Book description
'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. He was
energetic and hard-working: after leaving school he worked as an
advertising copywriter, performed as a stage magician and wrote books
on many subjects, including advertising, brainteasers and conjuring.
And he created Professor Branestawm!
Professor Branestawm was originally created for a children's series
on BBC Radio. He went on to appear in a series of thirteen books
written over the next fifty years, from 1933 to 1983. The
Incredible Adventures of Professor Branestawm is the first book
in the series.
During the Second World War Norman Hunter lived on a boat on the
Thames. In 1949 he went to work in South Africa, but returned to
England in 1969 and spent the rest of his life living by the Thames in
Staines. He died in 1995 aged 95.
When Norman Hunter was asked if Professor Branestawm was based on a
real person, he admitted 'Professor Branestawm jolly well represents me!'
