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| Martin Aitchison, who has died aged 96, was one of the chief illustrators of the Key Words Reading Scheme educational series for Ladybird Books that sold more than 80m copies worldwide. The books, which first appeared between 1964 and 1967, created a snapshot of middle-class England through their depictions of a nuclear family of two children, Peter and Jane, and their parents. The images, often set around the new suburban council estates of the postwar era, showed the children undertaking different activities that introduced young readers to new words. | Martin Aitchison, who has died aged 96, was one of the chief illustrators of the Key Words Reading Scheme educational series for Ladybird Books that sold more than 80m copies worldwide. The books, which first appeared between 1964 and 1967, created a snapshot of middle-class England through their depictions of a nuclear family of two children, Peter and Jane, and their parents. The images, often set around the new suburban council estates of the postwar era, showed the children undertaking different activities that introduced young readers to new words. |
| To comics fans, Aitchison is best remembered for Luck of the Legion, a flamboyant series of full-colour Foreign Legion yarns in the centre pages of the Eagle. Written by Geoffrey Bond and originally intended as only a 12-part story, the series proved so popular that it ran for almost 10 years from 1952. Sergeant Luck’s desert adventures were treated with both tension and humour, the tone affected by Aitchison’s introduction to the legion via a film he had watched in order to gain some references for uniforms. Sergeant Luck, Corporal Trenet and Legionnaire Bimberg, the strip’s heroes, became second only in popularity with Eagle readers to Dan Dare. | To comics fans, Aitchison is best remembered for Luck of the Legion, a flamboyant series of full-colour Foreign Legion yarns in the centre pages of the Eagle. Written by Geoffrey Bond and originally intended as only a 12-part story, the series proved so popular that it ran for almost 10 years from 1952. Sergeant Luck’s desert adventures were treated with both tension and humour, the tone affected by Aitchison’s introduction to the legion via a film he had watched in order to gain some references for uniforms. Sergeant Luck, Corporal Trenet and Legionnaire Bimberg, the strip’s heroes, became second only in popularity with Eagle readers to Dan Dare. |
| Born at Kings Norton, Worcestershire, Martin was the son of Leslie Aitchison, chief metallurgist to the Air Ministry, and his wife, Ida (nee Tilsley). At 11, Martin became a boarder at Ellesmere College, Shropshire, where he discovered that his caricatures of teachers made him popular with his classmates. His drawing earned a number of prizes – “some very handsome books”, said Aitchison – which proved to his family that “I could do something well, despite my deafness”, his hearing impairment being the result of an attack of German measles at the age of five. | Born at Kings Norton, Worcestershire, Martin was the son of Leslie Aitchison, chief metallurgist to the Air Ministry, and his wife, Ida (nee Tilsley). At 11, Martin became a boarder at Ellesmere College, Shropshire, where he discovered that his caricatures of teachers made him popular with his classmates. His drawing earned a number of prizes – “some very handsome books”, said Aitchison – which proved to his family that “I could do something well, despite my deafness”, his hearing impairment being the result of an attack of German measles at the age of five. |
| From the age of 15, he spent four years studying at Birmingham College of Art before moving to the Slade School of Art in London. His work was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1939, shortly before the Slade was evacuated to Oxford during the second world war. Aitchison was excluded from military service because of his severe hearing difficulties, and instead joined the engineering company Vickers in Weybridge as a technical illustrator, mostly of handbooks for Wellington bombers. His work was enlivened by another task he took on, drawing diagrams for the engineer and inventor Barnes Wallis of a new dam-busting bomb device. | From the age of 15, he spent four years studying at Birmingham College of Art before moving to the Slade School of Art in London. His work was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1939, shortly before the Slade was evacuated to Oxford during the second world war. Aitchison was excluded from military service because of his severe hearing difficulties, and instead joined the engineering company Vickers in Weybridge as a technical illustrator, mostly of handbooks for Wellington bombers. His work was enlivened by another task he took on, drawing diagrams for the engineer and inventor Barnes Wallis of a new dam-busting bomb device. |
| After the war he began freelancing as an advertising and magazine illustrator – contributing to Picture Post, Punch, Vogue and Lilliput, among others – with no particular interest in cartoon strip work, although he was a follower of the wartime adventures of Jane in the Daily Mirror and the imported American strips, particularly Rip Kirby. In 1951 he was asked to assist Ray Bailey with his Kitty Hawke strip in Girl. The editors liked Aitchison’s work enough to drop the Tintin reprint strip from the comic Eagle and replace it with Luck of the Legion in 1952. At the same time as the weekly adventures of the legion, Aitchison drew the cartoon strip Artie and Crafty for Swift, also written by Bond, although their association ended in 1961 when Bond emigrated to Australia. | After the war he began freelancing as an advertising and magazine illustrator – contributing to Picture Post, Punch, Vogue and Lilliput, among others – with no particular interest in cartoon strip work, although he was a follower of the wartime adventures of Jane in the Daily Mirror and the imported American strips, particularly Rip Kirby. In 1951 he was asked to assist Ray Bailey with his Kitty Hawke strip in Girl. The editors liked Aitchison’s work enough to drop the Tintin reprint strip from the comic Eagle and replace it with Luck of the Legion in 1952. At the same time as the weekly adventures of the legion, Aitchison drew the cartoon strip Artie and Crafty for Swift, also written by Bond, although their association ended in 1961 when Bond emigrated to Australia. |
| Clifford Makins, who succeeded Marcus Morris as editor of Eagle, wanted to pursue a more modern style of strip, and Aitchison was asked to draw the James Bond-influenced thriller Danger Unlimited. Although the strip lasted only a short time, as Eagle changed hands and direction soon after, Aitchison continued to work for Eagle until 1963, latterly drawing adaptations of Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World and CS Forester’s Hornblower, RN. | Clifford Makins, who succeeded Marcus Morris as editor of Eagle, wanted to pursue a more modern style of strip, and Aitchison was asked to draw the James Bond-influenced thriller Danger Unlimited. Although the strip lasted only a short time, as Eagle changed hands and direction soon after, Aitchison continued to work for Eagle until 1963, latterly drawing adaptations of Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World and CS Forester’s Hornblower, RN. |
| In 1963, via his father, who knew the company’s editorial director, Douglas Keen, he was offered his first illustration work by Ladybird Books, for A First Book of Saints. He went on to produce some 80 books for Ladybird, mostly in watercolour, with each book taking up to three months to produce. His favourite was a larger-sized edition of Gulliver’s Travels (1976). In 1971, Aitchison illustrated The Story of Metals, written by his father, who had become professor of metallurgy at Birmingham University. | In 1963, via his father, who knew the company’s editorial director, Douglas Keen, he was offered his first illustration work by Ladybird Books, for A First Book of Saints. He went on to produce some 80 books for Ladybird, mostly in watercolour, with each book taking up to three months to produce. His favourite was a larger-sized edition of Gulliver’s Travels (1976). In 1971, Aitchison illustrated The Story of Metals, written by his father, who had become professor of metallurgy at Birmingham University. |
| In an interview published on his website, Aitchison described his work for Ladybird: “There was a real family feel when Douglas Keen was in charge. Work meetings were at his home in Stratford-upon-Avon. Later, Vernon Mills, who was Douglas’s successor, arranged meetings in his Beeches Road office in Loughborough … If it was a Peter and Jane book, Bill Murray [the creator of the Key Words Reading Scheme] would be there too. Then we would all go off to the pub for a drink and some eats.” | In an interview published on his website, Aitchison described his work for Ladybird: “There was a real family feel when Douglas Keen was in charge. Work meetings were at his home in Stratford-upon-Avon. Later, Vernon Mills, who was Douglas’s successor, arranged meetings in his Beeches Road office in Loughborough … If it was a Peter and Jane book, Bill Murray [the creator of the Key Words Reading Scheme] would be there too. Then we would all go off to the pub for a drink and some eats.” |
| The worst thing he did, he told the BBC2 TV show See Hear in 2012, was a painting showing a boy abseiling: “It was completely wrong and if anybody had tried to do that he would have spun off and gone down. The mountain rescue people in Keswick complained about it and we had to rearrange the ropes and reprint the book.” | The worst thing he did, he told the BBC2 TV show See Hear in 2012, was a painting showing a boy abseiling: “It was completely wrong and if anybody had tried to do that he would have spun off and gone down. The mountain rescue people in Keswick complained about it and we had to rearrange the ropes and reprint the book.” |
| In the late 1960s he also contributed illustrations to World of Wonder magazine. He continued to work for Ladybird Books until 1987 and then for others, including the Oxford University Press. Even after retiring, he continued to paint, finding inspiration on walks in the countryside around Oxford and Henley-on-Thames. | In the late 1960s he also contributed illustrations to World of Wonder magazine. He continued to work for Ladybird Books until 1987 and then for others, including the Oxford University Press. Even after retiring, he continued to paint, finding inspiration on walks in the countryside around Oxford and Henley-on-Thames. |
| Aitchison maintained regular contact with Eagle fandom, and between 1998 and 2004 contributed the comical adventures of Justin Tyme, Ye Hapless Highwayman to the pages of Eagle Times, the journal of the Eagle Society, written by his Luck of the Legion partner Bond, with later episodes by Bond’s son Jim. | Aitchison maintained regular contact with Eagle fandom, and between 1998 and 2004 contributed the comical adventures of Justin Tyme, Ye Hapless Highwayman to the pages of Eagle Times, the journal of the Eagle Society, written by his Luck of the Legion partner Bond, with later episodes by Bond’s son Jim. |
| He married a fellow Slade student, Dorothy Self, in 1943. She died in 2003. Aitchison is survived by their son, Nick, grandchildren, Helen and Paul, and great-grandchild, Edward. | He married a fellow Slade student, Dorothy Self, in 1943. She died in 2003. Aitchison is survived by their son, Nick, grandchildren, Helen and Paul, and great-grandchild, Edward. |
| • Martin Henry Hugh Aitchison, artist, born 21 November 1919; died 22 October 2016 | • Martin Henry Hugh Aitchison, artist, born 21 November 1919; died 22 October 2016 |