Donald Bisset is a writer, actor, artist and television host. His works are small stories addressed to the smallest readers. During his long life, more than a hundred short tales created by Donald Bisset. “Forgotten Birthday” is one of the few works by an English author known in our country.
Actor
Donald Bisset was born in 1910. During the war years he served in the Royal Artillery with the rank of lieutenant. And then, in 1946, he decided to devote his life to cinema. Then, at the beginning of his acting career, Bisset married. However, the marriage did not last long. Soon the actor divorced, but from his first marriage he still had a son.
Little is known about the life of the British actor and writer. Perhaps he can be called the most mysterious of all storytellers. It is known that he was fond of horse riding in his youth, starred in films and conducted television programs.
In different periods of his biography, Donald Bisset took part in sixty-four television projects. These were feature films, various shows, and children's programs. The most striking projects in which Bisset was involved include Doctor Who, One Foot in the Grave, and Thank You for the Purchase. In the filmography of the actor, over twenty roles. However, the Russian audience of the film with the participation of Bisset is unfamiliar, while among compatriots the name of this children's writer is associated primarily with cinema.
Writer
Donald Bisset was an extremely versatile person. Participation in television shows could not satisfy his creative potential. In parallel with the work of the presenter and filming in films, he began to create small stories for children.
His tales are somewhat different from the works of other authors. In them, sometimes there is no tie and denouement. At first glance, it may even seem that they are devoid of any meaning. But such an impression is created only by those who get acquainted with the work of an English writer in adulthood. Those who read for the first time strange tales about the unknown beast Krokokot and the Komodo dragon to their young children.
Bisset's Heroes
What did Donald Bisset write about? His tales were rather unusual. Characters are unique. A pig named after the ancient Greek mythical character hovers in the air. City monuments suddenly come to life and begin to communicate with the clouds. Bisset's characters are trains, owls, fog, a statue of Admiral Nelson, a cub Rrrr. In his books there is no moralizing, but there is a special English humor. Subtle, mocking, but devoid of any arrogance.
Donald Bissett's favorite characters were animals. They reasoned like people, listened carefully to the stories of the storyteller, traveled. People also met: a queen, a wizard, a girl from a Highgate hill. The plots of Bysset's tales were sometimes suddenly interrupted, resembling an unfinished story, and sometimes they had an unexpected denouement. Donald Bisset was an author who can hardly be compared to any other writer. His characters are not like any character from classic fairy tales.
TV presenter
Bisset began to compose his stories on the order of one of the British television channels. But later he began to read his works in a children's program. As a writer and professional actor, he quickly gained popularity among young viewers. But even this did not stop Donald Bisset. Over time, he began to supplement his books with his own illustrations.
Painter
For the next issue of the program, Bisset drew small posters. Strange and uncomplicated at first glance. Reading stories about uncle Tik-Tak, Nolsa, a girl from a Highgate hill, a beetle philosopher and other fictional characters to young viewers, he demonstrated these funny drawings for clarity. And perhaps no one else could complement the unusual tales with illustrations so harmoniously. Subsequently, publishing his first collection of fairy tales, the author designed it on his own.
Donald Bisset died in 1995. At home, he became famous primarily as an actor. In Russia, the name of Bisset became known thanks to the cartoons created from his works. The hearts of them: "Raspberry Jam", "All Somersault", "Crococott", "Vrednbga", "Lesson of Music".