Jean Adamson, (born 29 February 1928) is a British writer and illustrator of children's books. She is best known for the ''

Topsy and Tim Topsy and Tim is a series of children's books written by Jean Adamson and Gareth Adamson about twins and their adventures. They were first published in 1960 and were relaunched in new editions in February 2003. Since 1960 more than 130 ''Topsy a ...

'' books, the first of which was published in 1960 and which were relaunched in 2003.

Life and career

Adamson was born in

Peckham Peckham () is a district in southeast London, within the London Borough of Southwark. It is south-east of Charing Cross. At the United Kingdom Census 2001, 2001 Census the Peckham ward had a population of 14,720. History "Peckham" is a Saxon p ...

, in southeast

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. She attended grammar school until she was 16 before studying illustration at

Goldsmiths College Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wor ...

at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

. After graduating, she began teaching illustration and design at the University. Adamson met her future husband and writing partner, Gareth Adamson, while studying at university. The couple married in 1957 and moved to

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

, where they began to work on children's books together. The Adamsons moved to The Old Farmhouse, Padney, in

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

in 1968. After 25 years of marriage, Gareth died of a brain tumour in February 1982 and Jean moved to

Stretham Stretham Locally, the is a glottal stop: or even is a village and civil parish south-south-west of Ely in Cambridgeshire, England, about by road from London. Its main attraction is Stretham Old Engine, a steam-powered pump used to drain th ...

, also in Cambridgeshire. In September 2009, Adamson was robbed by a youth while walking in Stretham. She was left with a broken arm and her shopping bag was stolen.

Awards

Adamson received an

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

in the

2000 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2000 for the United Kingdom and New Zealand were announced on 31 December 1999, to celebrate the year passed and mark the beginning of 2000. The ''Honours list'' is a list of people who have been awarded one of the various or ...

for her services to children's literature and in 2016, she was made Honorary Fellow of Goldsmiths College.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adamson, Jean 1928 births Living people British children's book illustrators English children's writers Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London Members of the Order of the British Empire English women writers English women artists People from Peckham People from Stretham