Barbara Euphan Todd (9 January 1890 – 2 February 1976) was an English writer widely remembered for her ten books for children about a
scarecrow
A scarecrow is a decoy or mannequin, often in the shape of a human. Humanoid scarecrows are usually dressed in old clothes and placed in open fields to discourage birds from disturbing and feeding on recently cast seed and growing crops.Lesley B ...
called
Worzel Gummidge
Worzel Gummidge is a scarecrow in British children's fiction, who originally appeared in a series of books by the English novelist Barbara Euphan Todd. . These were adapted for radio and television. The title story was chosen as the first in the new publisher's series
Puffin Books
Puffin Books is a longstanding children's imprint of the British publishers Penguin Books. Since the 1960s, it has been among the largest publishers of children's books in the UK and much of the English-speaking world. The imprint now belongs t ...
.
Early life
Todd was born at
Arksey
Arksey is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster in South Yorkshire, England. It had an estimated population of 1,303 as of 2010. It was the birthplace of the children's writer Barbara Euphan Todd on 9 January 1890. Arksey has four ...
, near
Doncaster
Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...
, then in the
West Riding
The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...
of
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...
, as the only child of an
Anglican
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
vicar, Thomas Todd, and his wife Alice Maud Mary (''née'' Bentham).
[ODNB entry by Elizabeth J. Morse]
Retrieved 18 June 2012. Pay-walled.
/ref> Barbara was brought up in the village of Soberton
Soberton is a village in the Meon Valley, Hampshire, England, east of the A32 and a few miles south of the village of Droxford. It appears in the Domesday Book as "Sudbertone" or "Sudbertune". For administration, it is in the Hampshire County C ...
, Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...
[Todd biography on bookrags.com]
/ref> and educated at St Catherine's School, Bramley, near Guildford
Guildford ()
is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...
. Surrey
Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...
.[ She worked as a VAD during the ]First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, then after her father's retirement, she lived with her parents in Surrey and began writing.
Writings
Much of Todd's early work was published in magazines such as ''Punch
Punch commonly refers to:
* Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist
* Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice
Punch may also refer to:
Places
* Pun ...
'' and ''The Spectator
''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world.
It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...
'', but she also wrote two volumes of poems about children, illustrated by Ernest Shepard
Ernest Howard Shepard OBE MC (10 December 1879 – 24 March 1976) was an English artist and book illustrator. He is known especially for illustrations of the anthropomorphic animal and soft toy characters in '' The Wind in the Willows'' and ''W ...
: ''Hither and Thither'' (1927) and ''The Seventh Daughter'' (1935).[
In the 1920s, Todd started writing novels for children, some of them in collaboration with her husband, Naval ]Commander
Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain.
...
John Graham Bower (1886–1940), whom she married in 1932. The couple moved to Blewbury
Blewbury is a village and civil parish at the foot of the Berkshire Downs section of the North Wessex Downs about south of Didcot, south of Oxford and west of London. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it ...
near Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, where Bower wrote fiction and essays under the pseudonym
A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...
"Klaxon", and Todd, as "Barbara Euphan", for ''South Country Secrets'' (1935). Together they wrote ''The Touchstone'', in which observation of the countryside is joined by interest in its history, in a similar way to Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work.
...
's ''Puck of Pook's Hill
''Puck of Pook's Hill'' is a fantasy book by Rudyard Kipling, published in 1906, containing a series of short stories set in different periods of English history. It can count both as historical fantasy – since some of the stories told of ...
''.[Entry on "Camping and tramping fiction"](_blank)
in: ''The Cambridge Guide to Children's Books in English'' (Cambridge, UK: CUP, 2001). Retrieved 18 June 2012. Commander Bower died in 1940.
Todd's only novel for adults was '' Miss Ranskill Comes Home'' (1946), which tells of a woman who returns to England after being stranded on a desert island during the Second World War.
Todd continued to write novels into her old age: the last appeared in 1972. Among her other works were adaptations of folk stories for radio, and plays and stories written in collaboration with other writers,[ but it is mainly her books about ]Worzel Gummidge
Worzel Gummidge is a scarecrow in British children's fiction, who originally appeared in a series of books by the English novelist Barbara Euphan Todd. that still attract readers.
Worzel Gummidge
Todd's ten novels about Worzel Gummidge, a scarecrow
A scarecrow is a decoy or mannequin, often in the shape of a human. Humanoid scarecrows are usually dressed in old clothes and placed in open fields to discourage birds from disturbing and feeding on recently cast seed and growing crops.Lesley B ...
who comes to life, are:
*''Worzel Gummidge, or The Scarecrow of Scatterbrook'' (1936)
*''Worzel Gummidge Again'' (1937)
*''More About Worzel Gummidge'' (1938)
*''Worzel Gummidge and Saucy Nancy'' (1947)
*''Worzel Gummidge Takes a Holiday'' (1949)
*''Earthy Mangold and Worzel Gummidge'' (1954)
*''Worzel Gummidge and the Railway Scarecrows'' (1955)
*''Worzel Gummidge at the Circus'' (1956)
*''Worzel Gummidge's Treasure Ship'' (1958)
*''Detective Worzel Gummidge'' (1963)
The novels have been illustrated by various artists, including Diana Stanley, Elisabeth Alldridge, Will Nickless and Jill Crockford.
In the 1950s Todd collaborated with Denis and Mabel Constanduros
Mabel Constanduros (' Tilling; 29 March 1880 – 8 February 1957) was an English actress and screenwriter. She gained public notice playing Mrs.Buggins on the radio programme '' The Buggins Family'', which ran from 1928 to 1948. As well as writi ...
on a series of Worzel Gummidge radio plays for children. A television series, ''Worzel Gummidge Turns Detective'', was made in 1953. In 1967 five Worzel Gummidge stories were narrated by Gordon Rollings
Gordon Charles Rollings (17 April 1926 – 7 June 1985) was an English actor who mainly appeared on television, but also appeared on-stage and in feature films. He was born in Batley, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England in 1926 and start ...
in five episodes of the BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, was broadcast in 1978–1981.