Jean Adamson, author of the Topsy And Tim series, has died aged 96, her family has announced.
The creator sadly passed on Sunday, December 15, her family and her publisher Ladybird confirmed.
A statement released by Jean’s grivening family said: “It is with deep sorrow that we announce the passing of our beloved Jean Adamson. Jean was a devoted mother, grandmother, sister, author… whose kindness and warmth touched the lives of all who knew her.
“Her presence will be greatly missed, but her memory will live on in the hearts of her family and all those she loved or that remember her through her stories. Although we will take this time to mourn her loss, we will also ensure to celebrate her remarkable life.”
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PA)
Meanwhile, Ladybird described Jean as “one of our most beloved and respected children’s book creators, best known for creating Topsy and Tim with her late husband Gareth Adamson”.
“The characters of Topsy and Tim first appeared in Topsy & Tim’s Monday Book, originally published by Blackie in 1960. At the time, the children’s book market was dominated by Noddy and Thomas the Tank Engine, and it was unusual for ordinary children to be the lead characters in picture books.
“For the Adamsons, having children at the centre of the narrative was part of the magic of the stories. In their eyes, the books didn’t need any fantastical elements, ‘because all the world is magic for children’. Jean said the choice of girl and boy twins was a way of ensuring gender equality.”
Ladybird added: “Topsy and Tim has delighted children for over 60 years, and the series, later published by Ladybird Books, hasn’t been out of print in all that time.”
Born in Peckham in 1928, Adamson attended grammar school before winning a scholarship to study illustration at Goldsmiths College, London. After subsequently teaching at the college, specialising in illustration and design, she also worked as a freelance artist and illustrator, as well as a storyman in the advertising industry.
After meeting her co-creator and future husband Gareth (1925-1982) during her time at Goldsmiths, the pair married in 1957. Together, they moved to Newcastle and decided to create books for children working on the books together, with Jean researching the story and illustrating, and Gareth writing the stories. They also created original animations for Yorkshire TV in the 1970s.
In 1984, Topsy and Tim was adapted for television. Sixty episodes of an animated TV series followed, and since 2013 three seasons of a live-action version have broadcast on CBeebies, winning the BAFTA Pre-school Live Action award in 2016. The series still regularly airs on CBeebies.
Adamson was awarded an MBE for her services to children’s literature in 1999 and in 2016 was made an Honorary Fellow of Goldsmiths College.
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