PHILIPPA PEARCEMost famous for her classic children’s book ‘Tom’s MidnightGarden’, author Philippa Pearce passed away on 21 December, 2006, aged 86.Her work continues to delight generations to this day and‘Tom’s Midnight Garden’, in particular, has inspired a film, stage-play andthree television adaptations since its initial publication in 1958.During later life, she spoke at conferences, editedanthologies, wrote short stories and even attended a reception for children’sauthors at Number 10 Downing Street in 2002.Altogether, she wrote more than 30 books during anillustrious career that spanned almost half a century.Ann Philippa Pearce was born on 23 January, 1920, inCambridgeshire. The youngest of four children, she did not attend the localPerse School for Girls until the age of eight due to illness but neverthelesslater went on to win a scholarship to read English and History at GirtonCollege, Cambridge.After gaining her degree, she moved to London where shefound work as a civil servant. Here, she also began writing and producingschool radio programmes for the BBC and continued to do so for 13 years until,in 1958, she became children’s editor at the Oxford University Press.It was during the mid-fifties that Ms Pearce began to writechildren’s books, with the inspiration for her first, ‘Minnow on the Say’,stemming from a canoe trip she had taken many years earlier.‘Tom’s Midnight Garden’, her second, published in 1958, wasundoubtably to become her most famous of all. Awarded the prestigious Carnegie Medala year later, it was reportedly based on the garden of the Mill House whereMs Pearce had grown up.Further books followed, including ‘A Dog So Small’ and ‘TheWay to Sattin Shore’, which also met with critical acclaim.Meanwhile, she continued to work behind the scenes inpublishing and moved to Andre Deutsch publishing house in 1960, where she wouldremain for seven years.She married in 1962. Her husband, having never fullyrecovered from being a Japanese prisoner of war during World War Two, died twoyears later. A daughter, Sally, who arrived shortly before his death, laterwent on to become an author.Ms Pearce spent much of the remaining century speaking atvarious conferences and editing anthologies, before eventually publishing ‘TheLittle Gentleman’ in 2004, her first new full-length book for two decades.Ms Pearce died from complications of a stroke two years lateron 21 December, 2006, at the age of 86, while living down the same lane whereshe had been brought up.The area in which she was raised clearly had a marked effecton her as both ‘Tom’s Midnight Garden’ and ‘Minnow on the Say’ are inspiredby the villages of Great and Little Shelford, Cambridgeshire.1978’ s ‘The Battle of Bubble and Squeak’ inspired a two parttelevision adaptation in Channel 4’s ‘Talk, Write and Read’ series ofeducational programming.
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