EXTRACTS: The Art of Ron Embleton (illustrators special) © 2018 The Book Palace (144 PAGES in Full edition)

7 Sydney was a very talented and competitive sportsman, who excelled at tennis, cricket and football. He also shone musically, a gifted piano player who could play by ear, and he was part of a trio who played at a variety of London night spots. These high energy levels were a gift that Ron was to inherit from his father and, while he may have railed against his father’s competitiveness (Ron always being quick to praise the work of his peers and relatively dismissive of his own achievements), he may well have outstripped his father in terms of drive and focus. The eldest of three brothers (his younger brother Gerry was to follow Ron into a career as an illustrator with a passion for history), Ron was a lively and bright child with a naturally wayward bent and an aversion to some of the less enticing aspects of the school curriculum. When war was declared in September 1939, Ron’s family were subject to the disruption and uncertainty that such momentous events always bring in their wake. Ron’s father Sydney joined the ambulance corps and saw action in Greece and Italy and Ron and his brother Terry were evacuated. However Ron’s mother, Frances, soon brought her children back to London, where they stayed on through the bombings of the Blitz, with night