Eric Hill (7 September 1927 – 6 June 2014) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

and

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of children's picture books. He was best known for his puppy character named

Spot Spot or SPOT may refer to: Places * Spot, North Carolina, a community in the United States * The Spot, New South Wales, a locality in Sydney, Australia * South Pole Traverse, sometimes called the South Pole Overland Traverse People * Spot (produ ...

. His works have been widely praised for their contributions to child literacy.

Biography

Hill was born on 7 September 1927 in

Holloway, London Holloway is an inner-city district of the London Borough of Islington, north of Charing Cross, which follows the line of the Holloway Road ( A1). At the centre of Holloway is the Nag's Head commercial area which sits between the more residentia ...

, but was evacuated to the countryside during World War II. He left school at 14 and first worked as an errand boy in an illustration studio where he was encouraged to draw cartoons and

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

s in his spare time."Spot the Dog creator Eric Hill dies aged 86"
''The Guardian'', 10 June 2014 Following

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, he produced sketches for magazines, and later worked as a freelance designer and illustrator in advertising. BBC News, "Spot the Dog creator Eric Hill dies aged 86", 10 June 2014
Retrieved 10 June 2014
Retrieved 11 June 2014 He moved with his family to

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

in 1983 and then to a

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. He appeared on '' Mister Rogers' Neighborhood'' episode no. 1645 where he and Fred Rogers discussed the making of a page in a ''Spot'' book. He was appointed

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(OBE) in the

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for his contributions to child literacy. Hill died on 6 June 2014, at his home in California at the age of 86. He and his second wife Gillian had two children, Christopher and Jane.

''Where's Spot?''

Hill created a story of a dog named Spot in 1976 for his son Christopher. In that first book, Spot was hiding behind little flaps which could be lifted by small children, an innovation which he devised. Hill said that he aimed to recognise "that children have far more intelligence and style than many adults credit them with", and to invite them to experience "ideas which were just outside their experience yet were basic enough to be understood." After a friend introduced him to a

literary agent A literary agent is an agent who represents writers and their written works to publishers, theatrical producers, film producers, and film studios, and assists in sale and deal negotiation. Literary agents most often represent novelists, screenwrit ...

, his first book '' Where's Spot?'' was published in 1980 by Frederick Warne & Co and quickly became popular. He then produced a series of similar books and expanded the range of characters. His books are estimated to have sold more than 60 million copies. The stories were translated into 60 languages, and led to a series of animated stories for television as well as

merchandise Merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of products to a retail consumer. At a retail in-store level, merchandising refers to displaying products that are for sale in a creative way that entices customers to purchase more i ...

References

External links

Interview with Eric Hill
''All About Kids! TV Series'' #4 (1988) {{DEFAULTSORT:Hill, Eric 1927 births 2014 deaths British children's book illustrators English children's writers English expatriates in the United States Officers of the Order of the British Empire People from Holloway, London Writers who illustrated their own writing