THE AUTHOR OF THE REDWALL SERIES
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| Brian Jacques June 15, 1939 - February 5, 2011 |
A Biography found at http://www.amazon.com/
A well-know radio personality in his native Liverpool--as well as and actor, stand-up comic, and playwright--Brain Jacques was the host of "Jakestown" on BBC Radio Merseyside. Ever the performer, Jacques was 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 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 a bird that cleaned 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 he realized that he had a talent for writing. Also at St. John's Brian met a teacher, Alan Durband 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 Fransisco, 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. He passed away on February 5, 2011, at the age of 71.
He recently finished his latest and last novel: The Rogue Crew: A Tale of Redwall.
The Books by Brian Jacques, Published by Philomel Books:
- Castaways of the Flying Dutchman
- The Angel's Command
- Voyage of Slaves
- The Great Redwall Feast
- A Redwall Winter's Tale
- Urso Brunov, Little Father of All Bears
- Urso Brunov and the White Emperor
- Seven Strange and Ghostly Tales
- The Ribbijack and Other Curious Yarns
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