Maggie Kneen, Children's Author & Illustrator.

We inherited our first, tiny black-and-white television when I was three; quite naturally, I immediately wanted to be Farmer Sam from the The Woodentops. I planted old potatoes in a square patch of soil edged with old bricks, and would march down the garden to tend my crops, munching on bread and cheese just like Sam would, out in his fields.

Early children’s animation, it seems, had an even greater influence on my creativity than books did—‘The Herbs’, ‘Camberwick Green’ and the fantastic ‘Clangers’ in particular. ‘Noggin the Nog’ sparked an interest in Viking history that is still with me today; this was compounded when I was eleven and my Grandpa told me that whilst he had been researching our family name at the Picton Library in Liverpool, he had discovered that we were descended from the Vikings who settled on the Isle of Man over a thousand years ago, and that the family had lived there ever since. The name ‘Kneen’, he said, meant ‘Clan of the Wolf’. In the spirit of Noggin, and with the magic voice of Oliver Postgate ringing in my ears, I dared to believe it.

I’m very keen to inspire children, and adults, to learn more about our fantastic Universe (thanks to astronomer Patrick Moore, and the Clangers!) and our history within it (thanks to Noggin). Children have incredible imaginations and a great capacity to dream up what may seem to adults like impossibly magical solutions. Adults, however, can also access and harness the creative thinking of their own 'inner child', often with amazing results.