Nick Butterworth#Career
{{Short description|British children's author and illustrator (born 1946)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{BLP sources|date=February 2015}}
{{Infobox author
| name = Nick Butterworth
| image =
| pseudonym =
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| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1946|05|24|df=y}}
| birth_place = Kingsbury, London, England
| occupation = Author, illustrator
| education = Royal Liberty School
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| period =
| genre = Children's fiction
| subject = Picture storybooks
| movement =
| notableworks = Percy the Park Keeper
| spouse =
| partner =
| children = 2
| relatives =
| influences =
| influenced =
| awards = {{awd |Nestlé Smarties Book Prize |2005}}
| signature =
| signature_alt =
| website = {{url|snapper-films.com}}
| portaldisp =
}}
Nick Butterworth (born 24 May 1946) is a British author and illustrator of children's books.{{Cite web |url=http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/Authors/872/nick-butterworth |title= Nick Butterworth|access-date=20 March 2010 |publisher=HarperCollins }}{{cite news |title=Books by Nick Butterworth and Complete Book Reviews |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/authorpage/nick-butterworth.html |access-date=21 July 2021 |work=Publishers Weekly}} His picture book The Whisperer won the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize in 2005.
His Percy the Park Keeper books became an animated television series of the same name starring Jim Broadbent. His Q Pootle 5 books were adapted by the BBC and broadcast on CBeebies, the channel for young children, in 2013.{{cite web|url=http://www.skwigly.co.uk/q-pootle-5-from-book-to-tv-series/|title=Q Pootle 5: From Book to TV Series|date=29 July 2013|website=Skwigly|access-date=28 December 2018}}
In the 1980s, he was a presenter on ITV children's programme Rub-a-Dub-Tub.
Early life
Born on 24 May 1946 in Kingsbury in North London, from the age of 2, Butterworth grew up in a sweet shop in Romford.{{cite journal |last1=Nettell |first1=Stephanie |title=Children's Books - Authograph no. 92: Nick Butterworth |journal=Books for Keeps |date=May 1995 |issue=92 |url=http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/issue/92/childrens-books/articles/authorgraph/authorgraph-no92-nick-butterworth |access-date=21 July 2021}} After his education at the Royal Liberty School in Gidea Park, Butterworth left home to work as an apprentice typographical designer with the National Children's Home before working at Crosby Fletcher Forbes (the forerunner of design agency Pentagram).{{cite news |last1=Brownlow |first1=Mike |title=Interview with Nick Butterworth |url=https://www.wordsandpics.org/2014/10/interview-with-nick-butterworth.html |access-date=21 July 2021 |work=Words & Pictures |date=October 2014}}
Career
Butterworth became a freelance graphic designer in the late 1960s. This led to a partnership with long-standing friend and children's writer and illustrator Mick Inkpen. Their published collaborations include Just Like Jasper, Jasper's Beanstalk, The Sports Day, The Nativity Play, and Wonderful Earth.
In 1983 and 1984, in the early days of breakfast television in the UK, he appeared as a regular presenter on Good Morning Britain, illustrating and telling stories on air in a children's segment called Rub-a-Dub-Tub.{{cite web |title=Good Morning Britain (1983) |url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b85aa90dd |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210721133714/https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b85aa90dd |url-status=dead |archive-date=21 July 2021 |website=British Film Institute}}
His works as sole author illustrator include several books featuring the character Percy the Park Keeper, the first of which, One Snowy Night, was published in 1989. Believed to have been inspired by a park warden who worked at Raphael Park in Romford, a statue of the character was installed in the same park in 2013.{{cite news |last1=Alwakeel |first1=Ramzy |title=Romford Pictures: Children's author Nick Butterworth visits Raphael Park to unveil 'Percy the Park Keeper' statue |url=https://www.romfordrecorder.co.uk/news/romford-pictures-children-s-author-nick-butterworth-visits-raphael-park-2969268 |access-date=21 July 2021 |work=Romford Recorder |date=18 September 2013}} The books were re-released in 2019 for the 30th anniversary of publication.{{cite news |last1=Tagholm |first1=Roger |title=Percy the Park Keeper returns for 30th anniversary |url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/percy-park-keeper-returns-942436 |access-date=21 July 2021 |work=The Bookseller |date=4 February 2019}} The Percy book After the Storm has been adapted for the theatre.{{cite news |last1=Gillinson |first1=Miriam |title=Percy the Park Keeper's Winter Park review |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/dec/01/percy-the-park-keepers-winter-park-review-discover-childrens-story-centre |access-date=21 July 2021 |work=The Guardian |date=1 December 2015}} Percy also appeared in his own animated television series in the late 1990s, Percy the Park Keeper, with Jim Broadbent voicing the eponymous character.{{cite news |last1=Bale |first1=Bernard |title=Oscar Winner Jim Broadbent is happy he got the role of Slater and not Del Boy in Only Fools and Horses |url=https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/oscar-winner-jim-broadbent-is-happy-he-got-the-part-of-slater-and-not-del-boy-in-only-fools-and-horses/ |access-date=21 July 2021 |work=Sunday Post |date=25 January 2020}} According to publisher Harper Collins in 2019, global sales of the books reached nine million copies.
Butterworth has written and illustrated a number of other children's books, including Thud! (1997) and Albert le Blanc (2002), which was shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal in 2002.{{cite news |title=Children's laureate and debut author on Carnegie list |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/may/02/news.carnegiemedal2003 |access-date=21 July 2021 |work=The Guardian |date=2 May 2003}}
The Whisperer, published in 2004, is written from the perspective of a voyeuristic rat in mean city streets and is darker than many of Butterworth's books.{{cite journal |last1=Stones |first1=Rosemary |title=Picture Books for Older Readers |journal=Books for Keeps |date=May 2005 |issue=152 |url=http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/issue/152/childrens-books/articles/other-articles/picture-books-for-older-readers |access-date=21 July 2021}} Described as a feline West Side Story, it won the Nestle Smarties Prize in 2005.{{cite news |last1=Pauli |first1=Michelle |title=Dyslexic writer savours Nestle victory |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/dec/14/nestleprize |access-date=21 July 2021 |work=The Guardian |date=14 December 2005}} It is dedicated to Desmond Tutu.{{cite journal |date=2007 |title=Children's Award Winners |url=http://www.stbernadettesschool.com/documents/Bookprizewinners.pdf |publisher=St Bernadette’s Catholic Primary School |page=1 |access-date=16 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160915041442/http://www.stbernadettesschool.com/documents/Bookprizewinners.pdf |archive-date=15 September 2016 |url-status=dead }}
His Q Pootle 5 books are written for young children and feature a space-dweller whose friends include Oopsy, Planet Dave and Tiger.{{cite news |last1=Farnell |first1=Chris |title=The strangest sci-fi universes in pre-school TV |url=https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/the-strangest-sci-fi-universes-in-pre-school-tv/ |access-date=21 July 2021 |work=Den of Geek |date=24 September 2014}} Butterworth is a founding partner, with his son Ben, of Snapper Productions, producers of the CBeebies animated series Q Pootle 5. He is the executive producer of the series.{{cite web |title=Q Pootle 5 Q&As |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/mediapacks/qpootle5/qandas/ |website=BBC Media Centre |access-date=10 June 2021}}
Personal life
Butterworth lives in Essex with his wife Annette. They have been married since 1975 and have two adult children.
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.snapper-films.com/ Snapper Films] (official home page)
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Category:British children's writers
Category:People educated at the Royal Liberty Grammar School
Category:People from Kingsbury, London