Alfred Bestall was born in Mandalay, Burma i892 and spent his early years in North Wales. He studied art at Birmingham College of Art and after the First World War, when he was sent to Flanders, went on to become an illustrator of books though is best remembered for Rupert Bear. Rupert started life as a comic strip, created by Mary Tourtel, in the Daily Express in 1935 but it was Bestall who created the human-like Rupert in his checked trousers, scarf and red jumper that we all recognise today.
Bestall's beautiful illustrations - inspired by his two favourite places, Snowdonia and the Sussex Weald - brought the world of Nutwood alive. The popularity of the Rupert comic strip was followed by numerous Christmas Annuals which Bestall continued to illustrate long after he wrote his final story in 1965.
Bestall died on 15 January 1986, aged 93, at Wern Manor Nursing Home in Porthmadog, Wales.
