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Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson was born on 13 November 1850, changing his second name to ‘Louis’ at the age of eighteen. He has always been loved and admired by countless readers and critics for ‘the excitement, the fierce joy, the delight in strangeness, the pleasure in deep and dark adventures’ found in his classic stories and, without doubt, he created some of the most horribly unforgettable characters in literature and, above all, Mr. Edward Hyde.
Richard Scarry
Born in Boston in 1919, Richard Scarry’s drawing talent led him to study at the Boston Museum School. He began his career in New York City as an illustrator and freelance artist, and in 1963 he published his first book, The Best Word Book Ever, which became an international best-seller.
Nigel Smith
Nigel Smith has been a journalist, busker, TV comedy producer and scriptwriter, winning an award for his BBC 4 radio comedy, VENT. More importantly, he has been – and still is – an embarrassing Dad. Much like Nathalia Buttface, his three children are continually mortified by his ill-advised trousers, comedic hats, low-quality jokes, poorly chosen motor vehicles, unique sense of direction and unfortunate ukulele playing.
Dr. Seuss
Theodor Seuss Geisel – better known to his millions of fans as Dr. Seuss – was born the son of a park superintendent in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1904. After studying at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, and later at Oxford University in England, he became a magazine humorist and cartoonist, and an advertising man. He soon turned his many talents to writing children’s books, which included the creation of the one and only ‘The Cat in the Hat’, published in 1957.