ZEB SOANES

Zeb grew-up in the seaside town of Lowestoft surrounded by animals, including his pet tortoise, Fred, who is still alive today (tortoises live a very long time). Zeb now lives in London and is known to millions as a newsreader and voice of the Shipping Forecast on BBC Radio 4. He is a regular on The News Quiz, has reported for From Our Own Correspondent and presented BBC Radio 3’s Saturday Classics. Sunday Times readers voted him their favourite male voice on UK radio. On television he launched BBC Four, where he appeared as a roving presenter for the BBC Proms. He regularly performs with orchestras, narrating classic works for children including Peter and the Wolf, Babar the Elephant and Paddington. He has written for The Observer, Country Life and the Literary Review. Gaspard the Fox was inspired by a real little fox that visits Zeb in London and the fancy dress dog show in Gaspard Best in Show takes place in his local square each autumn.

Zeb is the first patron of the Mammal Society and you can help log sightings of foxes using their free Mammal Mapper app.

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JAMES MAYHEW

Illustrator and author James Mayhew lives in the Suffolk countryside, surrounded by wild animals and nature, with big skies, full of light - perfect for artists. Amongst his other titles for Graffeg are The Knight Who Took All Day (adapted as a work for narrator and orchestra by Bernard Hughes) and illustrations for the Mouse and Mole series (by Joyce Dunbar), animated for television with the voices of Alan Bennett and Richard Briers. He is also the creator of the Katie art books and Ella Bella Ballerina series. He has worked with many orchestras and musicians including the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, painting illustrations live on stage to performances of classical music, including The Firebird, Scheherazade and Pictures at an Exhibition. A winner of the 1994 New York Times prize for illustration, his many other titles include Koshka’s Tales and illustrations for Mrs Noah’s Pockets (by Jackie Morris). James makes all his illustrations with traditional tools, mainly using pen and ink, and watercolours. He created his own new shade of ink especially for these books, which he calls ‘Gaspard Red’.

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