John Cunliffe (author)

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John Cunliffe
BornJohn Arthur Cunliffe
(1933-06-16)16 June 1933
Colne, Lancashire, England
Died20 September 2018(2018-09-20) (aged 85)
Ilkley, West Yorkshire,[1] England
Occupation
  • Author
  • teacher
  • librarian
  • TV presenter
Years active1964–2018
Notable works
Spouse
Sylvia Thompson
​
(m. 1960)​
Children1

John Arthur Cunliffe[2] (16 June 1933 – 20 September 2018) was an English children's book author and television presenter who created the characters of Postman Pat and Rosie and Jim.[3][4][5]

Early life[edit]

Cunliffe was born in Colne, Lancashire on 16 June 1933,[2][6] the only child of Nelly and Arthur Cunliffe. His father left the family when John was a baby. His great-uncle Herbert introduced him to the literary works of Charles Dickens and William Shakespeare, and let him use the microscope he kept in his front room. Cunliffe was very tall for his age, and bullied at school because of this.[7] He attended Colne Grammar School, and later lived in Kendal, Westmorland, where the area's small towns and villages provided inspiration for his most famous character, Postman Pat.[8] 'Greendale', where Cunliffe's character and series are set, are based on the valley of Longsleddale, near Kendal.[9] Although Cunliffe wanted to become a writer when he left school, he was unsure how to go about this and from 1951 to 1973 was employed mainly as a librarian, including two years spent working for the British Council in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.[10][11] From 1955 to 1956, he drove a van as a mobile librarian in rural Northumberland, and drew on this experience when creating Postman Pat.[2][3]

After deciding to change career, in 1975 Cunliffe obtained a Certificate in Education from the Charlotte Mason College of Education in Ambleside, Cumbria, and taught at Castle Park Primary School in Kendal. He later worked for Manchester Education Committee as a visiting teacher/advisor on children's books.[2][12][13] From 1981 to 1985 he was deputy head teacher at Crowcroft Park Primary School in Manchester,[2][11] following which he had a part-time job at Manchester Teacher's Centre promoting the use of computers in primary schools.[14]

Writing career[edit]

Postman Pat[edit]

Main article: Postman Pat

Cunliffe's first book, Farmer Barnes Buys a Pig, was published in 1964 through contact with children's author and publishing editor Philippa Pearce.[11][15] In 1979, whilst teaching in Kendal, he applied unsuccessfully for a director's job on the BBC TV programme Play School, but at lunch following the interview was asked if he could write a 13-part series for children set in the countryside.[5][10] This resulted in the creation of Postman Pat, which was animated and directed by Ivor Wood, and first broadcast on 16 September 1981.[3] He created Pat and Greendale as an idyllic village where everyone was nice to each other, in contrast to the bullying he suffered while growing up.[16] Following the success of Postman Pat, Cunliffe became something of a local celebrity, and had a room dedicated to him at Kendal's Museum of Lakeland Life.[17][16] Until 1986, he received limited income from libraries through the Public Lending Right scheme, for which most of his books did not qualify being under 32 pages long.[14]

Rosie and Jim[edit]

Main article: Rosie and Jim

Cunliffe's other well-known creation, Rosie and Jim, was shown on ITV from 1990 to 2000. He scripted and presented the first 50 episodes, then turned some of them into books. He intended to create a series closer to what he wanted overall, after being disappointed by some of the merchandising and tie-in books for Postman Pat, over which he had little control.[5][18] His role as presenter was taken over by Pat Hutchins in 1995, and later by Neil Brewer in 1997.

Other work[edit]

In 2010, he released Ghosts, a children's story for the iPad.[8] He was patron of the Ilkley Literature Festival.[7]

Personal life and death[edit]

Cunliffe married Sylvia May Thompson in 1960, and the couple had one son, Julian Edward.[2][6][10] Despite the success of Postman Pat, when interviewed in 1987, Cunliffe and his wife were still living in their "modest semi-detached house" in the Manchester suburb of Withington, and for two and a half days a week he was working as an advisor to City of Manchester Education Committee on the use of computers in schools.[10]

Cunliffe died of cardiopulmanory failure on 20 September 2018, at the age of 85.[7][8][6] His death was first announced in the local newspaper, the Ilkley Gazette, which said he "left his Ilkley home in a deluge of rain [...] never to return".[16]

Bibliography[edit]

Farmer Barnes[edit]

  • Farmer Barnes Buys a Pig (1964)[a]
  • Farmer Barnes and Bluebell (1966)[a]
  • Farmer Barnes at the County Show (1969)[b]
  • Farmer Barnes and the Goats (1971)[b]
  • Farmer Barnes Goes Fishing (1972)[b]
  • Farmer Barnes and the Snow Picnic (1974)[c]
  • Farmer Barnes and the Harvest Doll (1977)[c]
  • Farmer Barnes Fells a Tree (1977)[c]
  • Farmer Barnes' Guy Fawkes Day (1978)[c]

Other books[edit]

Fiction[edit]

  • The Adventures of Lord Pip (1970)[d]
  • Riddles & Rhymes & Rigmaroles (1971)[e]
  • The Giant Who Stole the World (1971)[f]
  • The Giant Who Swallowed the Wind (1972)[f]
  • Giant Kippernose and Other Stories (1972)[g]
  • The Great Dragon Competition and Other Stories (1973)[e]
  • Small Monkey Tales (1974)[h]
  • The Farmer, the Rooks and the Cherry Tree (1975)[i]
  • Giant Brog and the Motorway (1976)[e]
  • Mr Gosling and the Runaway Chair (1978)[j]
  • Mr Gosling and the Great Art Robbery (1979)[j]
  • Our Sam: The Daftest Dog in the World (1980)
  • Standing on a Strawberry (1987)[k]
    Poetry anthology.[19]
  • Fog Lane School and the Great Racing Car Disaster (1988)[l]
  • The Minister's Cat (1990)[k]
  • John Cunliffe's Fizzy Whizzy Poetry Book (1995)
  • The Weather Baby (2000)[m]

Non-fiction[edit]

  • Play Logo: An Introduction to Computing for Parents and Children (1984)

VHS videos and DVDs[edit]

  • My Favourite Nursery Rhymes

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ a b Illustrated by Carol Barker.
  2. ^ a b c Illustrated by Jill McDonald.
  3. ^ a b c d Illustrated by Joan Hickson.
  4. ^ Illustrated by Robert Hale.
  5. ^ a b c Illustrated by Alexy Pendle.
  6. ^ a b Illustrated by Faith Jaques.
  7. ^ Illustrated by Fritz Wegner.
  8. ^ Illustrated by Gerry Downes.
  9. ^ Illustrated by Prudence Seward.
  10. ^ a b Illustrated by William Stobbs.
  11. ^ a b Illustrated by David Parkins.
  12. ^ Illustrated by Andrew Tiffin.
  13. ^ Illustrated by Joan Hickson and John Lee

References[edit]

  1. ^ Beresford, Jack (27 September 2018). "Postman Pat and Rosie And Jim creator John Cunliffe has died aged 85". The Irish Post. London.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Hile, Kevin S., ed. (1996). "Cunliffe, John Arthur". Something About the Author. Vol. 86. Detroit: Gale Research. pp. 59–64. ISBN 0810393727. ISSN 0276-816X.
  3. ^ a b c "Postman Pat's Creator Looks Back at Its Conception". BBC News. 16 September 2011. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
  4. ^ "Postman Pat's creator John Cunliffe has been at a school in Kendal". ITV News. 18 April 2012. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
  5. ^ a b c Davies, Nick (12 March 1994). "Paradise Lost". Weekend. The Guardian. London. pp. 6–9 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ a b c Jeffries, Stuart (28 September 2018). "John Cunliffe obituary". Books. The Guardian. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
  7. ^ a b c "Postman Pat and Rosie and Jim author John Cunliffe dies". BBC News. 27 September 2018. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
  8. ^ a b c Stolworthy, Jacob (27 September 2018). "John Cunliffe dead: Postman Pat, Rosie and Jim creator dies age 85". The Independent. London. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
  9. ^ "John Cunliffe, creator of 'Postman Pat' and 'Rosie and Jim' – obituary". The Daily Telegraph. London. 27 September 2018. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
  10. ^ a b c d Clancy, Adrian (25 September 1987). "The Gentle Giant Who Created Postman Pat". Looks North. The Daily Telegraph. London. p. 3.
  11. ^ a b c Nettell, Stephanie (1994). Meet the Authors and Illustrators: 60 Creators of Favourite Children's Books. London: Scholastic Publications. pp. 50–51. ISBN 0590555782.
  12. ^ "[Untitled]". Guardian. No. 5577. Middleton. 12 October 1979. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "Books for Little Stockings". Manchester Evening News. No. 34702. 26 November 1980. p. 12 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ a b "Good News in the Post for Maker of Pat". Manchester Evening News. No. 36256. 9 January 1986. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ Tobin, Tracey (20 October 1989). "Teacher Turned Writer Has His Letters Off Pat". Gloucestershire Echo. Gloucester. p. 9 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ a b c Bakare, Lanre (27 September 2018). "Postman Pat Creator John Cunliffe Dies". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
  17. ^ "Cumbria on film". BBC News. 30 March 2006. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
  18. ^ "John Cunliffe Obituary". The Times. London. 29 September 2018. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
  19. ^ Boyle, Bill (25 September 1987). "Word Spinners and Weavers of Magic". The Guardian. London. p. 14 – via Newspapers.com.

External links[edit]

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