06/06/2011

One of the most popular characters in children’s picture books, the little boy Alfie, is celebrating his 30th birthday. To mark the event an exhibition of illustrations from the books has now opened in London. Though his creator Shirley Hughes has written and illustrated plenty of other titles – selling over 11 million copies in total - Alfie is the character she keeps returning to. There have now been nine different stories, each describing the little boy dealing with a new challenge, whether it’s putting his wellies or going to a birthday party on his own. The next in the series, ‘All About Alfie’, is due for publication in the Autumn.

A special exhibition of Alfie artwork is running at The Illustration Cupboard, 22 Bury Street, London, SW1Y 6AL until the end of June.

Alfie website

When parents divorce or separate should the presumption be that they share parenting, with the children spending time with each parent and the mother and father sharing parental responsibility? A Private Member's Bill currently going through parliament aims to change the law so that this would be the case. But a briefing paper from the Department of Social Policy and Intervention at Oxford University argues that shared parenting legislation is not in the interests of children. On Monday’s programme we’ll be debating the issue – Jane will be joined by the sponsor of the Bill, the Conservative MP Brian Binley, and by Mavis Maclean, who is one of the briefing paper’s authors.