Graham Oakley
Encyclopedia
Graham Oakley is an English
author and illustrator. He was born on August 27, 1929 to Thomas and Flora (Madelay) Oakley in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. He currently lives in Lyme Regis
, Dorset
and was listed in the 2008 Modern Classics edition of The Church Mice as 'mostly retired'.
From 1955-57 he was a design assistant at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, worked at Crawford's Advertising Agency
from 1960–62, and then as a set designer for films and series at BBC-TV from 1962-67 for How Green Was My Valley
, Nicholas Nickleby, Treasure Island
, and Softly, Softly
.
in 1980 for a picture book entitled Magical Changes. It features detailed scenes that are drawn in such a way that the pages, which are cut in half, allow you to combine the top and bottom into many (often surreal) situations from original drawings that are already strange. It was republished in 2001 in France under the name 512, the title representing how many different combinations can be made.
The Church Mice series includes:
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
author and illustrator. He was born on August 27, 1929 to Thomas and Flora (Madelay) Oakley in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. He currently lives in Lyme Regis
Lyme Regis
Lyme Regis is a coastal town in West Dorset, England, situated 25 miles west of Dorchester and east of Exeter. The town lies in Lyme Bay, on the English Channel coast at the Dorset-Devon border...
, Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
and was listed in the 2008 Modern Classics edition of The Church Mice as 'mostly retired'.
Art career
In 1950, he attended the Warrington Art School. He worked for London repertory companies as a scenic artist from 1950-55.From 1955-57 he was a design assistant at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, worked at Crawford's Advertising Agency
Crawford's Advertising Agency
Crawford's Advertising Agency, formally WS Crawford Ltd, was one of the most important British advertising agencies of the first half of the 20th century. It was responsible for introducing a highly visual style more influenced by European artistic movements such as modernism and futurism than by...
from 1960–62, and then as a set designer for films and series at BBC-TV from 1962-67 for How Green Was My Valley
How Green Was My Valley
How Green Was My Valley is a 1939 novel by Richard Llewellyn, telling the story through narration of the main character, of his Welsh family and the mining community in which they live. The author had claimed to have based the book on his own knowledge of the Gilfach Goch area, but this was proven...
, Nicholas Nickleby, Treasure Island
Treasure Island
Treasure Island is an adventure novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, narrating a tale of "pirates and buried gold". First published as a book on May 23, 1883, it was originally serialized in the children's magazine Young Folks between 1881–82 under the title Treasure Island; or, the...
, and Softly, Softly
Softly, Softly (TV series)
Softly, Softly is a British television drama series, produced by the BBC and screened on BBC 1 from January 1966. It centred around the work of regional crime squads, plain-clothes CID officers based in the fictional region of Wyvern - supposedly in the Bristol and Chepstow area of the UK...
.
Children's books
Graham Oakley is best known for the Church Mice series, published 1970 to 2000, and the Foxbury Force series (1994 to 1998). He also won a citation from the Boston Globe-Horn Book AwardBoston Globe-Horn Book Award
The Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards were first presented by The Boston Globe and Horn Book Magazine in 1967. They are among the most prestigious honors in the United States in the field of children’s and young adult literature...
in 1980 for a picture book entitled Magical Changes. It features detailed scenes that are drawn in such a way that the pages, which are cut in half, allow you to combine the top and bottom into many (often surreal) situations from original drawings that are already strange. It was republished in 2001 in France under the name 512, the title representing how many different combinations can be made.
The Church Mice series includes:
- The Church Mouse - AtheneumAtheneum BooksAtheneum Books was a publishing house and adult publisher created by Alfred A. Knopf, Jr. in 1959. He recruited editor Jean E. Karl personally, to come and establish a Children's Book Department in 1961....
, 1972 - The Church Cat Abroad - Atheneum, 1973
- The Church Mice and the Moon - Atheneum, 1974
- The Church Mice Spread Their Wings - MacmillanMacmillan PublishersMacmillan Publishers Ltd, also known as The Macmillan Group, is a privately held international publishing company owned by Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. It has offices in 41 countries worldwide and operates in more than thirty others.-History:...
(London), 1975 - The Church Mice Adrift - Macmillan (London), 1976
- The Church Mice at Bay - Macmillan (London), 1978
- The Church Mice at Christmas - Atheneum, 1980
- The Church Mice in Action - Macmillan (London), 1982
- The Diary of a Church Mouse - Macmillan (London), 1986
- The Church Mice and the Ring, 1992.
- Humphrey Hits the Jackpot - Hodder Children’s Books, 1998
- The Church Mice Take a Break - Hodder Children’s Books, 2000