Philippa Pearce 1920 - 2006

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Posted by Kathy Lemaire on 22 Dec 2006 at 11:58

picture of Philippa PearceWe are sad to announce that Philippa Pearce, much loved author of many children's classics including Tom's Midnight Garden and Minnow on the Say, died last night after falling ill a few weeks ago.  Delegates to the IBBY UK annual conference in November had been delighted to see her there at a reception honouring her work and life.

Philippa was the child of a country flour-miller in Cambridgeshire. The family lived in the mill-house on the banks of the River Cam just outside Cambridge with a big, mostly Victorian, garden. The mill-stream flowed beside the garden, and this landscape has appeared in much of her fiction. Philippa Pearce had an idyllic childhood. The youngest of four children, she and her brothers and sister canoed, swam and fished in the river and, in really cold winters, skated on it.

Philippa was ill for several years of her childhood and so didn't start school until she was eight or nine. Once she did, she worked hard at the things she was interested in, particularly English.  Philippa was educated at the Perse School in Cambridge and then at Girton College, Cambridge.

During the Second World War she worked as a Civil Servant in London. Thereafter she became a radio scriptwriter and producer in the BBC's School Broadcasting Department for over ten years. Towards the end, she was writing her own fiction: her first book was Minnow on the Say (1954). By the time of Tom's Midnight Garden (1958) she had left radio for editorial work in children's publishing. Finally she became a full-time freelance writer.  Later stories, such as the Battle of Bubble and Squeak, were written for her daughter Sally who was a passionate animal-lover. Her last publication was The Little Gentleman in 2004.

Philippa Pearce lived in the Cambridgeshire village where she was born.

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