THE funeral of children’s author and illustrator, Dame Babette Cole, will be held at Sherborne Abbey, Dorset, beginning at 2pm on Tuesday, February 14.
Born in 1950, she was creator of picture books and was best known for “Princess Smartypants”, first published in 1986, which was a feminist retelling of a traditional fairy tale romance.
Her other books included “Mummy Laid an Egg!”, “The Smelly Book” and “The Trouble With Mum”. In 2014 she released “The Wild West Country Tale of James Rabbit and the Giggleberries”, which was based on her “muse” James Gutans.
Babette was the much-loved wife of James Gutans and sister of Carolyn Sangan.
Many tributes were paid to Babette from across the world and locally immediately after her death.
Locally she held book signings at Crediton Community Bookshop and had also taken part in readings at Crediton Library and opened Down St Mary Village Fete.
In the summer of 2015 she was injured in a cow stampede at her home near Crediton which left her with fractured shoulders and ribs.
Passionate about horses, she bred multi-award winning show ponies, hunters and cobs.
In total she produced more than 70 picture books.
After graduating from Canterbury College of Art, where she studied animation, Babette collaborated with Peter Firmin and Oliver Postgate to create children’s BBC TV programmes including “Bagpuss”. She also worked on “The Clangers” and “Basil Brush”. Some of Babette’s books were made into cartoons.
In 2015 she was commissioned to illustrate a 70th-anniversary edition of Enid Blyton’s classic “The Famous Five: Five on a Treasure Island.”
The request is for family flowers only at the funeral and donations, if desired, to Book Trust or World Horse Welfare.
Alan Quick
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