'Rupert and the Cake Race' (The Daily Express, 18 September 1973), presumably drawn by Enid Ash.
Enid Ash was a British illustrator, who assisted Alfred Bestall on his 'Rupert Bear' work.
Rupert Bear
Virtually nothing is known about the artist's life. By 1949 regular 'Rupert Bear' artist Alfred Bestall was overloaded with work for both his serials for the Daily Express and the original stories and covers for the Rupert Annuals. Enid Ash was brought in to take over some of the routine work. Ash was however unable to draw Rupert's face, so Bestall continued to draw this detail on all her drawings. From 1952 on, both Enid Ash and Alex Cubie illustrated stories made specifically for the 'Rupert Adventure Series'. Fifty volumes were published by the Oldbourne Book Co. Ltd. between September 1948 and June 1963; the first eleven containing reprints of Bestall stories.
Ash is also the artist behind the 'Rupert Bear' newspaper episodes 'Rupert and the Water Wand' (July-August 1971) and 'Rupert and the Cake Race' in the Daily Express (September-October 1973), both written by Freddie Chaplain. During that period, Alex Cubie, Jenny Kisler, Lucy Matthews and John Harrold also worked anonymously on 'Rupert' stories, until Harrold became the series' official artist in 1986.
Illustration work
During the 1960s and 1970s, Enid S. Ash was also a regular author and illustrator for the children's books of publisher Dean & Son in London. In the publisher's Dean's Little Poppet Books series, she wrote and illustrated 'Topsy and Lambkin' (1963), 'Angela's Farm Babies' (1964), and livened up the pages of Eunice Close's 'Pussikins and Puppikins' (1973). Other contributions to this company were storybooks with tales about kittens, puppies and other cute animals. She additionally illustrated postcards.
