Portrait of Tom Phillips (artist)

Birthday profile

Tom Phillips (artist)

Tom Phillips, English painter and academic (died 2022)

Born
May 25, 1937
Died
November 28, 2022
Zodiac sign
Gemini
Birth year
1937

About Tom Phillips (artist)

Trevor Thomas Phillips (25 May 1937 – 28 November 2022) was an English visual artist. He worked as a painter, printmaker and collagist. == Life and career == Trevor Thomas Phillips was born on 25 May 1937 in Clapham, London to David and Margaret Phillips (née Arnold). He was the younger of two sons. In 1940, the cotton market collapsed and the family had to sell their home. Phillips' father went to work in Abergavenny, Wales, leaving his wife to run the boarding-house in London. After the war the family finances improved and they were able to holiday annually in France and Germany. His parents began to buy short leasehold properties as investments and although these did not yield the return that they wished, his mother did buy the freehold of one house, which would later become her son's studio and home. From 1942 to 1947, Phillips attended Bonneville Road Primary School in Clapham. He said that while he was there he "learned the word artist and discovered that an artist is someone who does not have to put his paints away, so decided to become one".

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Career and life highlights

The world when Tom Phillips (artist) was born

Tom Phillips (artist) was born in 1937. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1937

  • #1 song"A-Tisket, A-Tasket" – Ella Fitzgerald
  • Top movieSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs
  • Best-selling bookOf Mice and Men – John Steinbeck

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentJoe Louis becomes heavyweight champion
  • Top headlineHindenburg zeppelin explodes in New Jersey
  • Technology milestoneGolden Gate Bridge opens in San Francisco
  • Defining fadSwing music
  • Notable inventionShopping cart
  • World population2.30 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderFranklin D. Roosevelt
  • Sports championNew York Yankees (World Series)
  • U.S. population128.8M

1937 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Tom Phillips (artist)'s birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19372026
Gas$0.20$3.45/gal
Average home$5,200$435,000
Average income$3,000$67,500
Minimum wage$0.25$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.25$11.95
Postage stamp$0.03$0.73
Population128.8M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Library of Congress, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.