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Michael Morpurgo
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Michael Morpurgo
Sir Michael Andrew Bridge Morpurgo (né Bridge; born 5 October 1943) is an English book author, poet, playwright, and librettist who is known best for children's novels such as War Horse (1982). His work is noted for its "magical storytelling", for recurring themes such as the triumph of an outsider or survival, for characters' relationships with nature, and for vivid settings such as the Cornish coast or the trenches of the First World War. Morpurgo was the third Children's Laureate, from 2003 to 2005, and is President of BookTrust, a children's reading charity.
Morpurgo was born Michael Andrew Bridge in 1943 in St Albans, Hertfordshire, the second child of actor Tony Van Bridge and actress Kippe Cammaerts (daughter of the writer and poet Émile Cammaerts). Both RADA graduates, his parents had met when they were acting in the same repertory company in 1938. His grandfather, Arthur Stanley Bridge, was a lighterage contractor and the son of a Wandsworth coal merchant, while his mother's family were actors, an opera singer, writers, and poets. They were married in 1941 while Van Bridge, having been called up in 1939 and by then stationed in Scotland, was on leave from the army. Morpurgo's brother Pieter was born in 1942. When Morpurgo was born the following year, his father was stationed in Baghdad.
While Van Bridge was away at war, Kippe Cammaerts met Jack Morpurgo (subsequently professor of American Literature at the University of Leeds). When Van Bridge returned to England in 1946, Cammaerts obtained a divorce from him and married Jack Morpurgo in 1947. Although they were not formally adopted, Morpurgo and his brother took on their step-father's name. Morpurgo's older brother, Pieter Morpurgo, later became a BBC television producer and director. He has two younger half siblings, Mark and Kay Morpurgo. Their mother was frail, having suffered a breakdown when she was 19, and grieved the loss of her brother Pieter, who was killed in the war in 1941, for the rest of her life.
Morpurgo and his brother were evacuated to Northumberland when they were very young. After they returned to London, the family lived in Philbeach Gardens, Earl's Court, where the children played on nearby bombsites. Morpurgo went to primary school at St Matthias, Earl's Court. The family later moved to Bradwell-on-Sea in Essex, where Morpurgo would live during the school holidays, having been sent to a boarding school in Sussex when he was seven years old. The school was very strict and the boys were beaten frequently. During this period Morpurgo developed a stutter. His unhappy experiences at boarding school would later inform his novel The Butterfly Lion. After six years at The Abbey School in Ashurst Wood, Morpurgo then went to the King's School, an independent school in Canterbury, Kent, where he felt less homesick than at his previous school.
Morpurgo did not learn who his biological father was until he was 19 years old. After the divorce from Michael's mother, Van Bridge had emigrated to Canada and was never talked about. Morpurgo never saw an image of his father until, while watching the 1962 CBC version of Great Expectations on TV with his mother, she recognised Van Bridge in the role of Magwitch and said to Michael "That's your father!" They met in person nine years later.
Morpurgo's stepfather was not encouraging to his sons and was disappointed that they were not meeting his expectations for them of going into academia like him, calling Michael "a bear with very little brain." His stepfather decided he should join the army and Morpurgo attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He quickly realised that a soldier's life was not for him and left after nine months. He said later that reading the poems of the First World War poets when he was a young soldier were "part of the reason I left the army and became a teacher and then a writer of many books about war in which a longing for peace and reconciliation is always evident."
Morpurgo later went to study at King's College London, reading English, French, and Philosophy, and graduated with a third class degree. He then joined the teaching profession with a job at Wickhambreaux Primary School in Canterbury, Kent. He also, in 1968, briefly taught at St. Faith's School in Cambridge.
It was not until he was teaching in Kent that Morpurgo discovered his vocation in life, of which he later said "I could see there was magic in it for them, and realized there was magic in it for me."
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Michael Morpurgo
Sir Michael Andrew Bridge Morpurgo (né Bridge; born 5 October 1943) is an English book author, poet, playwright, and librettist who is known best for children's novels such as War Horse (1982). His work is noted for its "magical storytelling", for recurring themes such as the triumph of an outsider or survival, for characters' relationships with nature, and for vivid settings such as the Cornish coast or the trenches of the First World War. Morpurgo was the third Children's Laureate, from 2003 to 2005, and is President of BookTrust, a children's reading charity.
Morpurgo was born Michael Andrew Bridge in 1943 in St Albans, Hertfordshire, the second child of actor Tony Van Bridge and actress Kippe Cammaerts (daughter of the writer and poet Émile Cammaerts). Both RADA graduates, his parents had met when they were acting in the same repertory company in 1938. His grandfather, Arthur Stanley Bridge, was a lighterage contractor and the son of a Wandsworth coal merchant, while his mother's family were actors, an opera singer, writers, and poets. They were married in 1941 while Van Bridge, having been called up in 1939 and by then stationed in Scotland, was on leave from the army. Morpurgo's brother Pieter was born in 1942. When Morpurgo was born the following year, his father was stationed in Baghdad.
While Van Bridge was away at war, Kippe Cammaerts met Jack Morpurgo (subsequently professor of American Literature at the University of Leeds). When Van Bridge returned to England in 1946, Cammaerts obtained a divorce from him and married Jack Morpurgo in 1947. Although they were not formally adopted, Morpurgo and his brother took on their step-father's name. Morpurgo's older brother, Pieter Morpurgo, later became a BBC television producer and director. He has two younger half siblings, Mark and Kay Morpurgo. Their mother was frail, having suffered a breakdown when she was 19, and grieved the loss of her brother Pieter, who was killed in the war in 1941, for the rest of her life.
Morpurgo and his brother were evacuated to Northumberland when they were very young. After they returned to London, the family lived in Philbeach Gardens, Earl's Court, where the children played on nearby bombsites. Morpurgo went to primary school at St Matthias, Earl's Court. The family later moved to Bradwell-on-Sea in Essex, where Morpurgo would live during the school holidays, having been sent to a boarding school in Sussex when he was seven years old. The school was very strict and the boys were beaten frequently. During this period Morpurgo developed a stutter. His unhappy experiences at boarding school would later inform his novel The Butterfly Lion. After six years at The Abbey School in Ashurst Wood, Morpurgo then went to the King's School, an independent school in Canterbury, Kent, where he felt less homesick than at his previous school.
Morpurgo did not learn who his biological father was until he was 19 years old. After the divorce from Michael's mother, Van Bridge had emigrated to Canada and was never talked about. Morpurgo never saw an image of his father until, while watching the 1962 CBC version of Great Expectations on TV with his mother, she recognised Van Bridge in the role of Magwitch and said to Michael "That's your father!" They met in person nine years later.
Morpurgo's stepfather was not encouraging to his sons and was disappointed that they were not meeting his expectations for them of going into academia like him, calling Michael "a bear with very little brain." His stepfather decided he should join the army and Morpurgo attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He quickly realised that a soldier's life was not for him and left after nine months. He said later that reading the poems of the First World War poets when he was a young soldier were "part of the reason I left the army and became a teacher and then a writer of many books about war in which a longing for peace and reconciliation is always evident."
Morpurgo later went to study at King's College London, reading English, French, and Philosophy, and graduated with a third class degree. He then joined the teaching profession with a job at Wickhambreaux Primary School in Canterbury, Kent. He also, in 1968, briefly taught at St. Faith's School in Cambridge.
It was not until he was teaching in Kent that Morpurgo discovered his vocation in life, of which he later said "I could see there was magic in it for them, and realized there was magic in it for me."
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