Culture stars we lost in 2019 Judith Kerr

Judith Kerr, the author and illustrator best known for The Tiger Who Came to Tea, died at the age of 95 on 23 May. Born in Berlin in 1923, the daughter of a German-Jewish theatre critic, Kerr was forced to flee Germany with her family after the rise of the Nazi Party because her father had been openly critical of the Nazis. His books were burnt shortly after they left the country. The Kerrs travelled first to Switzerland, then to France and finally to Britain, where Kerr remained for the rest of her life. Although she had always wanted to be an author, she only began to write and draw when her own children were learning to read. Alongside The Tiger Who Came to Tea – which concerns a young girl and her mother, whose afternoon tea is interrupted by the arrival of said feline – Kerr is also known for her 17-book Mog series, which details the adventures of an ordinary house cat.

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