Roy Wilson

Royston Warner Wilson was born in Kettering, Northamptonshire. He attended the Norwich School of Art and was apprenticed as a furniture designer for three years. After this, he went to London to work as a junior draftsman on the air board staff in London. In 1918, a day before the armistice, Roy Wilson was called into service, where he stayed until 1920. In a pub in Norwich, he inadvertently made the acquaintance of Don Newhouse and became his assistant on his comics, such as 'Monk and Jaff', 'Cuthbert the Carpenter' and 'Tickle and Tootle'. Wilson's specialty became animal comics. Some of his finest and funniest cartoon animals are 'George the Jolly Gee Gee' and 'Chimpo's Circus' (1938), which ran on the cover of the magazine Happy Days.

Working for Amalgamated Press, Roy Wilson was only allowed to sign 'Chimpo' with his own name. In his later years, Wilson drew strips about famous personalities, but his slapstick work remained his favorite: 'Pitch and Toss', 'Stymie and his Magic Wishbone' and 'Morecambe and Wise'. He especially enjoyed drawing unequaled celebrational stories, for instance for the Christmas issue of magazine Puck in 1937, a Coronation strip for Sparkler in 1937, and for King George V's Jubilee on 4 May 1935.

Wilson died from lung cancer in June, 1965. Between 1920 and his death, he made numerous comics for several magazines, and his lively art still entertains readers today.