John Worsley

John Godfrey Bernard Worsley (16 February 1919 – 3 October 2000) was a British artist and illustrator best known for his naval battle scenes and portraits of high-ranking officers and political figures. One of the very few active service artists of the Second World War, Worsley was the only person to render contemporary sea-warfare in situ, and the only official war artist captured by the Germans. Detained in the infamous prisoner-of-war camp Marlag O, Worsley documented prison life with supplies provided by the Red Cross, his expertise employed in the forging of identity papers, and an ingenious escape attempt requiring the construction of a mannequin named Albert R.N.

During his lifetime, Worsley was president of the Royal Society of Marine Artists: sixty-one of his paintings – including portraits of Field Marshal Montgomery, and the First Sea Lord, Sir John Cunningham – hang in the Imperial War Museum, with another twenty-nine pictures archived in the collections of the National Maritime Museum. During that period Worsley served on HMS Laurentic, HMS Lancaster and . Worsley was aboard the Laurentic when it was torpedoed and sunk in November 1940. Worsley's painting of that incident, based on sketches he made at the time in an open lifeboat, plus his drawings of wartime life at sea gained the attention of Kenneth Clark – the director of War Artists' Advisory Committee –who appointed him as one of the two full-time artists attached to the Commander-in-Chief's staff, Malta.

In 1943, the Navy dispatched Worsley to an island in the north Adriatic, where he hoped to record an attempt by Allied saboteurs to establish a base camp, but the Germans intercepted his party, forcing them to surrender.

As a prisoner, Worsley documented camp life with warmth, accuracy, and humour. He also directed his talent to covert pursuits, including the creation of counterfeit documentation, and Albert, an ingenious life-size figurine, crafted from newspaper, a wire frame, and human hair. The figurine had blinking ping-pong ball eyes that were powered by a pendulum made from a sardine tin. a comic strip featuring the exploits of a British constable. During his lifetime, he illustrated over forty books, concluding with a record of his exploits during the Second World War. Worsley died on 3 October 2000 at the age of 81. At that time, they remained in the ownership of his family.

Selected works

Biography

Illustrations Guy Morgan (1945), P.O.W., Whittlesey House, McGraw-Hill Book Company Inc. Guy Morgan (1945), Only Ghosts can Live, Crosby Lockwood & Son Stephen MacFarlane (pseud. John Keir Cross) (1946), Detectives in Greasepaint, Peter Lunn John Keir Cross (1946), Studio 'J' Investigates, Peter Lunn Robert Harling (1946), The Steep Atlantick Stream, Chivers, Chatto & Windus The Illustrated London News (ed. Sir Bruce Ingram) (1949) Eric Romilly (1949), Bleeding from the Roman, Chapman & Hall Thomas Cubbin, with an introduction by Henry Major Tomlinson (1950), The Wreck of the Serica, Dropmore Press Eagle Annual Number 2 (1953) (ed. Marcus Morris), Hulton Press Eric Phillips and Alan Stranks (1953), P.C. 49 "Eagle" Strip Cartoon Book, Preview Publications (UK) Ltd Alan Stranks (1954), P.C. 49 "Eagle" Strip Cartoon Book Number 2, Andrew Dakers Ltd Alan Stranks (1954), On the Beat with P.C. 49, Preview Publications (UK) Ltd Alan Stranks (1955), PC 49 Annual, Andrew Dakers Ltd Roderick Langmere Haig-Brown (1949), Saltwater Summer, Collins George Beardmore (1956), Belle of the Ballet's Gala Performance, Hulton Press George Beardmore (1957), Belle of the Ballet's Country Holiday, Hulton Press George Beardmore (1958), Scandale a la Cour, Dargaud George Beardmore (1958), Le Secret De La Ballerine, Dargaud Ships (1962), Watson-Guptill Publications John Gordon Williams (1963), God in the Space Age, Church Information Office Macdonald Hastings (1971), Sydney the Sparrow, Ward Lock Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, retold by Jane Carruth (1975), Golden Press Johanna Spyri's Heidi, retold by Jane Carruth (1975), Award Anna Sewell's Black Beauty, retold by Jane Carruth (1975), Award Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers, retold by Jane Carruth (1976), Award Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer, retold by Jane Carruth (1977), Award R.D. Blackmore's 'Lorna Doone, retold by Jane Carruth (1979), Purnell Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, retold by Jane Carruth (1982), Award Kenneth Grahame (1982), The Wind in the Willows, Purnell – (1983), Mr. Toad (Tales from The Wind in the Willows), Purnell - (1983), Home Sweet Home (Tales from The Wind in the Willows), Purnell – (1983), Toad's Adventures (Tales from The Wind in the Willows), Purnell – (1983), The River Bank (Tales from The Wind in the Willows), Purnell – (1983), The Open Road (Tales from The Wind in the Willows), Purnell – (1983), The Further Adventures of Toad (Tales from The Wind in the Willows), Purnell John Worsley (1984), foreword to A Roving Reporter: A Tribute to the Memory of Donald Charles Orbach 1914–1982 Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, retold by Jane Carruth (1984), Award Charles Dickens, ed. Jane Wilton-Smith (1985), A Christmas Carol, Gallery Books Alan Stranks (1990), The Adventures of P.C. 49 (Eagles Classics), Hawk Books Kenneth Grahame (1990), Mr. Toad (the Wind in the Willows Library), Award Publications Ltd Barry O'Brien, Kaj Melendez, and Mirza Javed (1962), Ace London, Fleetway Publications; repub. (2011) Cuauhtemoc Publishing Ltd

Selected filmography The Captive Heart (1946) Albert R.N. (1953) Anglia Story Series: The Wind in the Willows (1969) – The Winter of Enchantment (1970) – A Christmas Carol (1970) – Treasure Island (1972) – Baldmoney, Sneezwort, Dodder and Cloudberry (The Little Grey Men) (1975) – The Whisper of Glocken (1976/ 1980)