Philip Ardagh
About Author
Roald Dahl Funny Prize-winning author Philip Ardagh is the author of The Grunts. He is probably best known for his Grubtown Tales, but he is author of over 100 books. He is a 'regular irregular' reviewer of children's books for The Guardian, and is currently developing a series for television.
Philip Ardagh is two metres tall with a ridiculously big, bushy beard and size sixteen feet, making him an instantly recognisable figure at literary festivals around the world. He lives in Kent in the UK.
The Secret Diary of Jane Pinny is the second the in Secret Diaries series published by Nosy Crow, illustrated by Jamie Littler.
Interview
FURRY PURRY BEANCAT
NOSY CROW
SEPTEMBER 2020
We all know that cats have nine lives, and in this exciting new young fiction series by PHILIP ARDAGH, with fabulous illustrations by ROB BIDDULPH, Furry Purry Beancat gets to live some very exciting lives; every time he wakes up, he is in a different place and a different time.
In the first two books in the series, we visit a Victorian train station - where Beancat has a mystery to solve - and we take to the high seas on a pirate ship, where Beancat is the pirate captain's cat and there are adventures ahoy!
We asked PHILIP ARDAGH to tell us more about THE NINE LIVES OF FURRY PURRY BEANCAT!
Q: Can you tell us a little about your new Furry Purry Beancat series?
A: All cats have nine lives, but each one of Furry Purry Beancat's lives is different. One day, she may wake up aboard a pirate ship, the next on the platform of Victorian railway station, or on top of a huge bookcase in a library, or even in the lantern room at the top of a lighthouse!
Q: What about the furry, purry cat who helped inspire it?
A: I went to a pet shop to buy a short-haired black and white kitten, but Beancat - aka Beany - had a different idea. She pushed to the front of the cage and meowed, "Choose ME!" so I did. Who could resist this little fluffball, long-haired tabby and white? We were together for almost 18 years before she passed away, and she used to sit with me as I wrote, all purry and furry.
Q: What other kinds of pets have you had - and have any others helped to inspire you to write a story?
A: I never had a pet as a child, unless you count the one weekend when I had to look after the class tadpole. And he hadn't even grown legs by then!
I have been inspired by animals though, whether ones I've met in real life or, say, seen on television or in a video. I have a series called STICK & FETCH, illustrated by Elissa Elwick, and FETCH is a dog. A lot of his doggy behaviour is based on D.I.H.K.* [*Dogs I Have Known.]
Q: What do you enjoy most about writing fiction for younger readers?
A: Being able to write about anything and everything. Young readers are much more open to ideas and are happy to follow a story where it takes them, whereas, when we get older, lots of adult readers frown, cross their arms, clench their teeth and mutter, "I only want to read books about famous battles and Formula One racing," or, "If it doesn't have houseplants in it, I'm not interested."
Q: What happens in the first two Furry Purry Beancat books - The Pirate Captain's Cat and The Railway Cat?
A: Well, for a start, I hope the titles are clues. I like the idea that, just by looking at the covers - with those wonderful illustrations of Furry Purry Beancat by Rob Biddulph, who has drawn LOTS of pictures inside too - you can guess what they're about.
In THE PIRATE CAPTAIN'S CAT, Beancat finds her pirate captain's ship being invaded by the crew of another pirate ship and, with the help of a family of ship's rats - some brighter than others! - she has to do what she can to help save the day.
In THE RAILWAY CAPTAIN'S CAT, Beancat finds herself living during the reign of Queen Victoria, where she has to help to put a stop to some skulduggery and shenanigans on a railway line involving spies, with the help of a crow and a cockatoo!
Q: The Pirate Captain's Cat is a great adventure story, while The Railway Cat has a bit more of a mystery to it - are you planning to introduce different genres to the series?
A: Thank you. Well spotted! A part of the appeal for me is that the different lives can be presented in different ways. FPB can always be FPB: she's a little vain in that she KNOWS just how beautiful she is, she's loyal, she puzzles things out; and she's also very feline (which is a posh word for 'cat-like'), but the stories themselves can unfold very differently. For example, THE WITCH'S CAT is set in the 17th century, when ordinary people were accused of being witches, so has more of a historical feel.
Q: Why did you decide that Beancat would also be able to travel in time?
A: That's simple! So that her nine lives can happen anytime, anyplace, anywhere, which gives me the opportunity to choose the very BEST adventures for her.
Q: What else do you have planned for Beancat?
A: I'd like to see her in a museum, at a fire station, up a lighthouse, at a carnival. So MUCH to choose from!
Q: If you could fall asleep and wake up, like Beancat, in a different life - what life and what time would you choose?
A: I would like to wake up as THE WRITER'S CAT: me, as Beancat curled up on my - Philip Ardagh's - lap, so that we could be together again. Beancat may have died an old lady, but she lives on in my memories and in my heart and, now, through this new series. It makes it very special to me.
Q: How does your writing day go? What are you writing now?
A: It's not THAT different in the time of COVID-19 to before the pandemic. What I have missed out on is actually attending book festivals, and I had to cancel book trips to Abbu Dhabi and Switzerland.
I usually write five days a week, from around 9.00 to 5.30, with a walk with my son, Fred, at lunchtime. I sometimes do more writing in the evenings. This may sound boring, day in, day out, but you have to remember that there are lots of exciting things going on inside my head as I type!
Q: And what are your favourite escapes from writing?
A: I like reading but never seem to have as much time as I'd like. I love visiting old houses and churches and castles, too. (I've written books for The National Trust.) In fact, they might give me ideas for another of Furry Purry Beancat's nine lives!
Thank you for your questions, I've really enjoyed talking to you.
THE SECRET DIARY OF JANE PINNY, A VICTORIAN HOUSE MAID
(THE SECRET DIARY SERIES)
NOSY CROW
SEPTEMBER 2017
In this new series created for the National Trust, award-winning author Philip Ardagh steps back into the past to solve mysteries for today's young reader and to give them a glimpse into what life might have been like for these young people.
The Secret Diary of John Drawbridge, the first in the series, is a fictional diary of a young page, describing what life might have been like as a 'Medieval Knight in Training' - and there is a mystery at its heart. The latest book, The Secret Diary of Jane Pinny, takes us into the Victorian era and the life of a house maid - Jane Pinney - who helps her masters to solve a puzzling mystery.
The books have lively black and white drawings by illustrator Jamie Littler and would be enjoyed by children aged 8+.
We found out more from author PHILIP ARDAGH who answered the following questions for us:
Q: These books are part of a series for the National Trust. Why were you interested in taking on this project?
A: I've loved exploring old houses and castle ruins since childhood. My parents were members of the National Trust and The Ministry of Works - now English Heritage - and we'd spend many hours of the school holidays visiting such places... so the National Trust name alone was enough to whet my appetite.
My brief was to write four books covering: castles, Victorian houses, Tudor Manors and the countryside, in a secret diary format, making sure that they were both fact-filled AND funny.
What was the breakthrough for me was when I decided to give each character a cod 'period voice' and have them write like that, but without being strictly accurate; playing with their voices and the use of phrases, and keeping it fun. That way they're distinctively different.
I also decided that plenty of the facts could go in footnotes, so the action wasn't tied down to having-to-fit-everything-into-the-narrative.
Q: Are you a National Trust member today? What places do you remember visiting as a child?
A: Yes, I carried on my parents' tradition and I have a family membership today. I have a real soft spot for Bodium Castle and Knole, but there's always the excitement of discovering properties new to us.
I well remember the excitement of visiting Pevensey Castle as a child, and discovering its connections with the Romans invaders AND William the Conqueror.
Q: What sparked your own love of history, was it at school or elsewhere?
A: I've never been particularly academic (or sporty!) and, for A level History, I ended up doing 'Reform & Reaction in the Age of Wilkes and Liberty' when I'd far, far, far rather have been looking at Henry VIII or Charles I... or just about anything, so my love of history certainly didn't come from school.
By living in Britain, we're lucky enough to be living in a landscape with history and prehistory - our past - very much on show. We have burial chambers, hill forts, castles, roads, Roman villas, palaces, mansions, stately homes and so on scattered across the landscape. Our towns and villages are peppered with black-and-white beamed medieval buildings... and then there are the churches, some dating back to before the Norman Conquest. I have visited hundreds and hundreds of old churches in my lifetime!
Q: The first two books are set in a Medieval castle (Medieval Knight in Training) and a large Victorian house (The Secret Diary of Jane Pinny). How much research did you need to do into these periods before writing your stories?
A: In effect, I have been researching these books for years without knowing it! Sitting down to write them, I found myself thinking about all the exciting things I'd discovered for myself when visiting National Trust properties, and I continued to do so whilst writing.
It did require an element of background reading and checking, of course, but was a wonderful mix of research both in the field and on the page.
Q: Is the castle in Medieval Knight in Training based on a real castle? What do you think would have been the worst thing about being a knight in training?
A: No, Widemoat Castle isn't based on any particular castle. With each 'secret diary', I gave the main character a name relating to their role. We all know what a drawbridge is, which is how John Drawbridge got his name, and Jane Pinny is named after the pinny - the apron - that Victorian housemaids had to wear. I also gave the castle an unlikely name. It's owned by Lord Widemoat, though it's unclear whether he's named after the castle or the castle after him.
In the back of each diary, I clearly state that although the characters and places in the book aren't real, the information, history, life and times are. As it boldly states on the cover, front AND back: ONLY THE FACTS ARE TRUE.
All of this is designed to make a clear distinction, which is important to me. It doesn't stop the books being a roller-coaster ride!
As for the worst thing about being a knight-in-training? The sheer hard work, and the fact that you were trying to please a lot of people a lot of the time in a very male environment.
Q: In The Secret Diary of Jane Pinny, we find out what life was like 'below stairs' for the servants of big houses. Was there anything in your research about life for servants that surprised you?
A: It wasn't so much that something surprised me. It was more that the more I researched the more it was reinforced that life below stairs could be hell. Series such as Downton Abbey may make great television but they paint a very rosy picture of life for servants in big houses.
In reality, there was a huge population of uneducated people looking for work, so a servant could be fired at the drop of a hat - on a whim - and be replaced that same day. And, without a good reference, that servant might find it hard to work again. The hours were long, conditions poor, and there were no unions looking out for your wellbeing.
I include a list of strict rules for servants in The Secret Diary of Jane Pinny, and each rule was a real one. Life was hard.
Q: Why did you decide to write these books as a diary series - especially as many of your narrators would not have been able to write?
The publisher came to me with the idea of their being secret diaries... and I had to find a way to make them work.
The great thing about this format is that the character writing the diary is writing on a particular day when they have a particular belief or feeling (which may change in a later diary entry). There can be no "little did I realise then..." or suchlike. No over-view from the outset or looking back. We're in there as it's being recorded.
As for the 'how can we have a diary written by someone who couldn't actually write?' dilemma, I think this adds to the fun element. I had to be ingenious! As a Victorian maid, Jane Pinny can't write so Plump, the pigeon who sleeps on the ledge outside her attic room window, offers to write it for her. This ups the comedy value, reminds us that ONLY THE FACTS ARE TRUE, instantly creates a human/animal bond and gets me out of a hole!
In the third book, The Secret Diary of Thomas Snoop, Tudor Boy Spy, Thomas is writing the diary in code as a report to his spymaster, Lord Severn. The conceit is that it's been translated from the code but that Thomas made a few coding errors along the way...
Q: Why did you decide to include a detecting element in these stories?
A: The great thing about detective stories - whether a 1,000-page novel, a short story or a subplot - is that they have a beginning, a middle and an end: something happens, it needs to be solved, the culprit is unmasked or the reason explained. It keeps the reader reading, and reading more closely. Detecting is also ripe for misunderstanding and misdirection and FUN. (There's that word again.)
Q: In the footnotes you explain words, incidents and other facts you mention in your stories. What was it like including fact and fiction in these books?
A: I enjoy writing fiction and I enjoy writing non-fiction, and fusing them together to write 'faction' is very enjoyable. I think it important that people reading a mix of truth and made-up KNOW it's a mix. I don't want a reader to think for one minute that John Drawbridge was a genuine historical character but I want them to feel that the world he inhabits has a real truth to it. I genuinely believe one has a responsibility when writing 'faction' for children.
Q: Do you have a favourite footnote / fact from each book?
A: I'd rather ask you which YOUR favourites are!
Q: How do you get the language to work, especially as you give your characters many phrases and words from the past?
A: The language - the voice - for each secret diary is a challenge, but a nice one. It's a matter of trial and error but, once I find the right level, the character comes alive to me and hopefully on the page for the reader.
The great thing about including period insults, nicknames and phrases is that they can lead me off on a tangent in the footnotes to explain something which might hold up the story but is well worth knowing as a fact.
I'm currently trying to find a voice for the smuggler's daughter in Book Four.
Q: What do you think Jamie Littler's illustrations bring to the books?
A: Jamie has the unenviable task of having to create funny, dramatic, characterful illustrations of all shapes and sizes WHICH ARE HISTORICALLY ACCURATE. These books have the National Trust's name on them. He can't risk making great big boo-boos... and I think he's done a truly amazing job!
The look of the secret diaries sets the whole tone of the series before anyone's read a single word and Jamie and the designer have done a fantastic job. Jamie gets so much movement into his pictures and expression into his characters and often draws things from very cinematic angles. I'm delighted!
Q: What other periods are you planning to visit, and what are you looking forward to covering?
A: I've mentioned Tudor and also the smuggling, which is late 18th/early 19th century, but I'll have to wait and see if the National Trust want to commission more diaries. I have some ideas - *lowers voice* - but I'm not going to tell you.
Q: If you could go back in time, where would you go and where would you want to have lived at that time?
A: Such a difficult question! With modern medical advances, it's easy to forget that numerous ailments that are so easily cured today could have caused serious discomfort, pain and even death in just about any other period in history!
The reign of Queen Elisabeth I must have been fascinating and I'd love to have visited Shakespeare's Globe theatre when the bard himself was there... then come home to my 21st-century bed with clean sheets in my centrally-heated house. Well, you did ask!
Q: Where is your favourite place to write and what are you writing now?
A: I have both an office and a study in my home. At the moment, my office is more of a store room. There is a desk computer with a large screen in there but the bookshelves have reached capacity and there are piles of books on the floor, which I have to navigate like a maze every time I need to get to the printer.
My study, on the other hand, is much more civilized, with a wingback chair where I sit and work on my laptop. There's a view of woods from my window, and a squirrel often stares back at me.
As well as the latest secret diary, I'm working on the LITTLE ADVENTURERS series of picture-books with Elissa Elwick (which she co-writes as well as draws); a girl-and-dog detective series called STICK & FETCH, also illustrated by Elissa; and some very silly books illustrated by Tom Morgan-Jones. I'm busy and life is good.
The Railway Cat
The Pirate Captain's Cat
National Trust: The Secret Diary of Jane Pinny, Victorian House Maid
