Colonel Pewter

• Also known as

The artist Arthur Horner was born in Melbourne, Australia where he trained at the National Art School in Sydney and the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London. He was a cartoonist for the Bulletin and Smith's Weekly before the Second World War but moved to London in 1946 where he worked for the Tribune, the News Chronicle, New Stateman and Punch. His first Colonel Pewter story was published in the News Chronicle in 1952, and the stories ran for 18 years in England (in the Chronicle, the Daily Mail and the Guardian newspapers) and continued to be published in Australia in Age. Horner returned to Australia in 1976 where he drew a new strip, The Uriel Report, for Age. Colonel Hugo Pewter (retired) of the late 5th Foot, is an ecentric country gentleman who lives in an Edwardian house in Much Overdun, Whimshire with his household which consists of his man, Glub (who was dug up deep-frozen from a pothole in the grounds and is the only Upper Paleolithic butler in Whimshire), his great-nephew, Martin, his long suffering housekeeper, Mrs Aspic, and pets Chloe the cat and Sirius, a space dog cross. There have been three collections of Colonel Pewter strips; 1957, 1972 and 1978.