Geoffry Morgan Pike (who wrote as Geoff Pike and Pai Kit Fai) was an English-born, naturalized Australian writer and cartoonist.

Early years

Geoffry Morgan Pike was born in Tottenham, Middlesex on 17 October 1929, to parents Mildred and Robert Pike. He has two siblings Anthony J. Pike and Peter Robert Pike. At age 14 he entered training on the Navy ship , and went to sea in 1945 aged 15. In 1949, Pike emigrated to Australia where he worked in the outback breaking horses, felling trees and sailing aboard deep-sea trawlers before he signed on as an artistic director on many popular cartoons such as ''

Beetle Bailey ''Beetle Bailey'' is an American comic strip created by cartoonist Mort Walker, published since September 4, 1950. It is set on a fictional United States Army post. In the years just before Walker's death in 2018 (at age 94), it was among the old ...

'' and ''

Krazy Kat ''Krazy Kat'' (also known as ''Krazy & Ignatz'' in some reprints and compilations) is an US, American newspaper comic strip, created by cartoonist George Herriman, which ran from 1913 to 1944. It first appeared in the ''New York Journal-America ...

'' with American

Paramount Studios Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production and distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount Global. It is the sixth-oldest film studio i ...

. '' Unbearable Bear in T.V. Tours'', an animated cartoon series for Artransa Park Television, featured a globe trotting

koala The koala (''Phascolarctos cinereus''), sometimes inaccurately called the koala bear, is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia. It is the only Extant taxon, extant representative of the Family (biology), family ''Phascolar ...

with itchy feet. Pike worked with

Bryce Courtenay Arthur Bryce Courtenay, (14 August 1933 – 22 November 2012) was a South African-Australian advertising director and novelist. He is one of Australia's best-selling authors, notable for his book '' The Power of One''. Background and early ye ...

McCann Erickson McCann, formerly McCann Erickson, is an American global advertising agency network, with offices in over 120 countries. McCann is part of McCann Worldgroup, along with several other agencies, including direct digital marketing agency MRM//McC ...

advertising agency, most notably on the

Mortein Mortein is an Australian brand of household insecticide owned by the British company Reckitt. Together with its sister product Aerogard, a popular insect repellent, Mortein is widely used in Australia and is marketed internationally. It is also a ...

advertisement, " Louie the Fly". Bryce wrote the jingle and Geoff created the cartoon and animation. He also created the animation for the McWilliam's monk advertisement and the popular

Yowie The Yowie is one of several names for an Australian folklore entity that is reputed to live in the Outback. The creature has origins in Aboriginal oral history. Etymology and Regional Names * In parts of Queensland, it is known as a ''Quinki ...

characters featured in children's picture books and

Cadbury's Cadbury, formerly Cadbury's and Cadbury Schweppes, is a British multinational corporation, multinational confectionery company owned by Mondelez International (spun off from Kraft Foods, Inc., Kraft Foods) since 2010. It is the second-largest c ...

line of confectionery containing small plastic toys. In 1977 Pike was diagnosed with throat cancer and learned the art of

qigong Qigong ()) is a system of coordinated body-posture and movement, breathing, and meditation said to be useful for the purposes of health, spirituality, and martial arts training. With roots in Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chinese medicine, Chin ...

and traditional Oriental medicine rather than surgery, beating cancer and becoming a master of qigong, creating books and videos teaching others the philosophy and practice of aligning breath, physical activity and awareness for mental, spiritual and corporeal health. He passed in March 2018 at the age of 89 after many years of ill health. Pike's brother, Anthony (better known as Tony Pike), opened

Pikes Hotel Pikes Hotel, now known as Pikes Ibiza, is a luxury hotel in Ibiza, in the Balearic Islands of Spain. It is located in the countryside, to the northeast of the town of Sant Antoni de Portmany, and to the northwest of Ibiza Town. A 15th-century s ...

in Ibiza, famous for its lavish celebrity parties during the 1980s.

Writing

In 1974 he published the first of many books, '' Henry Golightly: a novel of the sea''. Published by

Angus and Robertson Angus & Robertson (A&R) is a major Australian bookseller, publisher and printer. As book publishers, A&R has contributed substantially to the promotion and development of Australian literature.Alison, Jennifer (2001). "Publishers and editors: A ...

, it was the story of a

Gweilo ''Gweilo'' or (, pronounced ) is a common Cantonese slang term for Westerners. The term can be literally translated as "ghost man" and has a history of racially deprecatory and pejorative use, though its modern usage is often in a general and ...

(caucasian foreigner) living in

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

and building a boat amongst the locals; a youthful search for adventure and love among the post-war wreckage of 1945 and the horror that was

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui has b ...

. Pike also wrote under the name Pai Kit Fai, which was given to him by his Chinese in-laws. Loosely translated, it means "White Person of Letters and Grand Ambition'. He wrote two books under this

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

, '' The Concubine's Daughter'' and '' Red Lotus''.

Bibliography

Fiction: *'' Red Lotus'' (2010 – pseudonym – Pai Kit Fai) *''

The Concubine’s Daughter ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

'' (2009 – pseudonym – Pai Kit Fai) *'' Tiger dawn'' (1997) *'' The Second Sunrise'' (1995) *'' Golightly Outback'' (1978) *'' Golightly Adrift'' (1976) *'' Henry Golightly: a novel of the sea'' (1974) Non Fiction: *'' Ch’i: The Power Within.'' (1985) *'' Ch’i:The Power is You'' (1985) *'' Youth and Beauty Secrets of the Orient'' (1982) *''

The Power of Ch’i ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The' ...

'' (1980) Animated scripts: *'' Princess Serena and the Magic Crystal'' *'' Unbearable Bear in T.V. Tours'', 13 episodes Children’s books, 1995–2001: *'' Rumble the redgum Yowie'' *'' Crag the mangrove Yowie'' *''

Boof the bottlebrush Yowie Boof may refer to: People * Kola Boof, Sudanese-American novelist * John Boof Bonser (born 1981), American retired Major League Baseball pitcher * Darren Lehmann (born 1970), Australian former cricketer nicknamed "Boof" * Kelly Lindsey (born 19 ...

'' *'' Ditty the lillipilli Yowie'' *'' Squish the fiddlewood Yowie'' *''

Nap the honeygum Yowie A nap is a short period of sleep, typically taken during daytime hours as an adjunct to the usual nocturnal sleep period. Naps are most often taken as a response to drowsiness during waking hours or as a means to supplement before or after los ...

'' Children’s books, 1964: ''Around the world with Unbearable Bear'' series (adapted by Laurie Sharpe): *'' Unbearable Bear in Boy Meets Bear'' *'' Unbearable Bear in London'' *'' Unbearable Bear in Ireland'' *'' Unbearable bear in Scotland''Geoff Pike, ''Unbearable Bear in Scotland'' (Sungravure 1964)

Awards and honours

*''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' Book of the Week: ''Red Lotus'' * A&R Writer's Fellowship

External links

Geoff Pike's Alibris pageGeoff Pike's official site
* ttp://us.macmillan.com/author/paikitfai Macmillan USA Author page on Geoff Pike aka Pai Kit Fai

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pike, Geoffry Morgan 1929 births 2018 deaths People from Tottenham ategory:20th-century Royal Navy personnel Australian animated film directors Australian copywriters Australian male novelists British advertising executives British Book Award winners Naturalised citizens of Australia People from New South Wales