Edward Jeffrey Irving Ardizzone was born at Haiphong, Tonkin in French Indo-China on 16 October 1900. His father Auguste Ardizzone was on overseas government service. His father, although born at Bône in Algeria, was of Italian parentage. Ardizzone arrived in England with his two sisters Elizabeth and Lauretta in 1905 and was educated at Ipswich School. He was brought up by his grandparents, whilst his parents continued to work overseas. In the period 1913-18, he attended Clayesmore School, where he met Freddy Mayor. He attended evening art classes at Reading University 1919-26 and worked as a clerk in his father’s firm, the Eastern Extension Telegraph Company (now Cable & Wireless), where he ‘doodled a lot on his blotter’. He then attended evening classes at the Westminster School of Art, studying under Walter Bayes and Bernard Meninsky. In 1927, to the consternation of his father, he gave up work, in order to pursue his calling as a full-time artist. In 1928 he visited Austria and Italy with his sister Betty and met Catherine Anderson, whom he married in 1929. That was followed by the publication of In a Glass Darkly by Sheridan Le Fanu, the artist’s first illustrated book. He had his first one-man exhibition at the Bloomsbury Gallery in 1930. A meeting with his childhood friend Maurice Gorham then resulted in his first drawing for the Radio Times. In the early 1930s he regularly exhibited at the Leger Gallery His best-known work is the Tim series, featuring the maritime adventures of the eponymous young hero. The first book, Tim and the Brave Sea Captain, was published in 1936. The series ended with Tim’s Last Voyage in 1972. As well as writing and illustrating his own books, Ardizzone also illustrated books written by others, including the novels of Anthony Trollope. In 1939 he was called up to serve with the Royal Artillery, but obtained the position of official war artist with the aid of Kenneth Clark. He accompanied the British Expeditionary Force to France and his experiences between Arras and Boulogne were illustrated and described in his book Baggage to the Enemy (1941). Ardizzone’s preferred medium was the watercolour on paper, one reason being, that the watercolour medium was suited to artists who travelled widely, being much less cumbersome than canvas and oils. It also ensured that drawings were easily sent back to England. He then spent some time in London, where he was arrested as a spy for sketching in the East End. In 1947 he was elected a member of the Society of Industrial Artists. In 1948 he joined the teaching staff of the Camberwell School of Art and Crafts, where he produced lithographs from the stone. In 1953 he returned to London to carry out a commission for a watercolour of the Queen’s Coronation. He was then appointed tutor in etching at the Royal College of Art. He illustrated the Nurse Matilda series of children’s books written by his cousin, the author Christianna Brand. Both cousins had heard the stories from the same grandfather. He also illustrated A Ring of Bells, John Betjeman’s abridged version for children of his Summoned by Bells, an autobiographical poem. Ardizzone worked on Cecil Day Lewis‘s children’s novel The Otterbury Incident, as well as novels by the American author Eleanor Estes, including The Alley, Miranda the Great, Pinky Pye, The Tunnel of Hugsy Goode and The Witch Family. He is also noted for having not just illustrated the covers and contents of books, but inking the title text and author’s name in his own hand, thus giving the books a distinctive identity. An example is Clive King’s ever-popular book Stig of the Dump. Ardizzone illustrated a series of books for young children by Graham Greene including The Little Fire Engine, The Little Horse Bus and The Little Steamroller. He also illustrated James Reeves’s re-telling of the Don Quixote story. Ardizzone illustrated a number of telegrams for the Post Office in the 1950s and 1960s, many of which are considered collector’s items. His style was naturalistic but subdued, featuring gentle lines and delicate watercolours, but with great attention to detail. In 1956 the most famous of the Tim books, Tim All Alone, won the British Library Association’s Kate Greenaway Medal for illustration. He was elected ARA in 1962, RA in 1970 and appointed CBE in 1971. In the period 1973-74 ‘Edward Ardizzone, A Retrospective Exhibition’ was held at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Ardizzone died of a heart attack 8 November 1979. After the celebration of a Requiem Mass at the Church of the Sacred Heart, Sittingbourne, he was laid to rest in the churchyard of the Church of St Nicholas at Rodmersham in Kent. The British Library published an illustrated bibliography of his works in 2003.