Topsy and Tim creator Jean Adamson dies aged 96

Topsy and Tim creator Jean Adamson has died aged 96, her publisher Ladybird has confirmed.

Ladybird described her as “one of our most beloved and respected children’s book creators, best known for creating Topsy and Tim with her late husband Gareth Adamson”, creating 150 books across five decades. She died on Sunday (15th December).

Born in Peckham in 1928, Adamson attended grammar school before winning a scholarship to study illustration at Goldsmiths College, London. After subsequently teaching at the college, specialising in illustration and design, she also worked as a freelance artist and illustrator, as well as a storyman in the advertising industry.

After meeting her co-creator and future husband Gareth (1925-1982) during her time at Goldsmiths, the pair married in 1957. Together, they moved to Newcastle and decided to create books for children working on the books together, with Jean researching the story and illustrating, and Gareth writing the stories. They also created original animations for Yorkshire TV in the 1970s.

Ladybird said: “The characters of Topsy and Tim first appeared in Topsy & Tim’s Monday Book, originally published by Blackie in 1960. At the time, the children’s book market was dominated by Noddy and Thomas the Tank Engine, and it was unusual for ordinary children to be the lead characters in picture books. For the Adamsons, having children at the centre of the narrative was part of the magic of the stories. In their eyes, the books didn’t need any fantastical elements, ‘because all the world is magic for children’. Jean said the choice of girl and boy twins was a way of ensuring gender equality.”

Ladybird added: “Topsy and Tim has delighted children for over 60 years, and the series, later published by Ladybird Books, hasn’t been out of print in all that time.” More than 150 Topsy and Tim titles have been published. In 2020, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of publishing, Ladybird re-released Topsy and Tim: On the Farm with Adamson’s original artwork.

In 1984, Topsy and Tim was adapted for television. Sixty episodes of an animated TV series followed, and since 2013 three seasons of a live-action version have broadcast on CBeebies, winning the BAFTA Pre-school Live Action award in 2016. The series still regularly airs on CBeebies.

Adamson was awarded an MBE for her services to children’s literature in 1999 and in 2016 was made an Honorary Fellow of Goldsmiths College.

Her family said: “It is with deep sorrow that we announce the passing of our beloved Jean Adamson. Jean was a devoted mother, grandmother, sister, author and great grandchildren whose kindness and warmth touched the lives of all who knew her. Her presence will be greatly missed, but her memory will live on in the hearts of her family and all those she loved or that remember her through her stories. Although we will take this time to mourn her loss, we will also ensure to celebrate her remarkable life.”

Francesca Dow, managing director of Penguin Random House Children’s, said: “Ladybird has been the proud home of Jean Adamson’s wonderful Topsy and Tim books for decades. The friendly and mischievous twins have played an important, supportive role in millions of children’s lives. From starting school to itchy heads, visiting the dentist and welcoming a sibling, these books helped parents and carers introduce new experiences and ideas to young children with warmth and reassurance and a sense of adventure. This is a true skill. Jean said, ’Adults sometimes forget that experiences that seem commonplace to them are wonderful, first-time adventures to young children’.

“Jean and her husband Gareth’s work was uncharacteristic of the time, with Jean’s art style being bright, pared back and uncluttered. They made sure that the depictions of these first experiences were well-researched so that parents and children could trust them. And, unusually for the time, gave Topsy an equal role to play in the adventures as Tim. Jean will be greatly missed. She leaves behind a gift to children and their families in her greatest creations.”

Mandy Little, chair and former literary agent at Watson, Little said: “It has been a rare privilege to represent Jean`s interests as she continued her long career as the co-creator of Topsy and Tim. She never lost interest in the two little black-haired twins as they explored what the world had to offer over decades, making sure always that Topsy got as much of the action as Tim.

“They were close to her heart for, as she once told me, they were based on herself and her beloved brother Derek, who were inseparable as children. Jean was the gentlest of people, kind and modest, never letting her success change her way of life or how she viewed the world. Meetings at her house were always very relaxed and her sense of what was important in life meant that they could be fun as well as business-like. And Daphne the greyhound usually sat in the biggest chair.

“The world she and Gareth created around the twins continues to be relevant for today`s children, who still start school or go to the doctor for the first time and Topsy and Tim stories will go on for generations, helping to demystify rather scary first experiences with lots of fun along the way.”