Classic Ladybird

The Wonderful world of Ladybird books.

I finally got around to watching the BBC Four ‘Timeshift’ episode ‘The Ladybird Books Story: How Britain got the Reading Bug’ that I recorded back in December 2013. What a wonderful and heart-warming programme. It brought back so many memories of reading these iconic books when I was a kid. It made me keep blurting out “I had that one!”.

Well this episode spurred me on to locate a copy from series 606B ‘People at Work’ – THE AIRMAN in the Royal Air Force that was produced back in 1967 (with a cover price of 30p!). I tracked one down on ebay for £2.50…bargain!

Beautifully illustrated by the late great John Berry, one of the chief illustrators for Ladybird, his work featured in all the 20 books in the ‘People at Work’ series. The book along with the others in the series showed a golden age of prosperity in Britain when life just seemed a lot simpler.

Unfortunately the episode is not currently available on the BBC iPlayer but you read about the episode here; http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03mp53s

I also discovered that you can purchase copies of the wonderful artwork from the many Ladybird series. Have a look at this fantastic site!  http://www.ladybirdprints.com/