Harry Hargreaves (9 February 1922, in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

– 12 November 2004, in

Yeovil, Somerset Yeovil ( ) is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the district of South Somerset, England. The population of Yeovil at the last census (2011) was 45,784. More recent estimates show a population of 48,564. It is close to Somer ...

) was an English cartoonist, best remembered for ''The Bird'', which he produced for ''

Punch Punch commonly refers to: * Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist * Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice Punch may also refer to: Places * Pun ...

'', and for ''Hayseeds'' in the ''

London Evening News The ''London Evening News'' was a newspaper whose first issue was published on 14 August 1855. Usually, when people mention the ''London Evening News'', they are actually referring to '' The Evening News'', published in London from 1881 to 1980, ...

''.

Biography

Born the son of a civil servant, Hargreaves was educated at

Chorlton High School Chorlton High School is a coeducational secondary school with academy status, located in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester, England. It has around 1500 pupils and 300 in each year. History Grammar school There was a "Chorlton High School" in th ...

. Here he produced cartoons for the school magazine at the age of twelve, and two years later his first cartoon was published by the ''

Manchester Evening News The ''Manchester Evening News'' (''MEN'') is a regional daily newspaper covering Greater Manchester in North West England, founded in 1868. It is published Monday–Saturday; a Sunday edition, the ''MEN on Sunday'', was launched in February 20 ...

''. He was a choirboy at Manchester Cathedral in the years 1930–33. When his parents split up he left school at sixteen to work for Lorne & Howarth, an interior design company, studying architecture, mechanical drawing, and furniture design at

Manchester School of Art Manchester School of Art in Manchester, England, was established in 1838 as the Manchester School of Design. It is the second oldest art school in the United Kingdom after the Royal College of Art which was founded the year before. It is now par ...

in his spare time. This led to a 1938 position as trainee engineer, for companies which included

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

and Kestrel Engines. 1939 found him working for the Manchester art agency Kayebon Press as assistant to

Hugh McNeill Hugh may refer to: *Hugh (given name) Noblemen and clergy French * Hugh the Great (died 956), Duke of the Franks * Hugh Magnus of France (1007–1025), co-King of France under his father, Robert II * Hugh, Duke of Alsace (died 895), modern-day ...

on strips like '' Pansy Potter'' for ''

The Dandy ''The Dandy'' was a British children's comic magazine published by the Dundee based publisher DC Thomson. The first issue was printed in December 1937, making it the world's third-longest running comic, after '' Il Giornalino'' (cover dated 1 O ...

'' and ''

The Beano ''The Beano'' (formerly ''The Beano Comic'', also known as ''Beano'') is a British anthology comic magazine created by Scottish publishing company DC Thomson. Its first issue was published on 30 July 1938, and it became the world's longest-run ...

''. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

he joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve Signals, began contributing to ''

Blighty "Blighty" is a British English slang term for Great Britain, or often specifically England.

'', and was posted to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, Ceylon, and

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. Following the War Hargreaves worked at

Gaumont British The Gaumont-British Picture Corporation produced and distributed films and operated a cinema chain in the United Kingdom. It was established as an offshoot of the Gaumont Film Company of France. Film production Gaumont-British was founded in 18 ...

as a trainee animator in the period 1946–49. Here he met Penny Vickery, whom he married in 1948, the couple raising two daughters. The 1950s saw the closing of Gaumont British and his return to freelance strip work in children's comics with his work on ''Harold Hare'' and ''Ollie the Alley Cat'' in '' The Sun'', ''Don Quickshot'' in '' Knockout Fun Book'' and ''Terry the Troubadour'' in ''

TV Comic ''TV Comic'' was a British comic book magazine published weekly from 9 November 1951 until 29 June 1984. Featuring stories based on television series running at the time of publication, it was the first British comic to be based around TV pro ...

''. In 1953 he moved to

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

to work at the studio of Dutch cartoonist

Marten Toonder Marten Toonder (2 May 1912 – 27 July 2005) was a Dutch comic strip creator, born in Rotterdam. He was probably the most successful comic artist in the Netherlands and had a great influence on the Dutch language by introducing new words and expr ...

, being involved with the production of ''

Panda The giant panda (''Ailuropoda melanoleuca''), also known as the panda bear (or simply the panda), is a bear species endemic to China. It is characterised by its bold black-and-white coat and rotund body. The name "giant panda" is sometimes use ...

'', which at that time was syndicated to a hundred and fifty European papers, including the ''

''. Returning to England in 1954, Hargreaves carried on drawing the strip until 1961. In 1957 Hargreaves began contributing to ''

'', a relationship which would last 17 years. In October 1958 he created ''The Bird'', cartoon strips featuring a small, cheeky, wren-like bird. This was so successful that he was paid a retainer. He also contributed strips to the TV pop show '' Discs-a-GoGo'', which would run them to accompany new pop songs, including " Puff the Magic Dragon". The year 1968 saw the debut of a daily strip, ''The Hayseeds'', for the ''

''. It featured talking animals and was based on

Walt Kelly Walter Crawford Kelly Jr. (August 25, 1913 – October 18, 1973), commonly known as Walt Kelly, was an American animator and cartoonist, best known for the comic strip '' Pogo''. He began his animation career in 1936 at Walt Disney Studios, contr ...

's strip '' Pogo'', but not as political. This strip was dropped in 1974 when the ''London Evening News'' adopted a tabloid format, but its popularity rescued it and it continued until 1980. In 1969 Hargreaves designed the ''Deep Sea Band'' cereal premiums for Australian plastics company Rosenhain & Lipmann. These were included in boxes of Kellogg's cereal in Australia, the UK, and Japan. Other Hargreaves premiums for R&L and Kellogg's included ''Camel Train'', ''Tooly Birds'', and ''Fringes'', all of which were released on the US market.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hargreaves (cartoonist), Harry 1922 births 2004 deaths 20th-century English artists Artists from Manchester English cartoonists English comics artists English comics writers English animators The Dandy people The Beano people Royal Air Force airmen Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II Punch (magazine) cartoonists