Papa PerkinsMark Perkins was born in 1951 and has lived in Dorset for most of his life. He completed a graphic design course at Bournemouth and Poole College of Art and Design, with diplomas in graphic design, and then qualified as a teacher in Yorkshire with th University of Leeds.
Working life began with a Bournemouth advertising agency/art studio. Shortly after joining, he became creative director and remained with the company for 20 years. Whilst at the art studio, he was elected to be a member of the Chartered Society of Designers. He then pursued a career teaching art to secondary age students.
In 1998, he with his wife, Avril, began breeding pedigree Burmilla cats.
They became his models for an illustrated A-Z children's book of cats.
Subsequently, and with a growing family of grandchildren, he began to find he was accumulating teddy bears (as grandparents do). These became the subject of AlphaBetaBears, an A-Z of teddy bears, which led on to his writing individual stories about the 26 teddy bears from that book. Read More Read Less