Bernard Cookson

Bernard Cookson (3 January 1937 – 26 January 2016) was a British cartoonist and illustrator.

Early life Bernard Cookson was born in Manchester, England in 1937.

Career Shortly after attending the Manchester School of Art from 1953 to 1956, Cookson became a visualizer for an advertising company. He worked as an RAF Photographic Interpreter while deployed in Cyprus during his National Service.

Cookson saw his first cartoon published in 1965, in the Daily Mirror. He took over Eric Burgin’s TV strip, The Nightelys, after the illustrator died in 1966.

Cookson said of his work: "One of the most common questions people ask is: 'do you do the captions as well?' Perhaps they imagine that I just draw a picture, in the hope that it will become funny if someone puts a suitably funny caption below".

Bernard Cookson died in January 2016, after a long battle with cancer. He is survived by his wife Franky, and a son in Perth, Australia.