Leonard Matthews

Who is Leonard Matthews?

Leonard James Matthews was a British editor, publisher, writer and illustrator of comics and children's magazines, best known as the founder of the educational magazine Look and Learn.

Born in Islington, London, on 10 October 1914, he joined the Amalgamated Press as an editorial assistant in 1939, starting as a sub-editor on the weekly comic Knockout under editor Percy Clarke. Matthews persuaded cartoonist Hugh McNeill, then working for rival DC Thomson's comics The Beano and The Dandy, to go freelance and work for AP. McNeill contributed "Deed-a-Day Danny" and "Simon the Simple Sleuth" to Knockout's initial lineup, and remained a mainstay of AP's comics for the rest of his life; he and Matthews remained friends until McNeill died in 1969.

Matthews served in the RAF during the Second World War, and also compiled training manuals for the Air Ministry in London. He volunteered as a fire lookout, and saved AP's offices at Fleetway House from burning down during an air raid. After the war he returned to Knockout, becoming editor in 1948.