Michael Bond was born in Newbury, Berkshire on 13 January 1926 and educated at Presentation College, Reading. He served in the Royal Air Force and the British Army before working as a cameraman for BBC TV for 19 years. In 2015, Michael was awarded a CBE for his services to children's literature, to add to the OBE he received in 1997. Peggy Fortnum was born in 1919 in Harrow, England, the youngest of six children. She graduated from the Central School of Art in London after the war interrupted her studies at Tunbridge Wells Art School, then worked as an art teacher, painter and textile designer before becoming a full-time book illustrator.