Cyril Kenneth Bird, 1887-1965

• Biography

  Attribute	Value
  Biography	Born Cyril Kenneth Bird in London, the son of England cricketer Arthur Bird, he studied engineering at King's College, London, at his father's insistence, but attended evening art classes at the Regent Street Polytechnic and the London County Council School of Photo-engraving and Lithography. Bird was badly wounded in the First World War. He then took lessons by correspondence from Percy Bradshaw's Press Art School. Punch started to publish his cartoons in 1916 under his pseudonym `Fougasse' (a small land mine of unpredictable performance); this was to avoid confusion with another Punch artist, W Bird. He later became the magazine's Art Editor (1937), then its Editor (1949-53). During the Second World War he designed visual propaganda for nearly every government ministry as well as charities and voluntary groups; his famous `Careless Talk Costs Lives' series was produced for the Ministry of Information.. A mjor exhibitionof his work was held at The Fine Art Society in 1966.
  Education	King's College, London, 1904-1908 Regent Street Polytechnic, London County Council School of Photo-engraving and Lithography, Percy Bradshaw's Press Art School, 1916
  Employment	Designed posters for the Underground Group and London Transport, 1925-1944
  Role	Artist,