Alison Prince (26 March 1931 – 12 October 2019) was a British

children's writer Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

, screenwriter and biographer, who settled on the

Isle of Arran The Isle of Arran (; ) or simply Arran is an island off the west coast of Scotland. It is the largest island in the Firth of Clyde and the seventh-largest Scottish island, at . Counties of Scotland, Historically part of Buteshire, it is in the ...

in Scotland. Her novels for young people won several awards. She was the scriptwriter of the much repeated children's television series ''

Trumpton ''Trumpton'' is a British stop-motion children's television series from the producers of '' Camberwick Green''. First shown on the BBC from January to March 1967, it was the second series in the ''Trumptonshire'' trilogy, which comprised ''Camb ...

''.

Background

Prince was born on 26 March 1931 in Beckenham, Kent (now in Greater London) to Louise (née David) and Charles Prince. Her mother trained as a nurse and was later Mayor of

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is southeast of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 88,000 as of 2023. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, charte ...

while her father was manager of the

Yorkshire Bank Yorkshire Bank was a trading name used by Clydesdale Bank plc for its retail banking operations in England. The Yorkshire Bank was founded in 1859 as the West Riding of Yorkshire Provident Society and Penny Savings Society but the Provident ...

in London. She grew up in South London and attended a girls' grammar school where she enjoyed grammar and Latin, but not maths. Her parents were from Scotland and Yorkshire. Her father was a keen pianist, and she played the clarinet. As a child she visited Scottish relatives in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

. After completing a degree course at the

Slade School of Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...

, where she had won a scholarship, Prince found work in casual, low-paid jobs unrelated to art. She later took a postgraduate teaching diploma at

Goldsmiths College Goldsmiths, University of London, formerly Goldsmiths College, University of London, is a Member institutions of the University of London, constituent research university of the University of London. It was originally founded in 1891 as The G ...

, then taught art at the Elliott Comprehensive School, in

Putney Putney () is an affluent district in southwest London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. History Putney is an ...

. She married a fellow teacher, Goronwy Parry, and together they had three children. With this interruption to her teaching career, she turned instead to occasional journalism. After the marriage ended, she ran a small farm in

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

for eight years.

From television to books

Prince later moved into writing for children's television, gaining notice with her scripts for the

stop motion Stop-motion (also known as stop frame animation) is an animated filmmaking and special effects technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exh ...

animated puppet series ''

'' (1967) for young children produced by

Gordon Murray Ian Gordon Murray (born 18 June 1946), is a successful and influential South African-British former (Formula One) race-car designer, renowned firstly as lead designer for both the Brabham and McLaren Formula 1 racing teams, during 196 ...

. Prince also wrote the lyrics for the songs performed by

Brian Cant Brian Cant (12 July 1933 – 19 June 2017) was an English actor of stage, television and film, television presenter, voice artist and writer. He was known for his work in BBC television programmes for children from 1964 onward, most notably '' P ...

. "I didn’t have a television, but I had three kids to feed, so I said yes," she recalled in 2006. Her first book was ''Joe and a Horse and other stories about Joe from 'Watch with Mother'', with Joan Hickson, a 1968 spin-off from the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

pre-school program ''

Watch with Mother ''Watch with Mother'' was a cycle of children's programmes created by Freda Lingstrom and Maria Bird. Broadcast by BBC Television from 1952 until 1975, it was the first BBC television series aimed specifically at tiny tots to pre-school childr ...

''. In the late 1970s, she turned to writing books for children, some based on historical characters. They include '' My Royal Story'' about

Catherine of Aragon Catherine of Aragon (also spelt as Katherine, historical Spanish: , now: ; 16 December 1485 – 7 January 1536) was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England as the Wives of Henry VIII, first wife of King Henry VIII from their marr ...

, which was re-released in 2010. ''How's Business'' (1987), set in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, made the shortlist for the Nestle Smarties Book Prize. ''The Sherwood Hero'' (1995) is a modern-day

Robin Hood Robin Hood is a legendary noble outlaw, heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature, theatre, and cinema. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions o ...

story for young adults, about a girl stealing a credit card from her father's client, drawing £100, attempting to hand it out to the poor in the streets of

, and then coping with the guilt. For this Prince was a joint winner (with

Philip Pullman Sir Philip Nicholas Outram Pullman (born 19 October 1946) is an English writer. He is best known for the fantasy trilogy ''His Dark Materials''. The first volume, ''Northern Lights'' (1995), won the Carnegie Medal

) of the ''Guardian'' Children's Fiction Prize, a once-in-a-lifetime book award judged by a panel of British children's writers. Her thriller ''Oranges and Murder'' was the

Scottish Arts Council The Scottish Arts Council (), was a Scottish public body responsible for the funding, development and promotion of the arts in Scotland. The Council primarily distributed funding from the Scottish Government as well as National Lottery funds ...

Children's Book of the Year in 2002. Translations of her books have been published in several languages, including Danish, German, Japanese and Welsh. Mainly for adults, Prince wrote well-received biographies of

Kenneth Grahame Kenneth Grahame ( ; 8 March 1859 – 6 July 1932) was a British writer. He is best remembered for the classic of children's literature ''The Wind in the Willows'' (1908). Born in Scotland, he spent most of his childhood with his grandmother in ...

(1994, reissued 2009) and

Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogue (literature), travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fai ...

(1998), a collection of essays on formative thinking, two booklets of poetry, and two volumes of pieces that had originally appeared in a local Arran newspaper. In 2005, Prince received an honorary doctorate of letters from the

University of Leicester The University of Leicester ( ) is a public university, public research university based in Leicester, England. The main campus is south of the city centre, adjacent to Victoria Park, Leicester, Victoria Park. The university's predecessor, Univ ...

for services to children's books. ''Forbidden Soldier'', a children's book about the second phase of the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

, appeared in 2014, as did ''The Lost King: Richard III and the Princes in the Tower'', a biography of

Richard III Richard III (2 October 1452 – 22 August 1485) was King of England from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the Plantagenet dynasty and its cadet branch the House of York. His defeat and death at the Battle of Boswor ...

Death

Alison Prince died on 12 October 2019, aged 88, having been ill for a number of years, which involved undergoing major heart surgery.

Selected works

These titles are or have recently been available in the UK, according to the websites of major internet booksellers:

Notes

References

;Citations * * * – including a 1966 photograph *''Trumpton''. Episode 6 – The Mayor's Birthday
part 1part 2
. YouTube. Retrieved 25 April 2012 *

External links

* *
Filmography by TV series for Alison Prince
at

IMDb IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prince, Alison 1931 births 2019 deaths British children's writers 21st-century British women writers British women children's writers British horror writers British women horror writers British ghost story writers Guardian Children's Fiction Prize winners BBC people Writers from the London Borough of Bromley People from the Isle of Arran People from Beckenham Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art