Orlando is, of course, a utopian cat who, disliking the world as he finds it, wants to change it. In Orlando Becomes A Doctor, there is a perfect picture of a hospital as it might be. He takes on a French chef to improve his patients' diet; he evolves the ideal cure for the rich, which is to give away half their money to the poor. When you look at him closely, he is terribly alternative.

Grace - The wife of Orlando, she and the kittens almost always accompany Orlando. She often wears large hats and skirts, and once wore a wedding-dress made of fish on their (Orlando's and Grace's) wedding day, and in Orlando's Home Life wore a fur coat in the pattern of a leopard's fur. She is a tabby cat, with a small, stubby nose like a ripe apricot. [3] Orlando (the Marmalade Cat): His Silver Wedding (1944) - Also known as Orlando's Silver Wedding, this book tells the story of Orlando and Grace's marriage. In Paris, in the 1920s, she met Cedric Morris and Lett Haines. She was later a frequent visitor to their Benton End community in Essex, centre of the East Anglian school of painting, where art, gastronomy and horticulture mingled. She had a long liaison with the bisexual Haines, who called her "Moggy". He appears in Orlando's Silver Wedding (1944) as the cloth-capped cat napper whose feelings for the feline carry him away.Orlando the Judge (1950) - When Mr. Gorgon suspects Mr. Zola of stealing his cheese, Orlando is in despair that his two friends are arguing. He is then called to Judge Wiggins, who has a cold and is not getting better as his arrogant pet cat named Fluffy takes everything he needs to eat. Orlando eventually takes his place while Grace boils Wiggins some milk, and the kittens investigate the mystery of the missing cheese. At the end of the book, it is revealed that Fluffy stole the cheese for his mouse-trap (for he is frightened of mice), and he eventually becomes a guard for the Old Mice's Home as punishment. Mr. Gorgon and Mr. Zola become friends again, and Wiggins' cold begins to get better. She was the cat's whiskers at a time when illustration was changing its whole nature. She was expert at integrating pictures with the text and paved the way for a new school of illustrator-storytellers, whose current star is Quentin Blake. When Hale was 96, her autobiography, A Slender Reputation, finally appeared. The title was taken from Cedric Morris's query, "Do you mean to tell me Kathleen, that you have hung your slender reputation on the broad shoulders of a eunuch cat?" Her characteristically witty memoir contains an unforgettable account of her employment as Augustus Johns's secretary at the age of 22, where her most arduous duties entailed trawling the King's Road pubs to find the artist, once his aristocratic sitters had arrived. Kathleen Hale was born in Lanarkshire, but brought up in Manchester. Her father died when she was five and her mother decided to take over his job as travelling salesman for Chappell's pianos. [1] From 1903 to 1905 she lived at the vicarage in Shelf, West Yorkshire where her interests in botany and illustrating developed. [2] Her childhood was far from idyllic and she was forced to endure long periods of separation from her mother. This, along with the frustrations of an unexpressed artistic talent, produced a rebellious reaction in the young girl's naturally ebullient nature. However, her talent as an artist was recognised at school by a sympathetic headmistress at Manchester High School for Girls and she went on to attend art courses in Manchester and, from 1915 to 1917, at University College, Reading, where she was taught by Allen W. Seaby. [3] Career [ edit ]

She was constantly sketching the family cats, and their antics gave her ideas for further stories. The horse 'Vulcan' who appears in some was based on a huge Shire horse called 'Prince' that she had had to learn to manage when she was in the Land Army in 1918. Eventually there were 18 books in all, some produced by Country Life and some by other publishers; they have been reprinted numerous times. The last to appear was The Water Cats in 1972. Orlando - The hero of the series, he is a marmalade-coloured cat with eyes like two green gooseberries. He sometimes keeps his watch on his tail, and later on in the series he is friends with a living magic carpet named Fatima. Fluffy - Judge Wiggins' pet cat, he is the villain in Orlando the Judge for stealing Mr. Gorgon's cheese for his mousetraps. He eventually became a guardian for the Old Mice's Home as punishment. Kathleen Hale died in Bristol on 26 January 2000, aged 101. [8] Bibliography [ edit ] Orlando series [ edit ] The Orlando (The Marmalade Cat) books were created by Kathleen Hale for her two children, and Orlando was inspired by their real-life cat Orlando. [1] When Country Life first published Orlando (the Marmalade Cat): A Camping Holiday, it became an instant success. Kathleen Hale then continued the series, giving Orlando a magic carpet in 1958, and ended the series with Orlando and the Water Cats (1972).Orlando, the beautiful marmalade cat with eyes like "twin green gooseberries", made his first picture book debut in 1938, to instant acclaim. His adventures grew into a series of eighteen books which, with their exciting, humorous stories and distinctive illustrations full of interesting detail and visual jokes, have become classics of children's literature. They are now reissued in editions that faithfully reproduce the elegant folio format of the originals, to delight a new generations of children and bring nostalgic pleasure to all Orlando's former admirers. One of their cats was named Orlando, and he was a particular favourite of elder son Peregrine, who was devoted to him, and that is how the ginger cat came to be the central character in the stories. The first tales were written to entertain the young boys at bedtime; later they were lodged with a literary agent, but he did not find a publisher for them. That didn't happen until a friend of Hale's took them to Country Life, whose editor was known to the friend. He was enthusiastic and as a result the first two books, A Camping Holiday and A Trip Abroad were published in 1938 and 1939 respectively. After these two Kathleen learned to do the lithography herself, which took a great deal of time and dedication although it reduced costs. She once described herself as someone with a talent for being in the right place at the right time. Bernard Meninsky taught her at the Central School; she became an Augustus John groupie and claimed that his beautiful and taciturn wife, Dorelia, influenced her more than anyone - she remembered Dorelia with an armful of Siamese kittens, and, in her books, the kittens often come in armfuls. Augustus himself makes an appearance as the art master in Orlando's Home Life (1942). a b Oxford University Press (21 June 2012). Benezit Dictionary of British Graphic Artists and Illustrators. OUP USA. p.502. ISBN 978-0-19-992305-2.

The Independent, Jun 1994, review of Hale's autobiography: A marmalade cat in Fitzrovia: Christina Hardyment on the irrepressible creator of Orlando. Wiggins - Wiggins is a judge who owns Fluffy the cat. He appears in Orlando the Judge, with a cold. Kathleen Hale married Douglas McClean, a young doctor working in medical research, and they settled in Hertfordshire. She created the marmalade cat Orlando and his world to entertain her children at bedtime, and in the late 1930s she began producing her series of books about him, among the earliest picture books produced using photolithography. [5] In 1941 Orlando's Evening Out became the first fictional picture book published by Puffin Books, the children's imprint of Penguin Books. [6] Hale was the castaway on Desert Island Discs on BBC Radio 4 on 30 October 1994. She was interviewed by Sue Lawley and chose the Catalan song " Cobla La Principal de Peralada [ ca]" as well as pieces by Anton Karas, Gertrude Lawrence and Scott Joplin as her favourite records, Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time as her choice of book, and a djellaba made from golden cloth as her luxury item. [7] The idea of Orlando came to her in Italy, when she was travelling with her husband. The train had pulled into a country station, and there was a voluminous woman standing behind a table selling lemonade. She called out "Orlando," rolling the Italian vowels. A small boy emerged from under the white tablecloth, with hair the colour of a Seville orange.In this enchanting tale, Orlando wants to take his wife, Grace, their children Pansy, Blanche and Tinkle to the seaside for a summer holiday. Unfortunately all the hotels and boarding houses are full so he looks as though he is going to have to abandon the idea.

Kathleen Hale was born in Broughton, Salford, Lancashire and was brought up in a suburb of Manchester. Her childhood was far from idyllic: her father died when she was very young and she was forced to endure long periods of separation from her mother. This, along with the frustrations of an unexpressed artistic talent, produced a rebellious reaction in the young girl's naturally ebullient nature. However, her talent as an artist was recognised at school by a sympathetic headmistress at Manchester High School for Girls and she went on to attend art courses in Manchester and at the University College, Reading. She married Douglas McClean, a young doctor working in medical research. They settled in Hertfordshire where they could bring up their two young sons and entertain their friends. She created Orlando and his world to entertain her children at bedtime. Orlando The Marmalade Cat 'with eyes like twin gooseberries' was one of the classic children's book characters of the 1940s and 1950s. The stories are known for their quirky wit and extravagant illustrations. They combine adventure with friendship and family life. As the creator of Orlando, Kathleen was awarded the OBE in 1976. I still think they are excellent children's books, and Kathleen's own illustrations are superb. The year each title was first published will be found in the image captions. The stamp ( top right) was issued by Great Britain in 1994 as one of a set of 10 Greetings stamps depicting characters from well-known British children's stories.Kathleen Hale was part of a very English artistic tradition of mild bohemianism and modest bloodymindedness. "I broke all the rules of decent behaviour," she once said. Her marriage in 1926 to Douglas Maclean, a doctor working in medical research, was unconventional in that it had been suggested by his father, Dr John Maclean, medical superintendent of the London Fever Hospital, whose treatment of Hale for suspected diptheria had led to "a great and loving friendingship". Maclean Sr felt that the gap in their ages was too large to marry her himself. We all have our favourite image of the marmalade monster. My own is the moment when Orlando, emboldened by a swig of milk to busk in a Dieppe café, renders his "world-famous imitation of a ham". BBC, Oct 1994: listen to Kathleen Hale speaking as a castaway on Desert Island Discs aged 96, following the publication of her book. (For those unfamiliar with this long-running programme's premise and format, see Wikipedia.)