, snow on snow on snow, as they say, as I read the book and as the film rolls and the music play. The film was nominated as Best Animated Short Film at the 55th Academy Awards in 1983, but lost to the Polish film Tango by Zbigniew Rybczyński. [16] It won a BAFTA for best Children's Programme (Entertainment/Drama) at the 1983 British Academy Television Awards, and was also nominated for Best Graphics. It won the Grand Prix at the Tampere Film Festival in 1984. [16] Being a wordless book (not good for storytimes!!!) and with the illustrations having a bit of a fuzzy crayon look to them, I may have misread some of the pictures. Was the snowman laughing at the boy's picture and the boy was upset? Why does the boy look mad about the snowman getting near the heating vent--shouldn't he look concerned? Why doesn't the snowman like the flowers picture? Is it because that's in spring and he doesn't ever get to see such a thing. And is he upset or angry about that?

Ethel & Ernest (1986), was an affectionate biography of his parents Ethel Bowyer, a lady’s maid turned housewife, and Ernest Briggs, a milkman. All Briggs’s books have an underlying empathy—sometimes explicit, sometimes concealed, even to the author, until critics and readers discovered it—for the life, loves and mortality of his working-class Londoner parents. The Snowman was re-released in 2002 as a DVD special edition and again as a DVD and Blu-ray 30th anniversary edition in the United Kingdom on 5 November 2012 by Universal Studios Home Entertainment UK. The 2002 special edition peaked at No.3 in the video charts. The 2012 home video release includes four extra features: a "Snow Business" documentary, John Walsh (21 December 2012). "Raymond Briggs: Seasonal torment for The Snowman creator". The Independent. Archived from the original on 18 June 2022 . Retrieved 23 December 2012. Barber, Martin (24 December 2012). "The Snowman and The Snowdog animator revisits classic". BBC News Online . Retrieved 25 December 2012. As various narrative texts came his way, he realised that not all of them were of the highest quality, and took to writing himself. In 1961 he wrote and illustrated two books, Midnight Adventure and The Strange House, for the publishers Hamish Hamilton, with whom he would have a lasting working relationship.To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the original short and of Channel 4, a 25-minute special titled The Snowman and the Snowdog aired on Channel 4 on Christmas Eve 2012. [18] Produced at the London-based animation company Lupus Films, [19] with many of the original team returning, the sequel was made in the same traditional techniques as the first film, and features the Snowman, a new young boy named Billy and a snow dog flying over landmarks and going to another party. [20] The Snowman and The Snowdog animator revisits classic". BBC News. 24 December 2012 . Retrieved 25 December 2012.