Background
He was born in Alvdal as a son of Lars Olsen Aukrust (1886–1965) and Louise Walmsnæss (1887–1973).
cartoonist illustrator painter writer
He was born in Alvdal as a son of Lars Olsen Aukrust (1886–1965) and Louise Walmsnæss (1887–1973).
He is most famous for his memoirs of his childhood in Alvdal in the books Simen, Bonden and Bror Minister, and his creation of the fictional Norwegian village of Flåklypa and its cast of idiosyncratic characters. This setting was the basis of the 1975 animated film "Flåklypa Grand Prix", directed by Ivo Caprino. The film was the first full-length animated feature in Norway, became an international success and has been translated into more than seventy languages.
In Britain it is known as "Pinchcliffe Grand Prix".
The protagonist Reodor Felgen (English version: Theodore Rimspoke) has become synonymous in Norway with Rube Goldberg type contraptions. Some of the characters who populated the village of Pinchcliffe were also the basis for the first full length handdrawn animated feature in Norway, "Solan, Ludvig og Gurin medical reverompa".
Released in 1998, this movie takes place in Oslo and Alvdal. In Britain it is known as "Gurin with the Foxtail".