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A new redheaded character destined to be a positive role model for children the world over has been launched by publishers Y Lolfa. Bili
Boncyrs is the brainchild of author Caryl Lewis and designer Gary Evans, both of whom are proud redheads who feel strongly that redheads get a bad press for no other reason than the hair colour they were born with!
Bili Boncyrs is the central character in the books which also feature other redheaded members of Bili’s family and a redheaded, DJ’ing donkey that lives in the house. Bili goes on a number of
adventures with his family and friends and the first book features a pair of magic pants.
Caryl Lewis said, “When I was growing up I didn’t feel as if I had any role models – everyone seemed to have blonde,
black or brunette hair on TV or in magazines.
“I wanted to redress the balance in some way by creating a positive role model for redheaded children. Bili Boncyrs will hopefully become a hero for anyone
growing up with red hair.”
‘Bili Boncyrs a’r Pants Hud’ Caryl Lewis and Gary Evans
Y Lolfa
£2.95
ISBN 0-86243-764-4
Available from your local bookshop
For further information
please contact Rhodri Ellis Owen or Gwen Griffiths at Cambrensis PR on 029 20 257075
Editor’s Notes:
Redheads "are deemed to be the emotional slaves of our colouring as no other
group," writes redheaded Nicola Tyrer in the Daily Telegraph; short temper and sexual fieriness are attributed to them.
In France, to be redheaded is thought to be a fate so dire that some women
have formed a Proud to be Red association.
In Denmark it is an honour to have a redheaded child.
In Corsica, if you pass one in the street you spit and turn around.
In Poland, if you pass
three red-heads you'll win the state lottery," claims
Sylvia Stevez, the Parisian founder of Association Francaise des Rousses.
Harvard dermatologist Madhu Pathak calls redheads
"three-time losers" because their red pigment is an inadequate filter of sunlight and their skin is more susceptible to sunburn, skin cancer and wrinkling with age.
There are two kinds of
redhead, says Mary Spillane, managing director of
British image consultants Colour Me Beautiful. There's "the autumn type with hazel eyes," and the Celtic type with translucent skin, light eyes and the
carrot top -- leprechaun redness "that people have trouble with."
Redheads have always been thought untrustworthy. As a 17th-century Frenchman observed, "Judas, it is said, was
red-haired."
Superstitions: red hair is unlucky; it's lucky to rub your hand on a redhead's head; bees sting redheads more readily.
The Egyptians regarded the colour as so unlucky that they had a ceremony in which they burned red-headed maidens alive to wipe out the tint, says author Claudie De Lys.
Percentages of redheads in
different countries range from single digits to a fraction of 1 per cent -- a recent estimate for France is 0.03 per cent of people. (A 1977 estimate for North America is 4 per cent.) Redheads generally are more
numerous in northern latitudes, but also turn up among Hungarians, Egyptians, Israelis and certain Nigerian tribes
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