Famous foxes are auctioned for charity

To celebrate its 10th anniversary – and to raise money for Great Ormond Street hospital – the readers' quarterly Slightly Foxed asked celebrated writers, illustrators and friends to draw a fox. The result was a little book of Slightly Famous People’s Foxes - a delightful gallery of vulpine characters. Those who put pen to paper for charity include illustrators Quentin Blake and Posy Simmonds, writers John Julius Norwich and Michael Morpurgo and Skyfall director Sam Mendes. All profits from the sale of the book are being donated to the Children’s Hospital School at Great Ormond Street which allows children to continue their education while they are there. Over the last year Slightly Foxed has raised close to £5,000. To raise more money for Great Ormond Street, Slightly Foxed is now auctioning the original fox artwork. To view a full gallery of foxes and bid for one of the drawings please visit www.foxedquarterly.com Sealed bids auction opens 11am Thursday 26 March 2015. All bids must be in by 3pm Thursday 2 April 2015. Libby Purves Only a churl would suggest that this drawing of a fox by writer and BBC Radio’s Midweek presenter Libby Purves is of an ill-natured dachshund by a tree. In any case, a dachshund could never manage that sort of sly, calculating sideways look. Michael Morpurgo First impressions can be deceptive. We took this to be a sketch of an elegant lady’s fox fur stole – a clever twist on our theme. However the explanation by the artist and author of War Horse is rather grimmer. ‘I found this fox on top of a hedgerow on the farm,’ he writes. ‘Sleeping, I thought. But he was dead.’ Posy Simmonds A fox in a Barbour and posh Hunter wellies – this could easily be a new member of Posy Simmonds’s wonderful cast of cartoon characters, along with Tamara Drewe, Gemma Bovery, George and Wendy Weber, smoothie Stanhope and the rest. He’s obviously a bounder, up to no good and sniffing out some dodgy possibilities. We guess he’s often to be found in a corner of the saloon bar in the village pub and we suspect his name is Guy – or possibly Piers. John Julius Norwich John Julius Norwich, historian and former chairman of the Venice in Peril Fund, may well remember Chad, the star of Second World War graffiti, a perky chap sticking his nose over a wall and saying things like ‘Wot, no sugar?’ Lord Norwich’s fox looks like Chad’s urban cousin, sticking his head over the rim of a wheelie bin and saying ‘Wot, no taramasalata?’ Helen Mirren Dame Helen Mirren gets right to the point, without sentiment. Hers is a ferocious beast, all teeth, snarl and aggression ‒ in short, a prime suspect. And that chicken is well and truly spatchcocked. Alan Titchmarsh As you might expect from the nation’s favourite gardener, the spades here are very well executed. The Titchmarsh fox is fluffy and rather glam and its startled expression suggests it may recently have had a facelift. This would make an excellent sign for some cosy little pub, probably named the ‘Spade and Vixen’, where gardeners go for a well-earned pint or two after a hard day’s repotting. Andrew Motion This creature is known as the ‘urbane’ fox – elegant, sophisticated, sashaying through the moonlit countryside with food which it will serve to a few foxy friends at a very civilized dinner party. Incidentally, we feel the former Poet Laureate’s drawing of a dead chicken does him great credit. Sam Mendes Not so much Reynard the Fox, but rather more Pussy Galore – even though that is the wrong Bond film for the distinguished director of Skyfall. Just look at those gorgeous liquid eyes and those killer whiskers – and beware. Robert Macfarlane Quentin Blake The fantastic Quentin Blake gives us a jaunty chap with a sackful of poultry and a triumphant glint in his eye. He is obviously on his way back home to his family after a visit to the sheds of those ghastly farmers Boggis, Bunce and Bean, as featured in Quentin’s illustrations to Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr Fox.

Famous foxes are auctioned for charity

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