Allan Ahlberg, the author of beloved children's books such as Each Peach Pear Plum and Burglar Bill, has died at the age of 87. He wrote more than 150 books, many with his wife, the award-winning illustrator Janet Ahlberg, until her death in 1994. Later he worked with illustrators including Raymond Briggs and Bruce Ingman, and collaborated with his daughter Jessica on several projects.
Born in 1938 and adopted into a working-class family in Oldbury, West Midlands, Ahlberg initially worked as a postman, plumber's mate and gravedigger before being encouraged to train as a teacher. It was at teacher training college in Sunderland that he met Janet Hall, whom he married in 1969. When she asked him to write a story for her to illustrate, he said it was 'as if she turned a key in my back and I was off.'
Their breakthrough came in 1976 with The Old Joke Book, followed by Burglar Bill and The Vanishment of Thomas Tull in 1977. The following year, Each Peach Pear Plum earned Janet the Kate Greenaway medal and was hailed as 'a work of genius' by critic Elaine Moss. Peepo!, a wartime baby's day with cut-out peepholes, drew on Ahlberg's own childhood.
Their daughter Jessica inspired The Baby's Catalogue and The Jolly Postman, a hugely successful book with envelopes containing letters to fairy-tale characters, which sold over 6 million copies. After Janet's death from breast cancer in 1994, Ahlberg continued writing, finding solace in a book created in her memory.
Belinda Ioni Rasmussen, CEO of Walker Books, described Ahlberg as 'enormously playful in spirit and language' and said he 'inspired generations of children's writers.' His books, with their nimble rhymes and colourful characters, have delighted readers for decades.
