Balloon Lagoon and the Magic Islands of Poetry

ADRIAN MITCHELL (1932-2008) made a splash in the 1960s as the first journalist to interview the Beatles and caught the spirit of the time with his anti-war poem ‘Tell me lies about Vietnam’. The author of over twenty stage plays including The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, he adapted many foreign classics for the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre. He was the lyricist for Peter Brook’s Us and Peter Hall’s Animal Farm, and wrote many of the lyrics for Pam Gems’ Piaf, as well as television documentaries and novels for adults and children. He gave over a thousand performances of his poems. His last three books were Shapeshifters, Tell Me Lies (Bloodaxe Books) and Umpteen Pockets (Orchard Books). Adrian’s death in 2008 was a sad loss to literature, to the theatre and to children everywhere.

Tony Ross was bom in London and trained at the Liverpool School of Art. He has worked as a cartoonist, graphic designer, and art director of an advertising agency. He is now considered to be one of the finest children’s illustrators in the country.