"I sometimes think it ironic for an ex-seaman, longshoreman, truck
driver, policeman, bus driver, etc., to find success writing
children's novels," says Brian Jacques (pronounced "Jakes"). Yet it
is all too true. With the publication of his first children's book
in 1987, the award-winning Redwall, Jacques' fresh talent has
received exceptional praise from reviewers in the United States and
England. Newbery Award winner Lloyd Alexander called it "a fine
work, literate, witty, filled with the excitement of genuine
storytelling. Young people will surely be captivated. I hope they
give their elders a chance to share the delights."A well-known
radio personality in his native Liverpool--as well as an actor,
stand-up comic, and playwright--Brian Jacques is the host of
"Jakestown" on BBC Radio Merseyside. Ever the performer, Jacques is
well-known for applying his acting and entertainment background to
his lively presentations to legions of young fans at schools across
the United States and England.Brian Jacques was born in Liverpool,
England on June 15th, 1939. Along with forty percent of the
population of Liverpool, his ancestral roots are in Ireland, County
Cork to be exact.He grew up in the area around the Liverpool docks.
His interest in adventure stories began at an early age with
reading the books of- Daniel Defoe, Sir Henry Rider Haggard, Arthur
Conan Doyle, Sir Thomas Malory, Robert Michael Ballantyne, Robert
Louis Stevenson, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and Kenneth Grahame. He
attended St. John's School, an inner city school that had its
playground on the roof. On his first day at St. John's, at the age
of ten, he had an experience that marked his potential as a writer.
When given an assignment of writing a story about animals, he wrote
about the bird that cleaned a crocodile's teeth. The teacher could
not, and would not, believe that a ten year old could write that
well. When young Brian refused to falsely say that he had copied
the story, he was caned as "a liar". He had always loved to write,
but it was only then, that he realized that he had a talent for
writing.Some teachers at St. John's proved to be good role models.
As Mr. Jacques recalls-"My favourite teacher was Mr. Austin Thomas.
He looked like Lee Marvin. Big Man. A Captain in World War II. He
came to school on a big bush bike with the haversack on back. He
was a man's man. Always fair. I was fourteen at the time when Mr.
Thomas introduced the class to poetry and Greek literature.
(Because of him, I saved seven shillings and sixpence to buy The
Iliad and The Odyssey at this dusty used book shop.)"This interest
in poetry extended to Wordsworth, Tennyson, and Goldsmith.It was
also at St. John's that Brian met a teacher, Alan Durband (who also
taught two Beatles, Paul McCartney and George Harrison), who, more
than thirty years later would bring about a major change in his
life.After Brian finished school at fifteen, he set out to find
adventure as a merchant seaman. He travelled to many far away
ports, including New York, Valparaiso, San Francisco, and Yokohama.
Tiring of the lonely life of a sailor, he returned to Liverpool
where he worked as a railway fireman, a longshoreman, a
long-distance truck driver, a bus driver, a boxer, a bobby (Police
Constable 216D), a postmaster, and a stand-up comic.Penguin mourns
the passing of celebrated children's book author Brian Jacques
Christopher Denise lives in Providence, Rhode Island.
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