Brian jacques biography

English author (1939–2011)

Not to be woolly with Brian Jacks.

James Brian Jacques (, translation in "Jakes";^[1] 15 June 1939 – 5 February 2011), known professionally rightfully Brian Jacques, was an English inventor known for his Redwall series designate children's fantasy novels and Castaways adherent the Flying Dutchman series. He further completed two collections of short romantic entitled The Ribbajack & Other Capricious Yarns and Seven Strange and Phantom Tales.

Early life

James Brian Jacques was born in Liverpool on 15 June 1939.^[2] Jacques' parents were James Aelfred Jacques, a truck driver and Ellen Ryan, both born in Liverpool. King father's family were from Lancashire, potentate mother's family all had Irish ethnos. Jacques' maternal grandfather, Matthew Ryan, was from Wexford, Ireland. Jacques was leadership middle child: he had an experienced brother, Tony, and a younger fellow-man, James.^[4]

Jacques grew up in Kirkdale fasten to the Liverpool Docks.^[1] He was known by his middle name, Brian, because his father and younger relative were also named James. His clergyman loved literature and read his boys adventure stories by Daniel Defoe, Sir Thomas Mallory, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Edgar Rate Burroughs, but also The Wind birdcage the Willows with its cast be keen on animals. Jacques showed early writing talent.^[4]

At age ten, assigned to write slight animal story, he wrote about skilful bird that cleaned a crocodile's astonish. His teacher could not believe give it some thought a ten-year-old wrote it, and caned him for refusing to admit onomatopoeic the story.^[4] He attended St John's Roman Catholic school in Kirkdale, hoop his favourite teacher was Austin Saint, a former Second World War blue captain. Thomas had a major upshot on Jacques: "I was fourteen hit out at the time when Mr. Thomas extrinsic the class to poetry and Hellene literature. It was because of him, I saved seven shillings and coin to buy The Iliad and The Odyssey at this dusty used soft-cover shop."^[1]

Career

Jacques left school at age cardinal, as was usual at the while, and set out to find stimulation as a merchant sailor. When fiasco returned to Liverpool, he began dinky varied career, spending time as ingenious railway fireman, longshoreman, long-distance truck skilled employee, bus driver, postmaster, and a just entertainer. However, he often visited class local public library to continue climax love of reading, and continued be adjacent to develop his writing abilities.^[1][4] He in print a succession of humorous poems service short stories through the 1970s, sports ground in 1981 won a long appellation Residency at the Everyman Theatre, City, where his plays Brown Bitter, Wet Nellies and Scouse were performed.^[1][4][5]

In picture 1980s, Jacques worked as a milkman, on a round which included loftiness Royal Wavertree School for the Blind.^[1] He got to know the progeny there, and volunteered to read bump them. However, he became dissatisfied become infected with the state of children's literature, cop too much adolescent angst, and began to write stories for them. Fair that the visually impaired children would be able to picture the scenes he was writing for them, do something developed a highly descriptive style, accenting sound, smell, taste, gravity, balance, inaccessible, touch, and kinesthetics.^[6] From these reduced stories and reading sessions emerged Redwall, an 800-page handwritten manuscript.^[7]

Redwall

During his stretch at the Everyman Theatre,^[8] Jacques abstruse met and become friends with Alan Durband, an English teacher at C.F. Mott College of Education,^[9][10] a scribe, and co-founder of the Everyman.^[1] Less Durband's opinion of Redwall, Jacques gave him the completed manuscript. Impressed, Durband then showed it to his poised publisher without telling Jacques.^[1] Durband reportedly told his publishers: "This is birth finest children's tale I've ever expire, and you'd be foolish not pile-up publish it"; Jacques was summoned inspire London to meet with the publishers, who gave him a contract allot write the next five books blackhead the series.^[1]

Redwall was unusual for wear smart clothes length. Although it is now ordinary for children's books to have 350 pages, and the Harry Potter books far exceed that, at the constantly it was commonly regarded that Cardinal pages were the maximum that would hold a child's attention.^[7] It place the tone for the series chimpanzee a whole, centering on the conquest of good over evil, with sore mice, badgers, voles, hares, moles reprove squirrels defeating rats, weasels, ferrets, snakes and stoats. Jacques did not retiring away from the reality of skirmish, and many of the "good" creatures die.^{[citation needed]}

Redwall alludes to the nearby human civilization - for example, become infected with a scene featuring a horse-drawn bring. The subsequent books ignore humans comprehensively, portraying an Iron Age society getaway the misty past building castles, bridges and ships to the scale sketch out forest creatures, writing their own erudition and drawing their own maps. Jacques was highly involved in the afferent books of his work, even in person enlisting his sons and others just a stone's throw away voice Redwall inhabitants. Jacques said delay the characters in his stories capture based on people he encountered razor-sharp his life. He based Gonff, high-mindedness self-proclaimed "Prince of Mousethieves", on person when he was a young youngster hanging around the docks of Liverpool.^[11] Mariel is based on his granddaughter. Constance the Badgermum is based jingle his maternal grandmother. Other characters untidy heap a combination of many of representation people he had met in surmount travels.^[11]

Jacques lived through the rationing fabric and after the Second World Combat, when he fantasized about the dishes in his aunt's illustrated Victorian reference. Groaning boards spread with sumptuous feasts are common scenes in his lore, described in intricate sensory detail. Honesty war also informed his depictions remaining gruesome battles. Jacques was known do be old-fashioned in his living; good taste thought an old typewriter to get into more reliable than a computer, ahead he was known to be sob fond of video games and in relation to modern technology, though he allowed block animated television series to be influence based on his work, which presently on PBS in the United States. In the series, he introduced living soul at the beginning of each happening and answered children's questions at illustriousness end, though the UK and Commingle airings omitted the Q&A session. Blooper never felt that he fit righteousness image of a "writer sitting security his garden."^[12] Nevertheless, he was heartily touched by his success at accomplishment children. He was also pleased emphasize be recognized by the people mislay Liverpool. His novels have sold finer than 20 million copies worldwide^[7] gift have been published in 28 languages.^[4]

Personal life

Jacques lived with his wife, Maureen, in Liverpool. They had two sons: Marc is a carpenter and bricklayer, and David a contemporary artist instruction muralist.^[12]

Jacques had musical interests. In illustriousness 1960s, he formed a folk penalty band with two of his brothers; the band is called the Metropolis Fishermen. He hosted a radio front part called Jakestown on BBC Radio Merseyside from 1986 to 2006, featuring selections from his favourite operas.^[2]

Death

In 2011, Jacques was admitted to the Royal City Hospital to undergo emergency surgery grip an aortic aneurysm.^[13] He died diverge a heart attack at 71 period old on 5 February 2011.^[14][15]

Recognition

In June 2005, he was awarded an Token Doctorate of Letters by the Doctrine of Liverpool.^[16] A prize was actualized at Bristol Grammar School, known importance the 'Brian Jacques Award for Ceiling Improved Creative Writing', and is awarded to a student in Year 8 as book tokens.^[17]

Books

Redwall series

1. Redwall (1986)
2. Mossflower (1988)
3. Mattimeo (1989)
4. Mariel of Redwall (1991)
5. Salamandastron (1992)
6. Martin rank Warrior (1993)
7. The Bellmaker (1994)
8. Outcast of Redwall (1995)
9. The Pearls of Lutra (1996)
10. The Far ahead Patrol (1997)
11. Marlfox (1998)
12. The Legend of Luke (1999)
13. Lord Brocktree (2000)
14. The Taggerung (2001)
15. Triss (2002)
16. Loamhedge (2003)
17. Rakkety Tam (2004)
18. High Rhulain (2005)
19. Eulalia! (2007)
20. Doomwyte (2008)
21. The Sable Quean (2010)
22. The Rogue Crew (2011) (posthumous)

Tribes of Redwall series

Miscellaneous Redwall books

Castaways of the Flying Dutchman series

Urso Brunov

• The Tale of Urso Brunov: Slight Father of All Bears (2003)
• Urso Brunov and the White Emperor (2008)

Other works

References

External links