AUTHOR
ROBERT HUME
Robert Hume was born in 1955 and now lives in Broadstairs, Kent.
He grew up in Beckenham where he attended Langley Park School.
At Keele University he read History and Psychology, before undertaking two separate research studies into the history of education in Kent and Shropshire for his M.A. and Ph.D degrees.
An experienced teacher, G.C.S.E. and 'A' level examiner and moderator, he began his teaching career in Kent in 1982, when he joined the staff of Chaucer Technology School in Canterbury.
In 1985 he moved to Tonbridge to become Head of History at Hillview School for Girls.
Since 1988 he has been Head of History at Clarendon House Grammar School in Ramsgate, where for many years he has managed the football teams and run the Scrabble club.
In 1992 he was voted 'Kent Teacher of the Year.'
Dr Hume has lectured before audiences of teachers in Kent (where he was Secretary of the Kent History Teachers' Association between 1984 and 1989), Italy and the U.S.A.
In December 1992, as part of the 500th anniversary commemorations, he was invited to give lectures on Christopher Columbus and emigration on board the QE2. In addition to a number of articles in history journals and magazines (including BBC History Magazine and History Today), Dr Hume has written several books, including
Early Child Immigrants to Virginia, 1618-1642 (Magna Carta, Baltimore, 1986);
a G.C.S.E. History textbook, Education Since 1700 (Heinemann, 1989);
a biography of Christopher Columbus, Christopher Columbus and the European Discovery of America (Gracewing, 1992);
a historical novel (Ruling Ambition);
an investigation into a Victorian railway disaster (Death by Chance);
and five children’s books - on Perkin Warbeck, Dr Joseph Bell, Olaudah Equiano, Mary Shelley and Thomas Crapper.
Recently, he appeared in an episode of BBC TV Crimesolver that investigated the Abergele train crash.
OUR ILLUSTRATOR
CHERYL IVES
Cheryl was born in Walton-on-the-Naze, Essex. She trained to become an art teacher at Bath Academy of Art, Corsham, Wiltshire, in the mid sixties, where she didn’t learn much about teaching but did learn a lot about art, and even more about people! Among her tutors at Corsham were a young Howard Hodgkin, Robin Deny, Harry Cliff and the brilliant print-maker, Stephen Russ.
Cheryl taught for many years, her last twenty at Clarendon House School, Ramsgate, where she was privileged to teach some delightful pupils, many of whom went on to careers in art, design, photography, theatre design, film and art history.
She has been married to Chris since 1967 and they live just outside the beautiful city of Canterbury, Kent. They have two daughters, Natasha and Ivy.
In 2001 Cheryl decided to retire from teaching so that she could concentrate on portrait painting. She prefers to work in oils on canvas but also enjoys acrylic painting and pastels. In October 2003 Cheryl held a joint exhibition in Canterbury with eldest daughter, Ivy, which they called “Relative Values”.
Cheryl is very fond of France where she has tutored children’s workshops, and she now has several portrait works hanging in France.
In 2005 Cheryl was delighted to collaborate with an ex-colleague, author Robert Hume, on the children’s book: Dr Joseph Bell: the Original Sherlock Holmes. This was her first venture into book illustration, since when she has worked with Robert on two further books: Equiano, the Slave with the Loud Voice (2007) and Mary Shelley and the Birth of Frankenstein (2008).
Cheryl again strayed from portraiture in 2006 when she painted two large semi-abstract landscapes as a commission for the Arundel Unit at the William Harvey Hospital, Ashford, Kent. She has also designed logos and promotional material for various organisations and recently completed a commission for a new leaflet for the Kent Gardens Trust.
Portrait of Angela
Actress Cheryl Hall
Commission for Arundel Unit, Ashford, Kent
Cheryl's latest painting (aka Jack Vettriano) has recently been hung in a former pub and listed building in Canterbury, Kent, January 2009
