'Perkins', 1971.
John Miles was a British editorial cartoonist, best-known for his pantomime comic strip 'Perkins' (1968-1980).
Early life and career
John Miles was born in 1934 in Glastonbury, Somerset. The son of a policeman, his mother actually gave birth of him at the police station. Miles spent one term at Yeovil Art School, before he dropped out. Between 1952 and 1954, he fulfilled his military service in West Germany as a mapmaker and geographical artist with the British Army. Back in civilian life, Miles mostly worked as a typography designer. For many years, he worked in the display department of companies such as C&V Clark (shoes) and May & Baker (pharmaceuticals).
Between 1964 and 1967, Miles lived in Bermuda, where he produced alphabet designs and logos for the Island Press and Creative Signs. During this period, Miles also worked as an editorial and political cartoonist for the Bermuda Sun. Miles returned to Britain in 1967, where he began working as a muralist and freelance cartoonist. Miles has also painted portraits, designed posters and brochures, made silk screens, done advertising layouts, and worked as a toy designer.
Perkins
On 14 April 1968, John Miles launched a pantomime comic printed in the London Sunday Times. It was initially called 'Cicero', but later retitled to 'Perkins', and starred a bald, mustached man. The series later moved to The Daily Express and the Hampstead & Highgate Express, while, from December 1968 on, it was syndicated internationally through the Register & Tribune Syndicate in the USA. In 1980, after creating more than 4,000 'Perkins' strips, Miles called it quits. Four book collections of the strip have been published.
Later career and death
Other syndicated features by Miles were 'MicroMouse', 'Rumpuss', 'Depussy' and 'Figures of Speech' (1980-1992), while the artist additionally worked as a cartoonist for papers and magazines like She Magazine, the Daily Mirror, Punch, Dandy, Woman's Realm, Radio Times, Sunday Times and the Daily Express.
In 1972, Miles won a prize for his cartoons at the Montreal Salon of Cartoons. He passed away in Bath on 8 February 1998.
'Perkins', 1975.