A Twickenham illustrator whose work includes the iconic album art for an Elton John classic has brought an award-winning Christmas children's tale to life with his beautiful pictures.

‘A Christmas Squirrel’ was announced by Amazon last Friday as the winner of its UK Christmas writing competition and Ian Beck has now provided the illustrations.

Mr Beck’s 35-year career includes writing and illustrating the children’s classic The Teddy Robber and creating the album art for Elton John’s classic Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

He said: “I was lucky enough to be part of the judging process as well as to illustrate the winning book, and whilst the calibre of entries was wonderful, the story of a Christmas squirrel is a perfect depiction of the meaning behind A Christmas Carol.

“I hope readers enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed illustrating it, and I look forward to reading it to my grandchildren this Christmas.”

The story follows a grumpy, greedy squirrel who - much like Ebenezer Scrooge in the Dickens classic - learns to share what he has with the woodland creatures around him.