Donald Bisset: biography, creativity

Donald Bisset is a writer, actor, artist and TV presenter. His works are small stories addressed to the smallest readers. For his long life more than a hundred short stories was created by Donald Bisset. "Forgotten birthday" - one of the few works of the English author, known in our country.

Actor

Donald Bisset was born in 1910. In the war years he served in the Royal Artillery in the rank of lieutenant. And after, in 1946, decided to devote his life to the cinema. Then, at the beginning of his acting career, Bisset got married. However, the marriage did not last long. Soon the actor divorced, but from his first marriage he had a son.

Little is known about the life of the British actor and writer. Perhaps, it 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. It was both feature films, and various shows, and children's programs. The most striking projects in which Bisset was involved are Doctor Who, One Foot in the Grave, Thank You for the Purchase. In the filmography of the actor more than twenty roles. However, the Russian audience of the film with Bisset's participation is unfamiliar, while among the compatriots the name of this children's writer is associated primarily with cinematography.

Writer

Donald Bisset was a very versatile man. Participation in television shows could not satisfy his creative potential. In parallel with the work of the presenter and filming in films, he began creating small stories for children.

His tales are somewhat different from the works of other authors. Sometimes they do not have a tie and a denouement. At first glance, it may even seem that they are meaningless. But this impression is created only by those who get acquainted with the work of the English writer already in adulthood. Those who read for the first time strange stories about the unknown beast Krokokote and the dragon Komodo to their young children.

Heroes of Bisset

What did Donald Bisset write about? His fairy tales were rather unusual. Characters are unique. Piglet, 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 characters - trains, owls, fog, a statue of Admiral Nelson, a tiger cub Rrrr. In his books there is no moralizing, but there is a special English humor. Slim, mocking, but devoid of any kind of arrogance.

Favorite characters of Donald Bisset were animals. They reasoned like people, carefully listened to stories of the storyteller, traveled. Also there were people: the queen, the wizard, the girl from the Khayget hill. The stories of Bisset's fairy tales were sometimes interrupted unexpectedly, reminiscent of an unfinished story, and sometimes had an unexpected ending. Donald Bisset was an author who can hardly be compared with any other writer. His characters are not like any of the characters from the classic fairy tales.

TV host

Bisset began to compose his stories commissioned by 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 small viewers. But this was not stopped by Donald Bisset. He began to supplement his books with his own illustrations in due course.

Artist

By the next release of the transfer Bisset drew small posters. Strange and uncomplicated at first glance. Reading to young viewers of the story of Uncle Tik-Tak, Nols, a girl from the Khayget hill, a philosopher beetle and other fictional characters, 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 himself.

Donald Bisset died in 1995. At home, he became famous primarily as an actor. In Russia, the name of Bisset became known through the cartoons created by his works. Their hearts are: "Raspberry jam", "All the somersaults", "Krokokot", "Vrednbga", "Music lesson".