Eric Roberts was born into a circus family in South London in 1910. He studied at St. Martin's School of Art in London and drew his first jokes and cartoons in the 1930s for weeklies like Tit-Bits and Answers. In 1937 he appeared in D.C. Thomson's The Dandy Comic with 'Podge'. This strip was followed by 'Helpful Henry', 'Rip Van Winkle' and 'Good King Cole' in The Beano. Roberts' 'Helpful Henry' should not be confused with J.P. Arnot's similarly titled 1925-1926 American gag-a-day comic.
One of his best known creations was 'Mike', whose adventures appeared in Knockout by Amalgamated Press. During World War II Roberts joined the R.A.F. and used his talent to provide technical drawings for posters and cartoons. After the war, Roberts' work appeared in several short lived titles, including The Challenger Comic ('Mr. Mutt'), Mirth ('Helpful Harry') and Full-o-Fun ('Willie Watch'). He mostly worked as a freelance artist for Amalgamated Press and DC Thomson.
He also kept drawing for The Dandy, creating series like 'Smudge', 'The Wee Black Scallywag', 'Ginger's Super Jeep', 'Rip Snorter' and, most notably, 'Dirty Dick' and 'Winker Watson', starting in 1960-61. He was also present in AP's Knockout ('Sinbad Simms') and Film Fun ('Niblo Nibbs'). He also drew the 'Billy Bunter' strip for a short time, following the death of Frank Minnitt. After a heart attack in the mid-1970s Eric Roberts retired in 1980 and passed away three years later from lung cancer.
