George Adamson was born in February 1913 in New York City, USA, the son of British parents, George William and Mary Lydia. Although he spent the early part of his childhood in America, he returned to England with his sisters in 1921 following the death of his mother. His father died a short while later. In England, Adamson attended the Wigan Mining and Technical College and the Wigan City School of Art, with a year at Liverpool University Department of Education. From 1935-1939 he attended the Liverpool City School of Art on a part time basis. He served in RAF Coastal Command as a navigator during the Second World War, later appointed an official war artist for the Coastal Command. After the War he taught engraving and illustration at Exeter School of Art, Exeter, Devon. After his time at the Exeter School of Art he focussed more on his own illustration work, and in 1960 Adamson did the drawings for the first book of poems Ted Hughes wrote for children: 'Meet My Folks!', published in spring 1961. This was followed by the drawings for Ted Hughes's first book of children's stories: 'How the Whale Became' (1963), and those for the first edition of 'The Iron Man' (1968). Adamson was also a well-known cartoonist, working for publications including Punch, The Spectator and Private Eye. Adamson died in March 2005.