About Ralph Steadman
Ralph Idris Steadman (born 15 May 1936) is a Welsh illustrator and was a collaborator with the American writer Hunter S. Thompson (1937–2005). Steadman draws satirical political cartoons, social caricatures, and picture books. == Early life == Steadman was born in Wallasey, Cheshire, to an English father, Lionel Raphael Steadman, and a Welsh mother, Gwendoline; the family moved to Wales towards the end of the Second World War. Steadman attended the grammar school in Abergele in north Wales but hated the draconian, sadistic new headmaster and left aged 16. "I couldn't wait to get out," he said. He came from a lower middle class background; his father was a commercial traveller and his mother was a shop assistant at T. J. Hughes in Liverpool. Steadman took his first job at 16 as a radar operator at the De Havilland aircraft factory in the border town of Broughton near Chester but only remained for nine months, finding factory life repetitive and dull, and becoming fed up with fellow employees, citing persistent cruel practical jokes ("They were always putting stuff in your tea"); however, while there he became skilled in technical drawing, thus sowing the seeds of his future career. Steadman returned to England after National Service in 1954 and found work in London as a cartoonist. Wishing to accelerate his progress he enrolled in 1959 at East Ham Technical College and the London College of Printing during the 1960s, doing freelance work for Punch, Private Eye, The Daily Telegraph, The New York Times and Rolling Stone during this time. == Career == === Collaborations with Hunter S. Thompson === Steadman had a long partnership with the American journalist and writer Hunter S. Thompson, drawing pictures for many of his articles and books.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.