Author Richard Kidd drowns on vacation

MANILA, Philippines, July 21 (UPI) -- Richard Kidd, the British author of the children's book, "Almost Famous Daisy," drowned while on vacation in the Philippines, friends said. He was 56.

The Times of London said Kidd was sucked under a mountain waterfall Saturday afternoon while he was on vacation with his 25-year-old girlfriend, Ailsa Lamble, and her father, Richard.

The Daily Telegraph said Kidd had been in Bataan to paint a luxury ship.

"As soon as Kidd got into the water into what looked like a basin, he was sucked straight and could no longer come up," Richard Lamble told the Manila Times.

"I ran away to get a stick and when I returned with the stick my father told me to ask for help," Ailsa Lamble added. "My father and two men from the village applied CPR for almost an hour."

A Tyneside native, Kidd penned the children's book, "Monsieur Thermidor: A Fantastic Fishy Tale," and was also an artist.

The Times of London quoted a statement he posted on the Stour Gallery Web site as saying: "My paintings are about remote, mountainous landscapes because that's where I feel most at home. Georges Braque once said, 'Making a painting is like taking a journey.' This seems to me to be a fitting comparison."