Eric George Fraser (11 June 1902 – 15 November 1983) was a British illustrator and graphic artist. He was famous in the public mind for contributions to the ''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...

'', and as the creator in 1931 of 'Mr Therm' in adverts for the

Gas Light and Coke Company The Gas Light and Coke Company (also known as the Westminster Gas Light and Coke Company, and the Chartered Gas Light and Coke Company), was a company that made and supplied coal gas and coke. The headquarters of the company were located on H ...

Biography

Eric George Fraser was born on 11 June 1902 in Vincent Street, London. On 4 April 1925 he married Irene Grace Lovett, at St John's church, Smith Square. In 1935, he moved to Penn's Place, Hampton; where he lived until his death on 15 November 1983 – working in his garden studio until a week before his death. Fraser illustrated scenes from mythology, such as

Beowulf ''Beowulf'' (; ang, Bēowulf ) is an Old English Epic poetry, epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 Alliterative verse, alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and List of translations of Beo ...

fighting the dragon. With pen and ink he illustrated legendary scenes and several works of Shakespeare. Many of the drawings for the jackets designed in the 1960s for the

Everyman's Library Everyman's Library is a series of reprints of classic literature, primarily from the Western canon. It is currently published in hardback by Random House. It was originally an imprint of J. M. Dent (itself later a division of Weidenfeld & ...

series (published by J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd in Britain and

E. P. Dutton E. P. Dutton was an American book publishing company. It was founded as a book retailer in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1852 by Edward Payson Dutton. Since 1986, it has been an imprint of Penguin Group. Creator Edward Payson Dutton (January 4, ...

in America) were executed by Fraser. He also illustrated

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlins ...

's books, such as the