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Graham Oakley, author and illustrator behind the bestselling ‘Church Mice’ books – obituary

Graham Oakley at work - Peter Wiles
Graham Oakley at work - Peter Wiles

Graham Oakley, who has died aged 93, was a children’s author-illustrator best known for his Church Mice series of books, a collection of tales that sold more than one million copies.

Set in the imaginary town of Wortlethorpe, the series details the trials and tribulations of Arthur, an inhabitant of the local vestry, and his fellow mice as they strive to earn their keep. Sampson, the church cat, is a somewhat unexpected ally, having taken the sermons to heart and made a vow to protect all the church’s creatures.

The first book in the series
The first book in the series

Oakley shunned the cartoonish style favoured by many fellow children’s authors, instead cramming his illustrations with loving detail. His mice may have run around on two feet, but otherwise they remained anatomically correct, dwarfed by the church interior and by the beleaguered Sampson.

A humorous streak ran through both the text and the illustrations, with the latter frequently playing off the former. Arthur enjoys sailing in the font in a boat made of newspaper; he becomes “fat and bilious” on sweets dropped by choirboys and waves a tiny baton in time to the church organ. Later, when a horde of other mice join him, they take a vote on the sort of cheese they should demand as payment from the parson. Results include “forty-two for something with holes in it that nobody could pronounce”.

Initially Oakley had planned to set each subsequent book in a different part of Wortlethorpe, but the success of The Church Mouse persuaded him to stick with his ecclesiastical characters. Over time, the plots became more outlandish. In Church Mice Adrift the heroes are turned out by a gang of marauding rats, while in The Church Cat Abroad they end up marooned on a South Sea island.

None the less, Oakley continued to draw inspiration from the more homely dramas of church life. “When I did Church Mice on the Moon it was when people were complaining about the extravagances of town councils,” he told an interviewer. “I thought nothing could be more extravagant than putting a mouse on the moon.” Another common theme – no matter the main plot – was the repair of the church roof.

Oakley's illustrations were praised for their detail
Oakley's illustrations were praised for their detail

An only child, Graham Oakley was born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, on August 27 1929 to Thomas Oakley and Flora (née Madelay). His father ran an electrical repair business and the family lived above the shop before moving to Warrington (now in Cheshire).

After grammar school Oakley went to Warrington Art School. A year into the course he was called up to do National Service and posted overseas to the British Army of the Rhine. After completing his studies he joined a London advertising agency for six months before a friend persuaded him to sign up for the Bradford Civic Theatre School. He studied set design and later worked as a production assistant to the Royal Opera House. In his spare time he did freelance illustration work.

In which the mice go on a country outing which almost proves disastrous
In which the mice go on a country outing which almost proves disastrous

By the time The Church Mouse was published in 1972, Oakley was working for the BBC. The success of the book allowed him to move out of London and devote more of his time to writing. Meanwhile, he had taken on the restoration of a ruined mill on the River Avon in Wiltshire, a huge project that consumed many summer months.

In the 1980s he moved to Dorset, where he lived first in Lyme Regis and latterly in Poundbury. As well as the 12 books in the Church Mice series, Oakley wrote and illustrated The Foxbury Force, about a team of none-too successful fox detectives, and Henry’s Quest (1986), a mediaeval-style adventure set in an agrarian dystopia.

His work aside, Graham Oakley was a cinephile with a passion for long walks in the Dorset countryside. He never married.

Graham Oakley, born August 27 1929, died December 19 2022