Gareth Floyd Author and Illustrator
Gareth Dennis Floyd, was born at Whiston, Prescot, Lancashire in 1940. I first came across his work through a copy of Finch’s London. The book is an oddity as guide books go, presenting London as a varied selection of pubs with some interesting sights in between ! His illustrations draw you in and offer an artist’s view to accompany the guide’s descriptions.
Gareth spent his childhood at Halesworth, Suffolk and studied at Lowestoft school of Art under Eleanor Doris Varley.
Gareth Floyd is a published author and an illustrator of children’s books and young adult books and illustrated a series for Penguin Books during the 70’s and ’80’s.
The credits of Gareth Floyd include ‘The Whispering Knights’, ‘The Midnight Fox’ (Puffin Modern Classics), ‘The Real Live Dinosaur and Other Stories’, and ‘The Night-Watchmen’ (Lythway Large Print Series) .
He is probably best known for working on Jackanory, (a BBC TV children’s story show), as an illustrator.
Often someone would narrate a story whilst Gareth illustrated a scene from it. Gareth worked on the series for nearly 15 years. Here are some of the ones used on the programme.
Some viewers recall the effect that the drawings had for them at the time, so with books like ‘Stig of the Dump’ by Clive King, they said they could clearly visualise the characters mainly because Gareth’s drawings made them come to life.
His iconic Jackanory illustrations (about 1,200 of them) were sold by auctioneers Ewbanks only last week and some of you bought a piece of their childhood history ! Gareth was also a popular choice with the publishers to capture a child’s or perhaps a parent’s imagination with a great cover illustration. Here are just a few.
It seems that some publishers at the time, thought the title of the book had more impact, if it began with the word ‘The’ !
He also has an interest in railways and modelling. He married at Guildford, Surrey in 1965 with Penelope Dean and is still living in Guildford now.
Another talented artist from my childhood days. How many of these covers do you remember ?
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