Giles Andreae

Giles Andreae (born 16 March 1966) is a British poet, creator of the personae "Purple Ronnie" and "Edward Monkton". He is an artist and greeting card writer.

Life

As a child Andreae went to Eton College where he was best friends with David Cameron. He then went on to Oxford University (Worcester College, 1985 – 88). Andreae completed his degree under difficult circumstances as he developed Hodgkin's lymphoma, a cancer of the lymph glands, and began an intensive course of chemotherapy and radiotherapy the day before his final exams began. He managed to sit some of his papers, and was awarded an upper second class degree. Giles lives with his wife Victoria, a children’s clothes designer, in Notting Hill, where he shares an office with writer Richard Curtis and radio and TV presenter Mariella Frostrup. He also has a holiday home on the north coast of Cornwall. Giles and Victoria have four children: Flinn, twins - Freya and Nat - and Jakson.

Purple Ronnie

Purple Ronnie is a cartoon character used in greetings cards, T-shirts, and formerly for the Vimto soft drink campaign. He is like a stick man except he has a large oval body, with crudely-drawn stick-like limbs. He is usually shown as a comic poet, with occasional use of mild taboo language and topics.

Purple Ronnie cards first came to the market in about 1987, being published by a company called Statics Ltd.

Blunderbus Theatre Company

In 2006 Andreae worked alongside Blunderbus Theatre Company (Nottinghamshire) to adapt his story Giraffes Can't Dance to bring it to stage. The company toured this story across the UK.

Edward Monkton

Under the name of Edward Monkton, Andreae created several pieces of art used on cards, bags e.g.:

• The Pig of Happiness
• The Cow of Wisdom
• The Sheep of Destiny
• The Kitten of your Life
• The Cat of Glory
• The Butterfly of Freedom
• The 'Sensible' Machine
• Life
• The Lady and the Chocolate
• My "Killer" Heels
• The Lobster of Loveliness
• The Tidy People
• The "Madness" Hamsters
• Christmas Snack Assortment

To name a few.

External links

• Giles Andreae at Puffin Books
• PurpleRonnie.com — official website
• EdwardMonkton.com — official website