Pat Hutchins

Patricia Evelyn Hutchins (18 June 1942 – 8 November 2017) was an English illustrator, writer of children's books, and broadcaster. She won the 1974 Kate Greenaway Medal from the Library Association for her book The Wind Blew. On screen, she was best known as 'Loopy-Lobes' the second owner of the "Ragdoll boat" in the long-running children's series Rosie and Jim.

Hutchins was married to illustrator Laurence Hutchins, with whom she had two children. He provided the illustrations for some of her books for early readers. Hutchins was born 18 June 1942 in Yorkshire, the sixth of seven children.

She won a scholarship to Darlington School of Art in 1958, continued studying illustration at Leeds College of Art in 1960, and graduated in 1962. She worked for an advertising agency in London to 1966 when she married Laurence Hutchins and moved to New York City for two years. There she worked on writing and illustrating her first picture book, Rosie's Walk, published in 1968 by The Bodley Head and Macmillan US. In the United States, it was a runner-up for the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award and the librarians named it a 1968 ALA Notable Book. It remains her work most widely catalogued by WorldCat participating libraries. Titch and its sequels were noted for drawing on Hutchins' family life for its depiction of a sibling relationship.Pat Hutchins wrote novels for early readers, some illustrated by husband Laurence, and more than two dozen picture books. Beside winning the 1974 Greenaway Medal, she was a commended runner up for One-Eyed Jack (1979), another book she wrote and illustrated.In 1995, Hutchins took over from John Cunliffe as the presenter of the British children's television series, Rosie and Jim. She played the role of an artistic narrowboat owner and illustrator, referred to as Loopy Lobes by the two puppet characters because of the large and elaborate earrings she wore during her tenure. Hutchins appeared in 45 episodes over two series and subsequently illustrated books for the franchise. Her role was later taken over by Neil Brewer in 1997.

Between 1997 and 2001 the Titch series of books were made into a stop motion television programme for young children. Three complete series were produced by "Hutchins Film Company" and broadcast on Children's ITV. According to Hutchins, each episode took two weeks to produce. It was costly, and the process was lengthy, hence why the series ended after its third run. The series later re-aired on the now-defunct Tiny Living strand from 2001 to 2005 and then Channel Five's Milkshake! programme thread from 2005 to 2006. VHS tapes and DVDs were produced during its run.

Hutchins died from cancer on 8 November 2017 at the age of 75.