Norman Hunter

Norman George Lorimer Hunter (23 November 1899 – 23 February 1995) was a British writer of children's literature. He is particularly known for creating the Professor Branestawm book series. Early life Hunter was born in Sydenham, England, on 23 November 1899. He attended Beckenham County School for Boys (later known as Beckenham and Penge Grammar School and then Langley Park School for Boys). He left school to volunteer for service in the London Irish Rifles in the First World War. Career After the war Hunter became an advertising copywriter. In the 1930s he performed as a stage magician in Bournemouth. He also wrote popular books on writing for advertising, brain-teasers and conjuring, among many other topics, but his best-known works were about the character Professor Branestawm, originally written for radio. The first book, The Incredible Adventures of Professor Branestawm, was published in hardback in 1933 with illustrations by W. Heath Robinson; the second, Professor Branestawm's Treasure Hunt in 1937 with drawings by James Arnold. George Adamson illustrated the reissue of Professor Branestawm's Treasure Hunt in 1966, and when Norman Hunter brought out his third book in the series in 1970 after a gap of more than thirty years, Adamson provided the illustrations. Two further Professor Branestawm titles were then published with Adamson's drawings. Other artists were to provide illustrations for later books in the series: Gerald Rose; David Hughes; Jill McDonald, and Derek Cousins. Many of the books were reissued in Puffin Books, The Incredible Adventures of Professor Branestawm under Eleanor Graham's editorship in 1946, and many others under Kaye Webb's in the 1960s and 1970s. Hunter returned to London during the Second World War and lived on a boat on the Thames. In 1949 he went to work in South Africa and stopped writing fiction. After his retirement in 1970, he once again returned to London, where Thames Television had just produced an eight-part TV series, Professor Branestawm. He continued writing in his retirement and his last book was published in 1983.