John Batchelor (illustrator)
John Henry Batchelor
Career
Batchelor was born and brought up in Essex, leaving home aged 16 to travel the world for two years before joining the RAF aged 18. After leaving the RAF he worked in the technical illustration departments of Bristol Aeroplane Company, Saunders-Roe (where he worked on the first hovercraft) and Martin-Baker,[1] developing a hobby of drawing and painting antique pistols and becoming adept at portraying metal and wood finishes.[citation needed]
As a freelance illustrator he worked first on boys' papers including
He was also commissioned by commercial organisations, notably Trans World Airlines, to produce reference illustrations for historical and technical publications.
During his career Batchelor designed 864 stamps for 49 countries[1] in 25 years which probably makes him the world's premier stamp illustrator.[3] The 49 countries don't include Great Britain, whose Post Office never answered the letters he sent over the years. Batchelor’s stamp designs feature in his 2016 book John Batchelor’s World of Stamps: A Unique Collection.[1][4]
Batchelor was appointed
Personal life
John Batchelor lived in Dorset with his second wife, Elizabeth, whom he married in Canada in the early 1980s.[1]
He died on 2 January 2019, aged 82.[6]
References
- ^ a b c d e f "Out of work for 44 minutes". Dorset Life - The Dorset Magazine. July 2016. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
- ^ Wimborne. 12 June 2014. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
- ^ World Stamp News www.worldstampnews.com [full citation needed]
- ^ "John Batchelor's World of Stamps". Minster Press. Archived from the original on 28 September 2017. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
- ^ "No. 60367". The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 December 2012. p. 14.
- ^ "Batchelor". The Telegraph. UK. January 2019. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
- Publishing Solutions WWW Limited (archived 2014)