Leo Baxendale (born October 27, 1930) is a British cartoonist, who was the creator of the classic Beano strips "Little Plum" (1953), "Minnie the Minx" (1953), "The Bash Street Kids" (1954) and "The Three Bears" (1959). October 27 is the 300th day of the year (301st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 65 days remaining. ... Year 1930 (MCMXXX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link is to a full 1930 calendar). ... Cartoonist Jack Elrod at work. ... This March 2007 does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... This article is about the comic strip, the sequential art form as published in newspapers and on the Internet. ... Little Plum is a cartoon strip in the Beano comic. ... 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday. ... Minnie the Minx is a fictional character in a comic strip in the UK comic The Beano. ... The Bash Street Kids is a comic strip in the UK comic The Beano, and is often seen as respresentative of the comic, rivalling Dennis the Menace. ... 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Illustration by Arthur Rackham from a 1918 English Fairy Tales, by Flora Annie Steel. ... Year 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Leo Baxendale was at the end of his National Service days in the RAF, when he decided he wanted to be an artist. He got his first job as an artist for a local newspaper. Here he drew adverts and cartoons. In 1952 Leo Baxendale was hired to work for the comic magazine The Beano. This job boosted his career. He became one of the most important artists of this magazine, because of series like 'Little Plum', 'Minnie the Minx' (started in 1953, taken over by Jim Petrie in 1961), 'The Three Bears' and 'When the Bell Rings'. This last series was later renamed to 'The Bash Street Kids'.

Baxendale also co-operated on the launch of Beezer in 1956 and Wham in 1964. Later in his career Baxendale spent a few years working for the company Fleetway (IPC Magazines), creating the likes of 'Clever Dick' and 'Sweeny Toddler'. In the seventies Baxendale created the 'Willy the Kid' series, published by Duckworths. Other artists like Tom Paterson and Martin Baxendale (Baxendale's son), adopted the technique. These artists carried his technique into the eighties. In 1987 Leo Baxendale founded the publishing house, Reaper Books.

He left The Beano in 1962, and created the short-lived "Wham!" comic for Odhams Press, before contributing his brand of cartoon mayhem to Fleetway's line of comics for many years. 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar). ... Fleetway, also known as Fleetway Publications and Fleetway Editions, was a publishing company, mainly producing comic magazines for the U.K.. Fleetway began life as Amalgamated Press, the company owned by Alfred Harmsworth, who were based in Fleetway House. ...

In the 1980s he fought a seven-year legal battle with D.C. Thomson for the rights to his Beano creations, which was eventually settled out of court. The 1980s refers to the years of and between 1980 and 1989. ... D. C. Thomson & Co. ...

In 1990 he created "I LOVE you Baby Basil!" for the Guardian.

See also

Baxendale, Leo (1978). A Very Funny Business: 40 Years Of Comics. Gerald Duckworth & Co., London. 

woop said Cathy Jones

External links

• Reaper Books - Baxendale's own publishing company
• Leo Baxendale at Lambiek.net
• Peter Gray's Leo Baxendale comic fansite