The man who tried to keep a nation quiet: Fougasse and careless talk

Known by his pen-name ‘Fougasse’ (a kind of mine that might – or might not – explode) Bird graduated in civil engineering from King’s in 1908 and joined the Royal Engineers. After sustaining a back injury at Gallipoli, he turned to studying cartooning through a correspondence course. In time he became a regular contributor to satirical magazine Punch, and in 1937 was appointed as art editor.

He became a Fellow of King’s in 1936, and in 1946 was awarded a CBE.

Among his gifts to King’s were a series of menus for the annual dinner of the Engineering Society and his stylish portrayals of the College’s mascot Reggie the Lion, still in popular use today.

At Punch, Bird refined and simplified his style into a modernist shorthand, capturing movement through line and facial expression. Captions were shortened and jokes were sped up: his ideal was a cartoon which did not need a caption at all.

During the Second World War, Bird volunteered his artistic services to the government. His distinctive, crisp, linear images and gentle if pointed humour portrayed Hitler, Goebbels and Goering listening in to indiscreet conversations. ‘How carelessly we should have talked during the war but for Fougasse’, Princess Elizabeth observed in 1950.

In 1949 he became editor of Punch: the only artist ever to hold this position, and supervised two special issues to celebrate the Festival of Britain (1951) and the Coronation (1953).

He was a genial, mild man who did not take a political point of view, writing that comedy is more effective than tragedy.