Samson is the largest uninhabited island of the Isles of Scilly, off the southwestern tip of the Cornish peninsula of Great Britain. It is 38 hectares (0.15 sq mi) in size. The island consists of two hills, North Hill and South Hill, which are connected by an isthmus. Samson was named after Samson of Dol.
Tresco is the second-biggest island of the Isles of Scilly. It is 297 ha (1.15 sq mi) in area, measuring about 3.5 km (2.2 mi) by 1.75 km (1.09 mi).
St Agnes is the southernmost populated island of the Isles of Scilly. Thus the island's Troy Town Farm is the southernmost settlement in the United Kingdom.
Bryher is one of the smallest inhabited islands of the Isles of Scilly, with a population of 84 in 2011, spread across 134 hectares (1.34 km2). Bryher exhibits a procession of prominent hills connected by low-lying necks and sandy bars. Landmarks include Hell Bay, famous for shipwrecks in the 18th and 19th centuries, Shipman Head, which was fortified in the Iron Age and where the tumbled ramparts of an Iron Age castle remain, and All Saints' Church, originally constructed in 1742. The island has two quays, Church Quay and Bar Quay.
Sir Michael Andrew Bridge Morpurgo is an English book author, poet, playwright, and librettist who is known best for children's novels such as War Horse (1982). His work is noted for its "magical storytelling", for recurring themes such as the triumph of an outsider or survival, for characters' relationships with nature, and for vivid settings such as the Cornish coast or the trenches of the First World War. Morpurgo was the third Children's Laureate, from 2003 to 2005, and is President of BookTrust, a children's reading charity.
When the Whales Came is a 1989 British drama film directed by Clive Rees and starring Helen Mirren, Paul Scofield, David Suchet, Barbara Jefford, David Threlfall, John Hallam, Barbara Ewing, and Jeremy Kemp. It is based on the 1985 children's book Why the Whales Came written by Michael Morpurgo. The film is, like the book, set on Bryher, one of the Isles of Scilly.
Private Peaceful is a novel for older children by British author Michael Morpurgo first published in 2003. It is about a fictional young soldier called Thomas "Tommo" Peaceful, who is looking back on his life so far and his going to war. The story focuses on the harsh realities of English rural life and warfare, and highlights the British Army's practice of executing its own soldiers during the First World War. Morpurgo was inspired to write the novel after learning about the around 300 British and Commonwealth soldiers who were shot for crimes like desertion and cowardice. The novel helped further the campaign to grant posthumous pardons to the men, which were agreed and implemented by the UK Government in 2006.
The Wreck Of The Zanzibar is a children's novel written by Michael Morpurgo. It was first published in Great Britain by William Heinemann Publishers in 1995. The book won the Whitbread Children's Book Award in 1995, it was shortlisted for a Carnegie Medal, and won the Children's Book Award for Long Novel in 1996.
The Butterfly Lion is a children's novel by Michael Morpurgo. It was first published in Great Britain by Collins in 1996, and won the 1996 Smarties book prize. The book was adapted into a stage play by Daniel Buckroyd of the Mercury Theatre, Colchester, which toured the UK in 2013.
War Horse is a British war novel by Michael Morpurgo. It was first published in Great Britain by Kaye & Ward in 1982. The story recounts the experiences of Joey, a horse bought by the Army for service in World War I in France and the attempts of 15-year-old Albert, his previous owner, to bring him safely home. It formed the basis of both an award-winning play (2007) and an acclaimed film adaptation (2011) by Steven Spielberg. The novel is often considered one of Morpurgo's best works, and its success spawned a sequel titled Farm Boy, which was published in October 1997.
Billy the Kid is a British children's novel written by Michael Morpurgo, and illustrated by Michael Foreman. It was originally published by Pavilion Books in 2000. Like many of his other novels, it was adapted into a stage play. In 2016, a multi-sensory sculpture of Billy the Kid was put on display at Seven Stories, where Morpurgo had previously donated all of his manuscripts.
Running Wild is a children's novel by Michael Morpurgo first published in 2009 by HarperCollins. It recounts the adventures of a boy who has to survive in the Indonesian jungle after being rescued from a tsunami by an elephant. The novel is loosely based on the true story of a girl who was saved from the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami by an elephant. In 2016, Samuel Adamson adapted the book for the stage, in a production directed by Timothy Sheader at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre.
Emma Juliet Rice is a British actor, director and writer. Hailed as a fearless director, Rice's work includes theatrical adaptations of Brief Encounter, The Red Shoes and Wise Children. In 2022, Rice was named in the Sky Arts Top 50 most influential British artists. Rice worked with Kneehigh Theatre in Cornwall for twenty years as an actor, director, then artistic director with co-artistic director, Mike Shepherd. She was the Artistic Director of Shakespeare's Globe from 2016 to 2018, before founding her own touring theatre company Wise Children.
Farm Boy is a British children's novel written by Michael Morpurgo, and illustrated by Michael Foreman. The book is the sequel to the popular novel War Horse. The book was first published in the United Kingdom in 1997 by Pavilion Books. It was republished in 1999 by HarperCollins Children's Book. The novel was adapted into a stage play in 2010.
Danyah Miller is an English writer and theatre producer.
The Sleeping Sword is a British children's novel written by Michael Morpurgo, and illustrated by Michael Foreman. The book was first published in the United Kingdom by Egmont Books in 2002. The sword found on the island of Bryher, inspired Morpurgo's Arthurian tale, set in the Scilly Isles, and is a story within a story.
Friend or Foe is a British children's novel written by Michael Morpurgo. It was originally published in Great Britain by Macmillan Education in 1977, and was the third book he authored. The novel is set during World War II, and Morpurgo was inspired to write the book after listening to stories from his aunt and her involvement in the evacuation of children from her school during World War II. In 1982, the novel was adapted into a British independent film by the same name, and in 2011, it was adapted by Daniel Buckroyd for a stage play.
The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips is a British children's novel written by Michael Morpurgo, and illustrated by Michael Foreman. It was originally published in Great Britain by HarperCollins in 2005. The novel is set in Slapton, Devon during World War II, and is partly based on Exercise Tiger, the true story of a botched military training exercise carried out by the United States Army as a rehearsal for D-Day, which left 946 soldiers and sailors dead.
Little Manfred is a British children's novel written by Michael Morpurgo, and illustrated by Michael Foreman. It was originally published in Great Britain by HarperCollins in 2011. The novel is primarily set in two time periods, 1966 and World War II, and was published in partnership with the Imperial War Museum, to accompany the museum's "Once Upon a Wartime" exhibition. The book is inspired by the true stories of the last battle of Bismarck, a little brown wooden dachshund carved by two prisoners of war, and the 1966 World Cup.
Listen to the Moon is a British children's novel written by Michael Morpurgo. It was originally published in Great Britain by HarperCollins in September 2014, to coincide with the centenary commemorations of World War I, in which the novel's time period is set in. The inspiration for the novel was the sinking of the American civilian liner, the Lusitania, which was torpedoed by a German U-boat in 1915.
