And so to the House of Illustration for their opening bash.To meet the Great and the Good.
To rub shoulders with the gentry and grab a free glass of Prosecco (or two).
Kindly invited there by Mr Ardi Kolah, an old chum and colleague and now something important.
The evening was fronted by that landmark figure of British illustration, Quentin Blake.
Or should I say Sir Quentin Saxby Blake, quite rightly ennobled for services to humanity.
Does his name ring a bell ?
Well it should do.
If you’re anything like my age this man was your children’s babysitter.
He was charged with a very special task …
He put the images into our children’s minds before they fell asleep.
Every night I would read to my daughter the adventures that her namesake, Sophie, had in Roald Dahl’s book, “The BFG”.
But whilst the words were Roald Dahl’s, the pictures were all Quentin’s and my Sophie would greedily vacuum them up with her eyes.
The BFG (Big Friendly Giant) became a part of our family and no doubt for countless families in the future.
So tonight I had the opportunity to say thank you to Sir Quentin.
Thank you for helping us to bring up our kids and giving them wonderful images with which to populate their dreams.
Not that long ago I had the chance to thank somebody else for their particular contribution to childhood : Sir David Attenborough. I wonder if they fully appreciate what an effect they actually have upon us all.
Anyhow I had a jolly nice time – saw several faces to whom I couldn’t put names.
Shared a cigarette based joke with Joanna Lumley and grinned idiotically at all and sundry.
Thank you “House of Illustration” – I wish you all the very best for your future.
