Umpteen Pockets

Adrian Mitchell was born in London and studied at Oxford University where he passed most of his time learning to write poems. After leaving University, Adrian spent several years as a journalist and his great claim to fame is that he was the first reporter on a national paper to interview the Beatles.Adrian became a full-time writer of plays, stories and poems and was regarded as one of the country's finest poets and playwrights. He was also a regular performer for adults and children and gave over a thousand poetry readings throughout Britain, Europe, USA, Africa and Asia.Adrian's plays included The White Deer, The Wild Animal Song Contest, Mowgli's Jungle, The Snow Queen and The Pied Piper for children, and for adults, Tyger (The National Theatre) and Man Friday. Adrian's version of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was premiered by the Royal Shakespeare Company for whom he also adapted Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass for the stage. He also wrote three Beatrix Potter plays which were staged with great success by The Unicorn Theatre for Children - Tom Kitten, Jemima Puddle-Duck and Peter Rabbit and His Friends. Adrian passed away in December 2008 and is survived by his wife who now runs their secondhand bookshop, Ripping Yarns Books, as an online business.Tony Ross was born in London and studied at the Liverpool School of Art and Design. He has worked as a cartoonist, a graphic designer, as the Art Director of an advertising agency, and as Senior Lecturer in Art at Manchester Polytechnic. Tony is one of the most popular and successful children's illustrators of all time, best known for illustrating Horrid Henry and the works of David Walliams. Tony's books have been translated into 40 languages in over 100 countries. He lives in Macclesfield.

'If you read these poems, I promise you will hear Adrian Mitchell's exuberant voice-music, his anger at war and injustice, his compassion for the hurt, his love and celebration of all things bright and beautiful. You'll hear his feet tapping along the lines and this friendly dog bounding along beside him. And you'll hear a secret and know it to be true ... that goos poets don't really die, they live on in their poems" -- Carol Ann Duffy