Beard, Albert Edgar (1902 – 1991)

A. E. Beard original cartoon artwork

A. E. Beard studied with Percy Bradshaw at the Birmingham School of Art. He contributed his first cartoon to Punch in 1927, and the association continued for 50 years. During the Second World War, Beard served in the Intelligence Corps, interpreting aerial photographs. Beard's cartoons also appeared in John Bull, Everybody's, Daily Mirror, Illustrated, Recorder, London Opinion, Reveille, Tit-Bits, Evening Standard, Blighty, Daily Graphic, Humorist, Passing Show, Daily Sketch, New Scientist and Procurement Weekly. He was political cartoonist on the Sunday Chronicle, and created a popular strip about a family of TV addicts "The Gaisby-Knights" which ran from 1958 to 1960. Beard also drew under the name "Harvey" and designed advertisements for Standard Fireworks, Oxo and Madame Tussaud's.