A statement from his family said: \u201cWe know that Raymond\u2019s books were loved by and touched millions of people around the world, who will be sad to hear this news. Drawings from fans \u2013 especially children\u2019s drawings \u2013 inspired by his books were treasured by Raymond and pinned up on the wall of his studio.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe lived a rich and full life and said he felt lucky to have had both his wife Jean and his partner of over 40 years Liz in his life.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe shared his love of nature with Liz on South Downs walks and on family holidays to Scotland and Wales. He also shared his sense of fun and craziness with his family, and with his family of artist friends \u2013 at get-togethers, fancy dress parties, and summer picnics in the garden.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe played practical jokes and enjoyed them being played on him. All of us close to him knew his irreverent humour \u2013 this could be biting in his work when it came to those in power. He liked the Guardian editorial describing himself as an \u2018iconoclastic national treasure\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watch a Channel 4 interview with Raymond Briggs and Jon Snow from 2012 below:<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Briggs\u2019 career spanning six decades brought him various awards including the Kurt Maschler Award, The Children\u2019s Book of the Year, the Dutch Silver Pen Award. In 2017, he was made a CBE for services to literature.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Francesca Dow, managing director at Penguin Random House Children\u2019s, said: \u201cI am very proud that Puffin has been the home of Raymond\u2019s children\u2019s books for so many years.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cRaymond\u2019s books are picture masterpieces that address some of the fundamental questions of what it is to be human, speaking to both adults and children with a remarkable economy of words and illustrations.\u201d<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>She said he was \u201ca brilliantly observant, funny storyteller, honest about how life is rather than how adults might wish to tell it to children\u201d.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cA kindness, integrity, and generosity run through all his books,\u201d she added. \u201cHe leaves an extraordinary legacy and a big hole.\u201d<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Raymond is survived by his step-son Tom and his wife Sarah; his step-daughter Clare and her husband Fynn; and his step-grandchildren Connie, Tilly and Miles.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Molly Moss Published: Wednesday, 10 August 2022 at 12:00 am Raymond Briggs, the author and illustrator best known for the 1978 classic The Snowman, has died aged 88. The news was announced by his publisher, Penguin Random House. The Snowman was first published as a wordless picture book, and went on to sell over […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":20043,"template":"","categories":[5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/08\/the-snowman-author-and-illustrator-raymond-briggs-dies-aged-88.jpg",1192,800,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/08\/the-snowman-author-and-illustrator-raymond-briggs-dies-aged-88-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/08\/the-snowman-author-and-illustrator-raymond-briggs-dies-aged-88-300x201.jpg",300,201,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/08\/the-snowman-author-and-illustrator-raymond-briggs-dies-aged-88-768x515.jpg",768,515,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/08\/the-snowman-author-and-illustrator-raymond-briggs-dies-aged-88-1024x687.jpg",800,537,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/08\/the-snowman-author-and-illustrator-raymond-briggs-dies-aged-88.jpg",1192,800,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/08\/the-snowman-author-and-illustrator-raymond-briggs-dies-aged-88.jpg",1192,800,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Molly Moss Published: Wednesday, 10 August 2022 at 12:00 am Raymond Briggs, the author and illustrator best known for the 1978 classic The Snowman, has died aged 88. The news was announced by his publisher, Penguin Random House. The Snowman was first published as a wordless picture book, and went on to sell over…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/20042"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}