Among his many achievements as an international freelance cartoonist and humorous illustrator, Noel Ford has been the editorial cartoonist for both the Daily Star and the Church Times. Noel Ford was born in Nuneaton, Warwickshire on 22 December 1942. He was educated at King Edward VI Grammar School in Nuneaton from 1954 to 1959, before studying at Birmingham College of Arts and Crafts from 1959 to 1960. Noel’s first cartoon was published in the Nuneaton Evening Tribune in 1968, but it was not until 1975 that he became a full-time cartoonist. Before this, he worked variously as a short-story writer for magazines and BBC Radio, a furniture salesman, a lab technician and a screen-printer. His first cartoon in Punch was published in 1976, and he became a regular contributor to the magazine, including providing over 30 cover illustrations.
In 1979, he became deputy editorial cartoonist to Bill Caldwell at the Daily Star, where he continued to work until 1992. In 1989, Noel became editorial cartoonist of the Church Times. He has contributed cartoons to numerous other publications during his career, including Private Eye, the Morning Advertiser, Weekend and The Golfer. He has produced work for companies such as Thomas Cook, Mercedes-Benz and Guinness, and has published a number of his own books in addition to illustrating others, including Golf Widows, Business Widows and Cricket Widows, and children’s books published by Penguin, including The Greedy Ghost and Limeroons. He lives in Dyfed, in mid Wales.
