April 2012 Guest Editor Charlie Higson: "These stories are about a mad inventor and are madly inventive as well as very funny. I had forgotten all about the absent-minded Professor Branestawm until I rediscovered one of the stories in an anthology of kids fiction I was reading to one of my boys. We both found it absolutely hilarious – no mean feat for a book written in 1933 (let’s face it, most ‘classic’ children’s books are utterly mystifying to modern kids). As a result I tracked down this book and shared it with my son. I remembered how much I’d loved these books as a boy, particularly the first two with their lovely Heath Robinson illustrations."
The Incredible Adventures of Professor Branestawm Synopsis
Rediscover Professor Branestawm this Christmas - soon to become a brand new drama on BBC ONE written by Charlie Higson and starring Harry Hill
'Once you started anything in Professor Branestawm's house you never knew when it might finish or even if it ever would'
Poor Mrs Flittersnoop! It's not easy being Professor Branestawm's housekeeper. People may say he's a genius, but all his inventions always make life more complicated, alarming and extraordinary than it was before. An innocent bottle of old cough mixture turns out to be an elixir that makes all the waste paper in the bin come to life, the burglar-catcher and the pancake-maker operate just a little too efficiently, and about the spring-cleaning machine, the less said the better. You could write a book about it, but nobody would believe it.
Includes exclusive material: In the Backstory you can find out about accidental inventions that changed our lives and try a few experiments of your own!
Vintage Children's Classics is a twenty-first century classics list aimed at 8-12 year olds and the adults in their lives. Discover timeless favourites from The Jungle Book and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland to modern classics such as The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.
Norman Hunter was born in 1899 in Sydenham, London. After leaving school and finishing what he described as a 'course of all-in wrestling with typewriters', he became an advertising copywriter. He also began, in 1915, giving performances of conjuring, and made over two hundred appearances at Maskelyne and Devants. His first Branestawm book was published in 1933. After the Second World War, Norman Hunter moved to South Africa, where he continued to work in advertising. Conjuring was still one of his spare time occupations. He returned to England in 1969 where he lived near the river at Staines until his death in 1995.
