Graham Shepard

Who was Graham Shepard?

Graham Shepard was an English illustrator and cartoonist.

He was the son of E. H. Shepard, the illustrator of Winnie-the-Pooh and The Wind in the Willows. He was educated at Marlborough College and Oxford. At Marlborough he was a member of the college's secret 'Society of Amici' where he found himself a contemporary of John Betjeman and Anthony Blunt, and a close friend of Louis MacNeice. MacNeice's "He had a date" is loosely based on the life and death of Shepard.

At Oxford he was a contemporary and friend of MacNeice, Betjeman and Osbert Lancaster.

Following in his father's footsteps, he became an illustrator and cartoonist, working for the Illustrated London News.

Shepard served in the RNVR during World War II. He was lost with all but one crew member when his ship, HMS Polyanthus, was sunk by U-Boat 942 on 21 September 1943. He was survived by his wife, Ann Faith Shepard, and his young daughter, Minette.

Shepard's younger sister, Mary Shepard, also became an illustrator, and is most well known for her illustrations of P. L. Travers' Mary Poppins.