Who Is Beatrix Potter?

Helen Beatrix Potter was an English author who died on the 22nd of December back in 1943. She was most famous for the stories she wrote for children. She wrote and illustrated the extremely popular ‘The Tale of Peter Rabbit’ and ‘The Tale of Flopsy Bunnies’. Beatrix Potter published many books from the 1890s to the 1920s and has sold millions of each of her books and they still sell well today.

Her flair for writing was partly inspired by her privileged childhood. Her parents were interested in nature and enjoyed the countryside. They were also artistic which must have rubbed off on her as she showed artistic skills from a young age. She was close to her brother Walter and enjoyed growing up with him and her large extended family. The family lived in London but many summers were spent in the Lake District and Scotland which helped inspire her writing many years later.

During her childhood she kept a secret journal which was written in a secret code which she created. It wasn’t until 15 years after her death that the code was cracked. Beatrix herself said she had trouble to read it later in life. The journal revealed that although she was shy and reserved for most people to see, in the journal she was able to express herself openly. It seems she was very knowledgeable on artists, writers and politicians of that era and had plenty of opinions.

She didn’t go to school but was taught at home and was an enthusaiatic student. Her love of nature was revealed early in her life and she would enjoy keeping and looking after many animals and her sketches were inspired by her pets and the landscapes she would often visit.

A film was made about her in 2006 and was entitled Miss Potter. Beatrix Potter was played by Renee Zellweger and Ewan McGregor as Norman Warne who was her real life lover and publisher. Many scenes from the film were shot in the picturesque Lake District and other places such as Scotland and some areas around London.

Beatrix was a business woman ahead of her time. She saw the potential her popular characters were creating. She was the first to have a patented soft toy of her character Peter Rabbit in 1903. Today, over a hundred years later her legacy of stories is still giving young children pleasure in reading her stories.

By: Caz

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