RJ Thompson - Born 27/12/1980 :
Originally from Colchester in Essex, Rob James Thompson grew up in a large dysfunctional family, rising through the ranks of a rough council estate and finding seven siblings along the way. Albeit that the majority of his upbringing involved kicking a rubber ball around, any other spare time was devoted to creativity.
Rob grew up in a large family that was inundated with talents, musicians, artists, textile designers, jewellery makers and general arts and craftsmen. A family with minimal income had to entertain itself, and that they did in abundance. A whistle stop tour around the Thompson house hold on any given day would usually present a workshop of talents. His eldest brothers and sister would be found shaking the house down, playing guitars, drums and singing until their hearts were content, others knee deep in mechanics and building magnetic roller-skates. His mother would be rattling away in her shed making toys on her sewing machine, whilst further down the garden path, a little light would flicker inside another shed whereby his father would be moulding silver and gold wonders to produce bespoke jewellery. Without a lesson to their name, there wasn’t a single member of the family that couldn’t play an instrument, sing, draw, write, create or just simply entertain.
Rob was no different. With an array of inspiration everywhere he turned, it was not long before Rob had become a competent pianist, guitar player and artist. Rob spent a lot of his spare time locked away in his bedroom learning and developing new techniques both within music and art with the determination to take that forward into adulthood.
Having studied at St Georges Primary School, Thomas Lord Audley Senior School and achieving all the required grades, he then moved onto Higher Education at the Colchester School of Art & Design. Rob left with successful qualifications specialising in Graphic Design. Ironically it was then working within Graphic Design that changed his life.
Rob was directed to a police recruiting website to check out the way it used an interactive questionnaire. This is when Rob’s addiction to listening and learning kicked in and having read and absorbed the scenarios he took them straight to heart.
One of the scenarios asked yourself to imagine being a member of the public walking past an alley way to which you see an old lady being threatened by a man with a large knife and asks the question what would you do? Albeit that there were a choice of multiple answers, this did not satisfy Rob. What would he do? Would he turn a blind eye? Would he challenge this man to stop? or would he even physically risk his own life defending someone that he had never even met before?
He was not bullied, he was not a power freak, he did not want to eat doughnuts for a living, or tell people off for speeding, Rob simply wanted to know if there was anything special within him that could benefit other people. How far could he push himself mentally? what could his body and mind take?
Well for the last 16 years serving as a police sergeant within Essex, Rob has found out on more occasions than he cares to remember. "I have seen into the darkest depths of society and an underworld that only those victims of crime and those offenders involved will ever begin to understand. However out of this I have seen that the strongest and most important building blocks for our society is our children. Having lost a young child, grandparents and recently my mother within our family, it is very clear to me that family and love is more important than anything the world has to offer" (RJ Thompson)
Although Rob’s career turned in a slightly different direction, he maintained his love for the arts by playing instruments, writing, illustrating and designing as a hobby in his spare time. It was Rob’s mother that had other ideas. Although she was proud of his achievements and what he was doing for the communities he policed, she had always egged him on and wanted him to do something with his other talents as she knew that it was music and art that truly made him happy.
Behind his day job, Rob always had a project going on in the background. Whether it was writing music, graphic design on the side or illustrating pieces of art, he was not short of ideas. Ultimately his career as an author was also just another project that was just laying dormant waiting for that ‘something’ that would convince him to give it a shot.
The idea for The Uncuddibles was a seed sewn by his own little girl, Bella. One evening Rob and Bella were flicking through Netflix for a program to watch. Bella pointed at the skull logo from ‘The Punisher’ series and asked what it was. When Rob replied that it was a program called The Punisher, Bella replied ‘Punish Bear?’ and laughed. It was as simple as that. At that very moment Rob visualised a soft teddy bear with the skull logo on his chest and instinctively grabbed his Ipad and began drawing some sketches of some teddy bears similar to superheroes.
At this point, this was just another idea sitting on the shelf and Rob did not realise the impact that these seven little bears were going to have on his life in the year ahead.
Following the passing of his mother in 2018, it was June that same year that Rob decided to give his long lost passion a shot in memory of his mother and on June the 4th he launched the first two books of The Uncuddibles series, ‘A Heroes Tale & Bony and the Ghost Dusters’ through Amazon as a self published author.
The series was an instant success. Beautiful illustrations, quirky story lines and characters, managed to capture the minds of children from 3-9 years of age along with hidden references to pop culture from the 1980’s through to modern day, which equally captivated the parents. The first two books sold nearly 200 units within a couple of weeks. Considering Rob had done everything from front to back cover himself with no advertising campaign at all, this was an amazing start to a self-published career.
Within a couple of months the mainstream publishers came knocking, and now known by his pen name as RJ Thompson, he was offered a number of traditional contracts to launch the series with a reputable publishing house. Having chosen to remain solo, Rob went on to release a further four story books, including Halloween and Christmas specials, bringing the series up to six in total, and racking up over a thousand sales in 6 months.
Sales across Europe, Australia and the United States have helped to build an ever growing fan base online that has seen reaches of over 32,000. Rob and the story of The Uncuddibles has featured in numerous press articles across East Anglia, and a number of his books sit comfortably on library shelfs across Essex and Havering. Rob was centre stage at one of the biggest comic events in Essex alongside the official Bat mobile, and has attended a number of schools across the county completing readings and colouring competitions, along with a number of charity events for Addenbrooks hospital, Macmillan and St Francis Hospice.
RJ Thompson’s titles alone were keeping the fans eager and awaiting the next chapter in the series, and it’s not hard to see why. Bony and the Ghost Dusters, The Hay Team, Ping Pong, The Walking Teds, The Fright Before Christmas, Paws, Loom Raiders Of The Lost Yarn and Furrtastic Park, to name a few. All titles that are clearly influenced by his own childhood.
Nine months down the line, RJ Thompson has now got another 24 books planned in The Uncuddibles series, along with a young adult adaption, merchandise galore and even a board game.
RJ Thompson’s latest release is called ‘Wham Bam I Smell Jam’, a funny lyrical adventure for a slightly younger audience with a different style of illustration. Although this is not related to The Uncuddibles series, this has brought RJ Thompson into the light as an author and not just the creator of a one off series.
Rob will be touring a number of educational facilities over the next few months with his ‘Uncuddibles Creative Workshop’, whereby he will be working with children, writing, illustrating, designing, working through exercise sheets, colouring, reading and playing The Uncuddibles board game ‘Cakes & Madness!’.
"If these books can bring some smiles, happiness and families together, then for me I have already achieved my goal." (RJ Thompson)
You can find more information and further details on RJ Thompson and The Uncuddibles at www.theuncuddibles.com or facebook@theuncuddibles. All books available through Amazon.co.uk