Burglar Bill

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Who’s that creeping down the street? Who’s that climbing up the wall? Who’s that coming through the window? Who’s that? … It’s Burglar Bill. MARKETING COPY SHORTCOMING If you're after more book-smart ideas on how to make easy World Book Day costumes, we've got you covered! Here are just some of our vital tips for making easy and affordable costumes for World Book Day: But from the start, you can see Burglar Bill isn't exactly a scary burglar. He has a cat who snuggles up on his bed at night, and a teddy bear. His 'work' of burglary is quite amusing. It goes like this: The foreign power condition ensures that there is a single consistent approach to determining whether activity under the bill offences or aggravated offences is being carried out for or on behalf of, or with the intention to benefit a foreign power and therefore whether that activity falls within scope of the offences and other provisions in the bill. So not surprisingly Janet Ahlberg’s detailed illustrations show Burglar Bill living in what we might think of as an old-fashioned home.

The owners of the houses remain unseen in this story, as do the police. But the storytellers do something interesting with police: rather than omit them entirely, they suggest nearby police. First with the proximity of the police station, next with the baby who wails like a police siren. Bill makes a living by breaking into houses at night. He treats this like a day job and therefore steals many things successfully. Leah is a recent graduate of East 15 with a BA in World Performance. Her training has enabled her, not only to explore western styles, but also to learn skills that go beyond most western training, like puppetry, world music and various dance styles. She is very used to working with directors and practitioners from around the world and revels in learning and being part of new and intercultural work.

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From an educational point of view I think this is a nice story that children from nursery-year 2 would find enjoyable. I love the illustrations. It would be interesting to look at the speech in the book, as the characters speak in a non-standard English way, that could be a point of interest for older children ("And these are his own little clothes as well what his Grandma knit him" etc). The story is simple but delightful and the dialogue is spot on - especially for parents who like to do voices when they read aloud. In our version Bill and Betty are a pair from the East End and my boys adore them. I’ve lost count of the times I’ve had to repeat “I’m a widow lady” in a squeaky falsetto and I’ve loved hearing their giggles over the years. My 8 year old still insists I read it to him at least once a month and I love the fact that if my 19 year old is around when we are reading, he will linger long enough to hear the end. Thinking about now and the past, look through the illustrations in the book to identify objects in Burglar Bill’s house, that show he lived decades ago - the old Singer sewing machine, the aspidistra in a china chamber pot, the fox fur... It might be that some of you have very elderly relatives who have some of these things in their homes, perhaps you could phone them and ask about them.

When Bill learns he’s accidentally stolen a baby he doesn’t think to find its parents. ‘Clearly’ this baby was left on a doorstep because whoever gave birth to it doesn’t want it. At this point I’m reminded of how easily children acquire pets in stories. This has changed in recent children’s fiction. In the 1970s, preceding microchipping, children in stories would often find a pet and just keep it. Authors don’t do that now. There’s almost always at least some effort expended in trying to find a pet’s owner. THE BIG STRUGGLEThe offence will specifically target the illicit acquisition or disclosure for a foreign power of sensitive trade, commercial or economic information, the value of which is linked to its secrecy.

On a tray, put five small objects from around the house ‘stolen’ by Burglar Bill. Give children a few minutes to look at them and remember them. Then hide the tray and ask them to recall the stolen objects for the ‘police report’. Add another object and let them try again. Alternatively, remove one object and see if children can identify the missing article. You can repeat this, removing a different object each time. Find out more See an animated extract of Burglar Bill: Below, Francis Spuffords describes, among other things, how Burglar Bill appeals to adults as much as to children:

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After spending the whole day together Bill puts baby to bed. Once asleep Bill hears a familiar sound, he creeps downstairs to find a burglar in his house. He confronts the burglar (Burglar Betty) and the pair hit it off instantly. The “near death” calamity happens when Bill accidentally falls off his stool while trying to calm Baby down with a song on the piano. Burglar Bill was performed at a 2006 event in honour of the Queen’s 80th birthday, clear evidence that Burglar Bill is a British classic. Roman is a qualified PTLLS teacher and has been coaching students in acting, and teaching/directing students at drama colleges in England (The Academy of Live and Recorded Art, East 15, Drama Studio London) as well as giving various master classes in puppetry /design for puppetry (Central School of Speech and Drama, Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Little Angle Theatre). He is a puppetry consultant for various theatre companies as well as Pied Piper, (Watershed productions, Birmingham Stage Co, Mid Wales Opera, Pied Piper Productions, Thousand Cranes Co, All Aboard Productions, Polka Theatre - guest directors) One of Leah’s passions is devising. She started out her professional career with a political theatre show called ‘Humble Pie’. From then on, she went to become a Co Founder of Capataro Theatre Company who were awarded funding from the University of Essex in 2015.

Get creative with cardboard. There's almost nothing you can't make with some cardboard, scissors, and a good idea. Bill’s struggle to look after the Baby is ostensibly because he is a single man. A single man can’t possibly know how to wash the baby’s clothes, fasten a nappy, or how to strap Baby into a pram (he uses a wheelbarrow). Adapt a PE or sports kit, or their school uniform - think Football Academy for sports kit, Harry Potter and St Trinian's for the uniform. Burglar Bill is a picture book by Janet and Allan Ahlberg, first published in 1977. There are a number of picture books about burglars who break into houses at night, one of a child’s greatest fears going to sleep. Burglars can be found all across children’s literature. (Enid Blyton loved burglars.)Think what we would use nowadays in place of these things, you could photograph them or draw them and label them. Under the Bill, it will be a criminal offence to aid the UK-related activities of a foreign intelligence service. That means it will become an offence to be an undeclared foreign spy in the UK for the first time. Steel is a strong metal used to make the wheels on a train. – the st eel wh eels are round like two ‘ e’s.