Mr Badger and the Big Surprise

Leigh Hobbs was born on April 18, 1953 in Williamstown, Victoria, Australia. After graduating from art school in 1973, he worked as an artist at Sydney's Luna Amusement Park. He created two large three-dimensional characters called Larry and Lizzy Luna, which now reside at Sydney's Powerhouse Museum. He was a secondary school art teacher from 1978 to 2002. He was a freelance contributing cartoonist for Melbourne's, The Age newspaper, from 1985 to 2010.

He is the author and illustrator of numerous humorous children's books featuring his characters Old Tom, Horrible Harriet, Fiona the Pig, Mr. Badger, and Mr. Chicken. From 1998 - 2002, an animated cartoon TV series based on his Old Tom books was broadcast in Australia on ABC TV. He has been chosen as the Australian Children's Laureate for 2016-2017.

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