David Myers

Award-winning joke cartoonist

Published: 21 June 2007

David Myers, cartoonist and scriptwriter: born London 8 December 1925; married 1951 Joy Langley (three sons, one daughter); died Caterham, Surrey 16 June 2007.

Although he first made his name as a political cartoonist working for the Evening News in the 1960s, David Myers was perhaps best known as a highly successful and award-winning freelance joke cartoonist, advertising artist and greetings-card designer. In a career spanning nearly 60 years, he drew more than 30,000 cartoons for Punch and other publications, devised and wrote the popular BBC TV children's series Sebastian the Incredible Drawing Dog and produced scripts for such celebrated comedians as Tommy Cooper and Dave Allen.

David Myers was born in Stoke Newington, north London in 1925. The eldest son of Sidney Myers, a civil engineer, and his wife Annie, David had a twin brother, Geoffrey (eight minutes younger than him), and a younger brother, Michael. After school in Neasden, he served in the Army (1944-47), first in the Royal Fusiliers and later in the Education Corps, where he taught art and achieved the rank of sergeant. While stationed at Shorncliff Barracks, in Kent, he met his future wife, Joy Langley, who was serving in the ATS (Auxiliary Territorial Service).

After demobilisation he returned to London and on an Army grant studied at the Sir John Cass Art School (1947-48) and the St Martin's School of Art (1949-51). While still a student at St Martin's, he got a job as holiday understudy for Osbert Lancaster, the pocket cartoonist on the Daily Express. However, he had to work hard to fill the great man's shoes - each night he would race to the offices of The Daily Telegraph next door, ring his father from the phone kiosk in the foyer and together they would work up a cartoon idea for the next day's issue.

When Joy moved to Australia in 1951, he followed soon afterwards and got a job working as daily pocket cartoonist on the Melbourne Argus (1951-52). Married that October, to make ends meet Myers even drew jokes for the paper while he was on honeymoon.

In 1952 the couple returned to London and Myers worked at first in the timber trade, as a salesman and as a freelance cartoonist (contributing to Lilliput, Tit-Bits, the Daily Sketch and others) before becoming daily editorial cartoonist on the Evening News (1965-68), taking over from Joe Lee. However, before long he was asked to draw in the style of Jak (Raymond Jackson), editorial cartoonist on the rival Evening Standard. Myers was not happy with this: "I didn't want to be Jak, I wanted to be me. They wanted Jak's hard line and use of solid blacks. Not my style at all." However, he continued to work for the Evening News until 1969 when the paper refused to publish one of his cartoons attacking the right-wing politician Enoch Powell. Myers promptly resigned.

He then turned freelance again, contributing cartoons to, among others, Punch (including covers), the TV Times, the Evening Standard and The Spectator. He also produced more than 500 greetings-card designs, invented a wheeled toy (the "Shoe String Express") for Kiddicraft and drew for advertising. In addition he devised and wrote the 13-part series Sebastian the Incredible Drawing Dog (1986). Hosted by Michael Barrymore, these live-action programmes featured Myers himself (in costume) playing the part of the dog and led to the publication of four books based on the character in 1987.

Myers used Rexel Script pen nibs and Winsor & Newton indian ink on paper and never made pencil roughs. He drew in a distinctive fine-line sketchy style, often with a colour wash, and over the years his signature became almost indecipherable. Many of his cartoons contained domestic or office scenes featuring middle-aged, often bespectacled, men and women with large heads, bulbous noses and blob feet. Bizarre jokes about dogs and cats were also common subjects, and a popular long-running series for Punch focused on imaginary statues to the nearly famous (e.g. the man who invented deckchairs, shown with broken fingers).

Voted Social and Political Cartoonist of the Year by the Cartoonists' Club of Great Britain in 1966, Myers was also a former treasurer of the club. His work was included in the 150th anniversary exhibition of Punch held at the Royal Festival Hall in 1991 and examples of his political cartoons are held in the British Cartoon Archive at the University of Kent at Canterbury.

Myers was a gentle, rather diffident and highly courteous man of great personal charm. He spoke softly in a well mannered voice and was greatly liked by his colleagues in Fleet Street.

Mark Bryant

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