Ronald Niebour (4 April 1903 - 19 July 1972) was a British cartoonist who used the penname NEB. He is best known for his

pocket cartoon A political cartoon, a form of editorial cartoon, is a cartoon graphic with caricatures of public figures, expressing the artist's opinion. An artist who writes and draws such images is known as an editorial cartoonist. They typically combine ...

s in the

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...

Early life

Ronald Niebour was born in

Streatham Streatham ( ) is a district in south London, England. Centred south of Charing Cross, it lies mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, with some parts extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. Streatham was in Surrey ...

, London, on 4 April 1903. He was educated at

Barry County School Barry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Barry (name), including lists of people with the given name, nickname or surname, as well as fictional characters with the given name * Dancing Barry, stage name of Barry Richards (born c. 1950 ...

in South Wales which he attended with

Leslie Illingworth Leslie Gilbert Illingworth (2 September 1902 – 20 December 1979) was a Welsh political cartoonist best known for his work for the ''Daily Mail'' and for becoming the chief cartoonist at the British satirical periodical ''Punch''. Early histor ...

, who was later his colleague as a cartoonist on the Daily Mail. After two years in the Merchant Navy Niebour became a schoolteacher, teaching metalwork and handicrafts for three years at schools in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, Weymouth and

Kendal Kendal, once Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England, south-east of Windermere and north of Lancaster. Historically in Westmorland, it lies within the dale of th ...

Cartoonist

Niebour was self-taught as an artist. His was initially the Football Cartoonist for the Barry Dock News and the Cardiff Evening Express. He became the Sports Cartoonist of the

Oxford Mail ''Oxford Mail'' is a daily tabloid newspaper in Oxford, England, owned by Newsquest. It is published six days a week. It is a sister paper to the weekly tabloid ''The Oxford Times''. History The ''Oxford Mail'' was founded in 1928 as a success ...

, before joining the staff of the Birmingham Gazette and the Birmingham Evening Despatch. After submitting some sketches, Niebour joined the Daily Mail in London on 26 September 1938, initially working on the Woman's Page and the Gardening Notes. After the outbreak of

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 opposin ...

he changed to drawing

s, which became very popular. At the end of the war one of his cartoons was found in a file in the ruins of

Hitler's Chancellery Hitler's Chancellery, officially known as the ''Kanzlei des Führers der NSDAP'' (" Chancellery of the Führer of the Nazi Party"; abbreviated as KdF) was a Nazi Party organization. Also known as the ''Privatkanzlei des Führers'' ("Private Chanc ...

. Niebour also drew advertisements and worked 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 ...

. Niebour retired from the Daily Mail on 1 December 1960 and died at his home in Benajarafe, near

Málaga Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most pop ...

, Spain, on 19 July 1972.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Niebour, Ronald 1903 births 1979 deaths People from Barry, Vale of Glamorgan British cartoonists Punch (magazine) cartoonists Daily Mail journalists