Ben Wicks

Who was Ben Wicks?

Ben Wicks, CM was a British-born Canadian cartoonist, illustrator, journalist and author.

Wicks was a Cockney born into a poor, working-class family in London's East End near London Bridge. He learned to play the saxophone in the British Army and toured Europe in a band with author Leonard Bigg also from London. He emigrated to Canada in 1957 with his wife Doreen Wicks with just $25. He found work as a milkman in Calgary and then joined the Canadian Army as a musician and began studying cartooning from books. Wicks came across a list in a library of magazines willing to purchase cartoons and began trying his hand—his first major success was being published by the Saturday Evening Post.

In 1963, he travelled to Toronto to assess cartooning possibilities and met Toronto Telegram 'The Giants' daily illustrated feature cartoonist, Norman Drew who advised him to move to Toronto. Wicks then moved to Toronto to work for the Toronto Telegram and his cartoon, The Outcasts, was soon syndicated in over 50 newspapers. His cartoons were simply drawn but were very topical and witty and became popular with readers and were picked up by the Toronto Star after the Telegram ceased operations in 1971. At its height, his daily cartoon, now called Wicks was carried by 84 Canadian and more than 100 American newspapers.