Poetic national treasure Pam Ayres teams up with popular illustrator Nicola O'Byrne for this delightful rhyming picture book all about the eponymous otter and the very special friend he makes on the riverbank. Now, for the first time, in this beautiful new illustrated work, she has gathered together her life's work of poems, new and old, dedicated to her love of them. Pam Ayres was born in Stanford in the Vale, Berkshire (now administered as part of Oxfordshire), the youngest of six children (having four elder brothers and a sister) of Stanley and Phyllis Ayres. On radio Pam appears regularly on BBC Radio 4’s Just A Minute and her own series, Ayres on the Air for Radio 4.

Pam Norfolk, Lancashire Post As well as featuring stunning pictures by illustrator Nicola O'Byrne, the book issues an important plea to children to help look after waterways and free them from pollution. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. Sling Another Chair Leg on the Fire, Mother' and, of course, 'Oh, I Wish I'd Looked After Me Teeth'. Warm and witty, direct and droll, the sharply funny Pam Ayres has been amusing and entertaining her many fans for years.

She is a patron of the British Hen Welfare Trust, Cheltenham Animal Shelter and Oak and Furrows Wildlife Rescue Centre. Pam performs her solo stage show throughout the UK and lives in the Cotswolds, where she is an enthusiastic gardener for wildlife.

After leaving Faringdon Secondary School at the age of 15, she joined the Civil Service as a clerical assistant and worked at the Army (RAOC) Central Ordnance Depot in Bicester. With her natural warmth and wit she builds up a rapport with the audience that guarantees an evening of fun and laughter. Since then she has published six books of poems, toured in a one-woman stage show, hosted her own TV show and performed her stage show for the Queen. Pam was awarded the MBE in 2004 for services to literature and entertainment, and lives in the Cotswolds.

Come down the travelators, exit Sainsbury's, turn right and follow the pedestrianised walkway to Crown Walk and turn right - and Coles will be right in front of you. The poet John Cooper Clarke has cited Ayres's early success on Opportunity Knocks as being highly influential on his career. In 2011 she said in a Daily Telegraph magazine interview that she was "about to go on my 14th tour of Australia".

Biography: Pam Ayres has been a regular on television and radio since winning the talent show Opportunity Knocks in 1975 - on Just a Minute, The Comedy Quiz, Countdown and her own series, Ayres on the Air.However, although Ayres has often spoken of her admiration of Dylan, [12] [13] in a 2015 interview, she stated that "I don't know that he [Dylan] ever was the inspiration to start writing poetry. Ayres considered her upbringing "a country childhood"; she was raised in one of a row of small council houses. In a 2006 interview (aired on Radio New Zealand's Nine To Noon programme, 24 October 2006), she stated that, at the age of twelve, she enjoyed writing parodies of the Lonnie Donegan songs popular at that time. Join our community to get personalised book suggestions, extracts straight to your inbox, 10% off RRPs, and to change children’s lives.