Helen Day
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Helen Day
@lbflyawayhome.bsky.social
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Devoted to vintage Ladybird books and the other work of their artists. My exhibition The Wonderful World of the Ladybird Artists has been travelling since 2018. Twitter: @lbflyawayhome
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It would have been artist Martin Aitchison’s birthday this week (b.1919 - d. 2016)
Here are some of his books for Ladybird
A photograph showing the front covers of a pile of about 60 different ladybird books, including a number from the Peter and Jane Reading scheme and some ‘well-loved tales’
November 21, 2025 at 7:34 PM
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Happy Friday

(Five Little Kittens, 1955)
Artist: A Macgregor
Five kittens,three on their hind legs, celebrate with toys, trumpets and flags
November 21, 2025 at 8:10 AM
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How do you do that with paint?
The mastery of artist Harry Wingfield.
‘Cherries’
Picture Book (1973)
A photo realistic illustration of a close-up of cherries in a white bowl, spilling out onto the table
November 20, 2025 at 8:28 PM
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Something cheerful for a chilly November day.
This wonderful 1950s Austin car brochure was printed by Wills & Hepworth, the firm behind the 'Ladybird' brand.
(Artist uncredited)
A bright red minibus filled with cheerful travellers drives up the hill of a coastal road on a sunny day. The headlamps and the radiator grill give something of the look of a smile to the van
November 20, 2025 at 8:11 AM
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Oompus the omnibus,
from Tootles the Taxi (1956)
Artist: John Kenney
A double-decker bus, yellow and blue, drives through the rain. As with all the transport in this book, it has a face and a personality
November 19, 2025 at 8:25 PM
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“The shepherd is looking up at a large skein of whooper swans which has come from colder climes. Like geese, they fly in V-formation”

(What to look for in Autumn, 1960)
Artist: CF Tunnicliffe
Writer: EL Grant Watson
The shepherd, standing among a flock of sheep, looks up at the dark and stormy sky
November 19, 2025 at 8:15 AM
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Ladybird things I really, really wanted, part 25.
A dress with a sticky-out skirt

Artist: Kenneth Inns
A girl stands in a greenhouse, tending a series of potted plants. She is dressed very primly in a blue dress with a stiffly sticky-out skirt.
November 18, 2025 at 7:26 PM
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Shell Guide, 1955:
“Between the mild days, November frosts strip the coloured leaves of the shrubs and climbers of the hedgerow so that all the fruits of early winter show more vigourously against a paler sky”
Artists: Edith & Rowland Hilder
Writer: Geoffrey Grigson
November 18, 2025 at 9:12 AM
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“The beech is one of our largest and most beautiful forest trees”
(Trees, 1963)
Artist: SR Badmin
View of a beech wood looking up at the lovely autumnal orange foliage . In the foreground, we see the fruit and a close-up of the leaves
November 17, 2025 at 7:34 PM
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Ladybird wisdom, 1975

“With so much noise in the world, we have to listen carefully to the things that are worth hearing”

(‘Sounds’, Artist: BH Robinson)
A boy listens intently to an album on a record player while in outline beside him we see an aeroplane, lorry and motorbike
November 17, 2025 at 8:13 AM
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The modern world in old Ladybird.

Hovercraft on the Thames, 1972
Artist: Frank Humphris
Tower Bridge is raised as the hovercraft passes beneath, watched from the bank by curious passers by
November 16, 2025 at 7:40 PM
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“On a willow twig a kingfisher perches. It watches the eels with interest, but these are well-grown and too big for him to catch”

‘What to Look for in Autumn’
Artist: CF Tunnicliffe Writer:
EL Grant Watson
A tiny kingfisher gleams out from dense overarching willows bordering a narrow river
November 16, 2025 at 8:17 AM
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Other work by the Ladybird artists.
Monsal Dale in Autumn
Cover picture, Readers Digest, 1983
Artist: SR Badmin
A scene full of intense autumnal colour, looking towards distant hills and crags with foreground of river and a farmstead
November 15, 2025 at 8:06 PM
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Jobs for pocket money

(Helping at Home, 1961)
Artist: Harry Wingfield
A boy and a girl ‘help’ their dad to wash the car parked outside on the drive, while dad looks on and smokes his pipe looking pleased with himself
November 15, 2025 at 8:23 AM
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Just look at this joy of a photo.
Jane’s shop - a study for an illustration in one of the first books I remember: Peter and Jane 1b (1963)
Artist: Harry Wingfield
Original reference photograph showing Jane posing in front of a table covered with toys The completed artwork of Peter and Jane and Pat the dog, playing at ‘shops’
November 14, 2025 at 6:45 PM
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Happy Friday!

‘Gallant Old Engine’ (1962)
(Ladybird Artist John Kenney also illustrated for Rev. W. Awdry’s Railway Series)
Scene from Railway Series book of a red steam engine battling through rain and gale - with a very annoyed look on its face
November 14, 2025 at 8:10 AM
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Other work by the Ladybird artists
‘November on the Dorset Coast’
Whitbread calendar 1971
Artist: SR Badmin
Close-up of the flora to be found in autumn along a coastal hedgerow near white cliffs
November 13, 2025 at 8:11 PM
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Ladybird book in the Spotlight.
Underwater Exploration, 1967.
(Particularly haunting illustrations)
Artist: B Knight
Front cover of the book, featuring two divers and a ray
November 13, 2025 at 8:26 AM
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Other work of the Ladybird artists.
The Beech Wood
Artist: CF Tunnicliffe
The scene looks as if it has come straight out of the pages of ‘what to look for in autumn’ but is not. The scene focuses on the woodland floor and the creatures who live among the lovely rusty leaves
November 12, 2025 at 8:38 PM
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Original Ladybird artwork - John Berry’s sensitive portrait of the ‘handler’ in a scene from ‘The Pottery Makers’ (Stoke on Trent, 1969)
A photo-realistic illustration of a woman working at a Stoke on Trent factory, carefully producing the handles for a cup
November 12, 2025 at 7:44 AM
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Other work by the Ladybird artists
‘November’ (1958)
Artist: Ronald Lampitt
The bottom of a very large garden sees lots of gardening activity on a sunny autumn day. A man digs a border, a woman and small dog sweep up and another woman wheelbarrows away debris
November 11, 2025 at 7:05 PM
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Other work of the Ladybird artists.
The delicacy and detail here
‘Autumn Wedding’
Artist : SR Badmin
A finally detailed mixed media illustration of an old church completely surrounded by autumn trees. Right in the foreground, near the Lichgate, a wedding scene is taking place
November 11, 2025 at 8:08 AM
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The Ladybird look
The quilted anorak, 1973.
(Did we all have one?)
Artist: Martin Aitchison
Two children, Peter and Jane, show their tickets to walk onto a train platform. Jane‘s anorak is green and Peter’s is blue.
November 10, 2025 at 8:22 PM
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I once found this very touching inscription in a book:

“This book belongs to Gillian Love, aged 7
8
10
12
60”
The front cover of the ladybird book sleeping beauty
November 9, 2025 at 8:01 PM
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“Among the fallen beech leaves”

Artist: CF Tunnicliffe
(What to Look for in Autumn, 1960)
A red squirrel is pictured burying a nut at the foot of a beech tree while nearby we see a hen blackbird - and a jay flying overhead
November 9, 2025 at 8:06 AM