{{short description|British author and actor}} {{Use British English|date=June 2021}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}} {{Infobox writer | name = Ursula Jones | image = <!-- filename only, no "File:" or "Image:" prefix, and no enclosing brackets --> | alt = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software --> | caption = | birth_name = <!-- only use if different from name --> | birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1939}}<ref name="Chrestomanci (Reflections)">{{cite web |last1=Wynne Jones |first1=Diana |title=Chrestomanci Castle: Something About the Author |url=https://suberic.net/dwj/bio.html |website=The Diana Wynne Jones Homepage, or Travels in the Land of Ingary |access-date=18 June 2021}}</ref> | birth_place = St John's Wood, London, England | death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (DEATH date then BIRTH date) --> | death_place = | nationality = British | other_names = | occupation = Actor, author | genre = Children's fiction | years_active = 1963–present | known_for = | notable_works = ''The Witch's Children and the Queen'' | awards = {{unbulleted list|Nestle Smarties Book Prize|Roald Dahl Funny Prize|}} | website = {{url|www.ursulajones.co.uk}} }}
'''Ursula Jones''' is a British actor and author of children's fiction. Her picture book ''The Witch's Children and the Queen'' won a gold Nestlé Smarties Book Prize, and the sequel ''The Witch's Children Go to School'' won the inaugural Roald Dahl Funny Prize.<ref name="Pauli">{{cite news |last1=Pauli |first1=Michelle |title=Debut wins Smarties gold medal |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/dec/03/nestleprize |access-date=14 June 2021 |work=The Guardian |date=3 December 2003}}</ref><ref name="BookTrust">{{cite web |title=Roald Dahl Funny Prize |url=https://www.booktrust.org.uk/what-we-do/awards-and-prizes/prizes-archive/roald-dahl-funny-prize/ |website=BookTrust |access-date=14 June 2021 |archive-date=16 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210616043240/https://www.booktrust.org.uk/what-we-do/awards-and-prizes/prizes-archive/roald-dahl-funny-prize/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>
Her elder sister was the children's fantasy author, Diana Wynne Jones. After Diana Wynne Jones's death, Jones completed her unfinished manuscript, ''The Islands of Chaldea''.<ref name="Flood">{{cite news |last1=Flood |first1=Alison |title=Diana Wynne Jones's final book completed by sister|work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/jun/24/diana-wynne-jones-final-book-sister |access-date=14 June 2021 |date=24 June 2013}}</ref><ref name="Page">{{cite news |last1=Page |first1=Benedicte |title=HCB to publish posthumous Diana Wynne Jones tale |url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/hcb-publish-posthumous-diana-wynne-jones-tale |access-date=15 June 2021 |work=The Bookseller |date=21 June 2013}}</ref> The book was a finalist in the Mythopoeic Awards.
As an actor, she worked with Alan Ayckbourn, with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and briefly played Elsie Duckworth in Coronation Street.<ref name="Murgatroyd">{{cite web |last1=Murgatroyd |first1=Simon |title=December Bee |url=https://archivingayckbourn.home.blog/2021/01/29/december-bee/ |website=Alan Ayckbourn: The official blog |access-date=15 June 2021}}</ref>
==Early life== Jones grew up with her sisters Diana, an author, and Isobel, an academic.<ref name="Ingary">{{cite web |last1=Wynne Jones |first1=Diana |title=Chrestomanci Castle: Something About the Author |url=https://suberic.net/dwj/bio.html |website=The Diana Wynne Jones Homepage, or Travels in the Land of Ingary |access-date=15 June 2021}}</ref> Evacuated during World War II, they ended up in the house in the Lake District which inspired ''Swallows and Amazons'', Arthur Ransome's classic children's book.<ref name="Parsons">{{cite news |last1=Parsons |first1=Caron |title=BBC - Going Out in Bristol - Diana Wynne Jones |url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/childhood-neglect-shaped-life-of-fantasy-20110403-1ct54.html |access-date=14 June 2021 |work=BBC |date=27 March 2003}}</ref>
==Career== ===Actor=== Jones trained as an actor at RADA, graduating in 1959.<ref name="RADA">{{cite web |title=Ursula Jones |url=https://www.rada.ac.uk/profiles/ursula-jones/ |website=RADA |access-date=15 June 2021}}</ref> She made her start as an actor with "weekly rep" (repertory theatre), performing a different play every night.<ref name="Official website">{{cite web |last1=Jones |first1=Ursula |title=Author profile |url=https://www.ursulajones.co.uk/about.html |website=Ursula Jones |access-date=15 June 2021}}</ref>
She joined the Unicorn Theatre for children in London in 1963, playing a range of parts.<ref name="Jones Theatricalia">{{cite web |title=Ursula Jones |url=https://theatricalia.com/person/7zd/ursula-jones |website=Theatricialia |access-date=15 June 2021}}</ref> She wrote 17 plays herself with the company, with names like ''The Lion and the Unicorn Hullabaloo''.<ref name="Alderdice">{{cite news |last1=Kit |first1=Alderdice |title=New Diana Wynne Jones Novel Is a Family Affair |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-book-news/article/57900-new-diana-wynne-jones-novel-is-a-family-affair.html |access-date=15 June 2021 |work=Publishers Weekly |date=20 June 2013}}</ref> They were performed to children in various London theatres and on tour.<ref name="Lion">{{cite web |title=Production of The Lion and the Unicorn Hullabaloo |url=https://theatricalia.com/play/52v/the-lion-and-the-unicorn-hullabaloo/production/b4w |website=Theatricialia |access-date=15 June 2021}}</ref>
In 1985, she was directed by Alan Ayckbourn in the premiere of his play ''Woman in Mind''. She played the intense central character Susan, a parson's wife with an active fantasy life, at the Stephen Joseph Theatre.<ref name="Ayckbourn">{{cite web |title=Woman in Mind: world premiere reviews |url=http://womaninmind.alanayckbourn.net/styled-8/ |website=Alan Ayckbourn's Official Website |access-date=15 June 2021}}</ref> She also worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company, playing Emilia in ''The Comedy of Errors'' at the Young Vic and The Other Place.<ref name="BUFVC">{{cite web |title=Comedy of Errors, The |url=http://bufvc.ac.uk/shakespeare/index.php/title/av38295 |website=British Universities Film & Video Council |access-date=15 June 2021}}</ref> More recently she appeared at The Royal National Theatre, in a role she described as a “mad old granny”—presumably a reference to the role of Grandie, in a performance of Conor McPherson's ''The Veil''.<ref name="Official website"/><ref name="Clowns">{{cite news |last1=anon |first1=Ian |title=Review: The Veil, National Theatre |url=https://oughttobeclowns.com/2011/09/review-the-veil-national-theatre.html/#more-3103 |access-date=15 June 2021 |work=There Ought To Be Clowns |date=28 September 2011}}</ref>
On screen, Jones played Isabella in ''Ever After'' (a 1998 adaptation of Cinderella with Drew Barrymore), and Rebecca in the 1999 British mystery film ''Simon Magus''.<ref name="BFI">{{cite web |title=Ever After (1998) |url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b81480efa |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170426070330/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b81480efa |url-status=dead |archive-date=26 April 2017 |website=BFI |access-date=15 June 2021}}</ref> She briefly played Elsie Duckworth in the long running soap ''Coronation Street'', Mrs Cutter in the 2003 TV adaptation of ''Lucky Jim'', and appeared in episodes of ''The Bill'' and ''Sense8''.<ref name="RT">{{cite web |title=Ursula Jones |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/ursula_jones |website=Rotten Tomatoes |access-date=15 June 2021}}</ref>
===Writer=== In 1988, Jones was commissioned to write a children's television series for the BBC, ''Greenclaws''.<ref name="Greenclaws">{{cite web |title=Green Claws (1988) |url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b7961879b |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210616042901/https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b7961879b |url-status=dead |archive-date=16 June 2021 |website=BFI |access-date=15 June 2021}}</ref> It first aired in 1989, and starred a large green gardening monster.<ref name="Percival">{{cite news |last1=Percival |first1=Ash |title=25 Much-Loved Kids' TV Shows From The 90s You'd Probably Forgotten About |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/90s-kids-tv-forgotten-shows_uk_5efde71dc5b612083c58577b |access-date=16 June 2021 |work=Huffington Post |date=3 July 2020}}</ref>
===Author===
''The Witch's Children'', her first picture book, was published in 2001. Illustrated by Russell Ayto, it was shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal.<ref name="TWC Kirkus">{{cite news |title=The Witch's Children |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/ursula-jones/the-witchs-children/ |access-date=15 June 2021 |work=Kirkus Reviews |date=2003}}</ref> The sequel, ''The Witch's Children and the Queen'', won a gold Nestlé Smarties Book Prize in 2003.<ref name="Pauli"/> The third and last book in the series ''The Witch's Children Go To School'' won the Roald Dahl Funny Prize in 2008—the first year the award ran.<ref name="BookTrust"/> All three are illustrated by Ayto.<ref name="Eccleshare">{{cite news |last1=Eccleshare |first1=Julia |title=Magic Carpet Ride |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/apr/05/featuresreviews.guardianreview16 |access-date=16 June 2021 |work=The Guardian |date=5 April 2003}}</ref>
''The Princess Who Had No Kingdom'', a picture book illustrated by Sarah Gibb about a princess who marries a jester, was published in 2009.<ref name="PW Princess">{{cite web |title=Children's Book Review: The Princess Who Had No Kingdom by Ursula Jones |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-8075-6630-5 |website=Publishers Weekly |access-date=15 June 2021}}</ref> Two more books with Gibb followed, a sequel, ''The Princess Who Had No Fortune'', and then a retelling of ''Beauty and the Beast''.<ref name="BB PW">{{cite web |title=Children's Book Review: Beauty and the Beast by Ursula Jones |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-8075-0600-4 |website=Publishers Weekly |access-date=15 June 2021}}</ref> Jones wrote two more fairytale picture book retellings with different illustrators—''Cinderella'' with Jessica Courtney-Tickle in 2018, and ''The Sleeping Beauty'' with Paola Escobar in 2021. All her picture books are published by Orchard Books.
She has also written novels for older children, including ''Dear Clare, My Ex Best Friend'', ''The Lost King'' and ''The Youngstars'', about a troupe of teenage performers.<ref name="BFK">{{cite news |title=Children's Books - Reviews - Dear Clare My Ex Best Friend |url=http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/issue/73/childrens-books/reviews/dear-clare-my-ex-best-friend |access-date=15 June 2021 |work=Books for Keeps |issue=73 |date=March 1992}}</ref><ref name="Kirkus author">{{cite web |title=Ursula Jones |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/author/ursula-jones/ |website=Kirkus Reviews |access-date=15 June 2021}}</ref>
When Diana Wynne Jones died in 2011, her last book — the children's fantasy novel ''The Islands of Chaldea'' — was unfinished. Jones, apparently at the suggestion of their family and Diana Wynne Jones's agent, agreed to complete it.<ref name="Flood"/><ref>{{cite news |title=The Islands of Chaldea |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-06-229507-1 |access-date=1 July 2021 |work=Publishers Weekly |date=February 17, 2014}}</ref><ref name="Jacketflap">{{cite web |last1=Jones |first1=Ursula |title=Children's Publishing Blogs - Diana Wynne Jones |url=https://www.jacketflap.com/megablog/index.asp?tagid=2274&tag=Diana+Wynne+Jones |website=Jacketflap |access-date=15 June 2021}}</ref> She has described the planning and writing process as "curiously traumatic", and said finishing it was "an unbearable second parting from her: as if she had died again".<ref name="Flood"/> Jones said she attempted to erase her own writing style, and critics and the book's publishers have said they were unable to work out where Diana Wynne Jones's portion of the book ended and Jones's began.<ref name="Russell Williams">{{cite news |last1=Russell Williams |first1=Imogen |title=The Islands of Chaldea by Diana Wynne Jones and Ursula Jones|work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/feb/22/islands-chaldea-diana-wynne-jones-childrens-books |access-date=14 June 2021 |date=22 February 2014}}</ref><ref name="Alderdice"/> The book was published by Greenwillow in the U.S and HarperCollins in the UK. It was a finalist for the Mythopoeic Awards in 2015.<ref name="Mythopoeic">{{cite web |title=Mythopoeic Fantasy Award Finalists |url=http://www.mythsoc.org/awards/awards-fantasy.htm |website=The Mythopoeic Society |access-date=15 June 2021}}</ref>
==Personal life== In 1961, Jones began living with the actor Ann Matyelok Gibbs in Notting Hill. The couple lived in France for 23 years where they entered a civil partnership, and they later entered a civil partnership in Britain as well. Jones and Gibbs were known by their friends as "Puck and Ursie". Gibbs died on 14 August 2023.<ref name="GibbsObit">{{cite news |last1=Coveney |first1=Michael |title=Matyelok Gibbs obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2023/aug/27/matyelok-gibbs-obituary |access-date=29 August 2023 |work=The Guardian |date=27 August 2023}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist |25em}}
==External links== {{Portal |Children's literature}} * {{official website |ursulajones.co.uk}} * {{LCAuth|n2002056752|Ursula Jones|10|ue}} (probably covering works by multiple Ursula Joneses) * {{isfdb name|176846}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Ursula}} Category:1939 births Category:Living people Category:Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art Category:20th-century English actresses<!--IMDb lists one 200x film--> Category:English stage actresses<!--primarily--> Category:English dramatists and playwrights Category:English children's writers Category:English fantasy writers Category:21st-century British women writers Category:English LGBTQ writers Category:LGBTQ people from London Category:Actors from the City of Westminster Category:Writers from the City of Westminster Category:Actresses from London Category:People from St John's Wood