Rupert Bear Rupert Bear Rupert Bear is a children's comic strip character created by the English artist Mary Tourtel and first appearing in the "Daily Express" newspaper on 8 November 1920. Rupert's initial purpose was to win sales from the rival "Daily Mail" and "Daily Mirror". In 1935, the mantle of Rupert artist and storyteller was taken over by Alfred Bestall, who was previously an illustrator for "Punch" and other glossy magazines. Bestall proved to be successful in the field of children's literature and worked on Rupert stories and artwork into his 90s. More recently, various other artists and writers have continued
Rupert Bear of the story "Little Lost Bear" written and drawn by Tourtel. Bestall expanded the stories and plots of Rupert; and in addition to precise and detailed drawings for the "Daily Express" panels he also created beautifully crafted illustrations in the Rupert Annuals. Bestall drew the Rupert stories for the "Daily Express" until 1965; and continued to illustrate the covers for the annuals until his retirement in 1973. Much of the landscape in Rupert is inspired by the Vale of Clwyd in North Wales (Alfred Bestall himself lived for many years in the north Welsh village of Beddgelert)(the Professor's castle is