web analytics

Raymond Briggs

It’s been quiet over here for a while as I’ve been busy finishing up AUTUMN: EXODUS, but I just wanted to post to mark the sad passing of the wonderful RAYMOND BRIGGS. Many people here in the UK will know him best for that Christmas staple THE SNOWMAN, or for FUNGUS THE BOGEYMAN, but to my mind his greatest work was WHEN THE WIND BLOWS.

I wrote about the film adaptation on this site several years ago – if you haven’t read the book or seen the film, I implore you to do so. Released in 1983 at the height of the (first) Cold War, it’s the tale of Jim and Hilda Briggs, an elderly married couple. As World War III looms on the horizon, they make preparations in accordance with the UK government’s woefully inadequate PROTECT AND SURVIVE guidance, fully expecting the next conflict to be similar to the last World War they remember.

When the Wind Blows by Raymond Briggs

Briggs had a unique and immediately recognisable style that was equally suited to heartwarming and heartbreaking stories. WHEN THE WIND BLOWS is a masterpiece of apocalyptic writing.