EXTRACTS: Illustrators issue 10 © 2015 Book Palace Books (96 PAGES in Full edition)

38 Patrick Nicolle Norman Wright celebrates the work of a premier artist who was able with his irresistible pictures to bring history to life in all its excitement and colour. It was a chilly winter’s evening late in 1978 and David Ashford and I were on our way to Mill Hill in North London to meet one of my boyhood idols, a remarkable illustrator whose work had brought a huge amount of pleasure to my boyhood reading and one of the very best exponents of historical adventure strip art ever to draw for comics. His name was Pat Nicolle and he was an artist who brought history to life for me, particularly the medieval world of sword fights, jousting and pageantry. The man who opened the door for us was a cheerful, stocky man of average height and, although elderly, was obviously hale and hearty. Pat Nicolle could not have offered us a warmer welcome to his little cottage home. As we entered and passed through the hall, I couldn’t help but notice