J. P. Martin facts for kids

John Percival Martin (1879 – 24 March 1966), also known as J. P. Martin, was an English writer. He is famous for his Uncle series of children's books.

J. P. Martin was born in Scarborough, Yorkshire, in 1879. He became a Methodist minister in 1902. He worked as a missionary in South Africa. During the First World War, he was an army chaplain in Palestine.

After the Second World War, he lived in Timberscombe, Somerset. He passed away there in March 1966. He married Nancy Mann in 1906 in Johannesburg. He later married again and had four children. His daughter, Stella, became a playwright.

The Uncle Books

J. P. Martin first told his Uncle stories to his own children. Later, he was asked to write them down for everyone to read. When the books first came out in the late 1960s and early 1970s, people called them new classics.

The main character is Uncle, a rich elephant. He wears a purple dressing-gown. He even has a degree from Oxford University! Uncle lives in a huge castle called Homeward.

Homeward Castle

Homeward Castle is very special. Imagine about a hundred skyscrapers all joined together. It has a moat and a drawbridge. The towers are many colors. There are swimming pools and gardens. You can even find roller coasters between towers. There are also water slides from top to bottom.

The Badfort Gang

Uncle has enemies who live in Badfort. Badfort is a giant, broken-down fortress. It looks terrible next to Uncle's beautiful Homeward Castle. Uncle often looks at Badfort with disapproval. He sees windows stuffed with old sacks.

Inside Badfort, it's messy and dark. Many rooms have fallen roofs. Passages are full of trash and broken glass. The only light comes from small, dim lamps.

The Badfort gang lives there. The Hateman family leads them. This includes Beaver, Nailrod Snr, Nailrod Jnr, Filljug, and Sigismund. Other gang members are Flabskin and Oily Joe. There's also Isidore Hitmouse, who is small and throws skewers. Hootman is a tricky ghost. Jellytussle is a wobbly blue jelly creature.

The Badfort gang loves to cause trouble. They have "Hating Books" where they plan against Uncle. They are always trying to get money. Their strange parties and plots make the Uncle books unique.

The pictures in the books are amazing. Quentin Blake drew them when the books were first published. People often praise his drawings. They capture the wild and dreamlike feel of Martin's stories.

The Uncle Series Titles

Here are the six books in the Uncle series:

• Uncle (1964)
• Uncle Cleans Up (1965)
• Uncle and His Detective (1966)
• Uncle and the Treacle Trouble (1967)
• Uncle and Claudius the Camel (1970)
• Uncle and the Battle for Badgertown (1973)

Getting the Books Again

For many years, the Uncle books were hard to find. Some of the stories were reprinted in 2008.

In 2013, a Kickstarter campaign started. This project aimed to print all six Uncle books together. Many famous authors and artists supported it. These included Neil Gaiman and Garth Nix. The campaign raised all the money needed in just a few hours. The complete collection, called The Complete Uncle, was published on October 31, 2013.