Brian Walker (22 March 1926 - 15 May 2020; Brislington, Somerset, UK)
Brian Walker was a British cartoonist and illustrator whose work appeared across a span of 50 years in comics such as The Beano, The Dandy and Whizzer and Chips, in humour-led publications such as Punch, serious magazines such as the Countryman, and in more than 80 books.

Born in Brislington, Somerset, Brian was the son of Harry Walker, who ran a scale-making business, and his wife, Annie (nee Long), a teacher. In 1939 the family moved across the county to Simonsbath on Exmoor, where Brian went to Minehead school. He was first encouraged to pursue an artistic career by the renowned painter of horses, Sir Alfred Munnings, who lived nearby, and after completing a correspondence course for press artists he began to study art at the Royal West of England Academy in Bristol.

At the age of sixteen, Brian Walker applied for an art job at the Bristol Evening World. He drew war maps and gag cartoons. After service in the Royal Air Force in an RAF photo reconnaissance unit from 1944 to 1947, Ward returned to the Bristol College of Art where in 1949 he gained diplomas in illustration and design.

In the early 1950s, after a 2,000-mile cycling tour of Europe, he submitted illustrated articles of his travels to Cycling Weekly magazine, which led to commissions from Farmers Weekly and Punch. In 1952 he moved to, and restored, a cottage at Hinton Blewett in the Mendip Hills of Somerset, which became his home and studio for the rest of his life.

In 1967, he illustrated the humorous book 'How To Be A Motorist And Stay Happy'. The Scottish publishing house D.C. Thomson offered Walker trial work on several strips. He drew the popular series 'I Spy' in Sparky for almost three years.

A friend introduced him to the D.C. Thomson rival Amalgamated Press (IPC), for which he drew 'Three Story Stan' in Whizzer & Chips, 'Fun Fear' in Whoopee!, 'Plane Jane' and 'Fright School' in Buster, among others. His most popular work was 'Scream Inn' (1973-1979), which he drew in Shiver & Shake for about six years. After that, Walker produced 'Box-a-Tricks' in Buster and 'Ar Little Uns' in the Bristol Evening Post. In the 1980s, he returned to the comics of D.C. Thomson.

In the 1960s boys' weekly comics still flourished, and they provided Brian with his bread and butter. Working initially for the DC Thompson publishing stable, he drew, among others, the Smasher strip in the Dandy (734 pages) and the I Spy strip in Sparky (228 pages), before moving on to Scream Inn for IPC's Whoopee comic (556 pages).

As technical and social changes shrank the comics market, he picked up his connection with the Countryman, which used him to illustrate its articles on rural issues and history, as well as short stories. Among the books that he illustrated were How To Be a Motorist and Stay Happy by George Haines, Landscape With Solitary Figure by Colin Willock, and A Countryman’s Lot by Max Hardcastle.

His association with the Countryman was particularly strong, and from 1970 onwards there was rarely an issue to which he did not contribute. Known for being quick, versatile and brilliantly effective at delivering on his brief, he was always much in demand. As result he reckoned to have drawn 5,400 pages’ worth of comic strips and illustrations by the time he retired in 2009.

From 1964 until 2008 - an incredible 45 years - Brian would travel to Bradford on Avon every year to do the illustration for the Moulton Bikes Christmas Card. These beautifully drawn cards would often depict local scenes, notable Moulton achievements and, in later years, Toby the cat.

Brian kept working into his 80s, but finally stopped when the onset of Alzheimer’s in 2009 began to affect his memory. Brian reckoned to have drawn 5,400 pages' worth of comic strips and illustrations across his career.

A keen cyclist throughout his life, he had for many years played the tuba, which he had been taught by Acker Bilk, whom he had met when he had booked him to play a gig for the Stanton Drew Labour party in the 50s. Brian later played the tuba in Bilk’s Chew Valley Jazz Band across Somerset, as well as with the Wurzels singer Adge Cutler and, on occasion, with the Wurzels themselves. He also played sousaphone in amateur jazz groups around Bath and Bristol.

In 1961 Brian married Rosemary Beer, a laboratory assistant. She survives him, along with his two daughters, me and Sarah, five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.