"Eccentric" Jersey children's author passes away at 67

Tuesday 17 January 2017

Anarchic, flamboyant, and a grande dame of children’s literature, Jersey-born author and illustrator Babette Cole had a gift for capturing the imagination with her tales of feisty feminist princesses and medically qualified mutts.

But friends, family and fans have had to say goodbye to this larger-than-life character after the 67-year-old passed away on Sunday morning following a short illness.

In a career spanning over 30 years, Ms Cole brought life to over 70 picture books, but it all started following a course at the Canterbury College of Art – now University of the Creative Arts – from which she obtained a first class honours.

She then won a role at the BBC, working on best-loved kids shows ‘Bagbuss’ and ‘Jackanory’. But her real first masterstroke was the publishing of ‘Princess Smartypants’ in 1986 – a stereotype-shattering take on a typical fairy tale romance, which was translated into 32 languages worldwide.

Later came ‘Dr. Dog’ – the story of a canine that dishes out medical wisdom as far ranging as bone marrow and the dangers of smoking – whose success saw over 36,000 copies bought globally, and led it to being adapted into a children’s cartoon TV series.

The tongue-in-cheekiness for which Ms Cole was best known amongst friends, however, probably best shone through in her most successful work, ‘Mummy laid an egg!’ – a witty literary riposte to, “Mummy, where do babies come from?”

It was so successful, in fact, that the birds and the bees explanation book sold 2.5 million copies in 72 languages.

Most recently, Ms Cole had turned her careful hand to illustrating ‘Five on a Treasure Island’, to make the 70^th anniversary of Famous Five creator, Enid Blyton.

As the news of her passing reached social media, tributes poured in for Ms Cole, praising her unbridled, label-defying creativity:

Was sorry to hear about #Babettecole, I remember my delight at reading Dr Dog when I was a library assistant, fabulous, cheeky stories

— Mandy Powell (@Minimorticia) January 16, 2017

Vale #BabetteCole. Anarchic, eccentric, irreverent, hilarious. Also an accurate representation of a number of my own troublesome relatives.

— Will Visconti (@WillVisconti) January 17, 2017

Sad news about Babette Cole -writer of feminist heroes in children's books that defied gender norms. Smartypants:
"She was happy being a Ms"

— #Readwomen (@Read_Women) January 16, 2017

RIP #babettecole Your characters made my childhood magical! pic.twitter.com/zJmVBvub6k

— Plum Pudding (@plum_pud) January 15, 2017

While the book might seemingly have ended Ms Cole, her loved ones maintain that her death marks no more than a new and exciting chapter for the mischievous writer.

Catherine Watson, whose mother was a “dear friend” of Ms Cole, commented: “She is now sitting on a pink cloud looking after us with a Gaudins cake and a glass of pink fizz. She was the queen of hearts and life was better with her in the world.”