Les Dixon

Les Dixon
Born	Leslie Charles Brailey 25 July 1910 Sydney, Australia
Died	December 2002 Central Coast, New South Wales, Australia
Occupation	Cartoonist, illustrator
Nationality	Australian
Period	1941–1989

Leslie "Les" Dixon (1910–2002), was an Australian cartoonist and commercial artist.

Dixon was born Leslie Charles Brailey in Sydney on 25 July 1910 and adopted by Charles and Lillian Dixon when he was only six months old. He attended primary schools in the Sydney suburbs of Drummoyne and Balmain before moving to Corbargo in 1918 with his family, on a venture of stripping wattle bark, trapping rabbits and share dairy farming. During this time he completed most of his schooling via correspondence from the Plunkett Street School in Sydney. He commenced his formal art training in 1924 when, at age 14, he signed up for an art correspondence course promoted by the Australian painter Harry J. Weston. In 1929 Dixon returned to Sydney working as a blacksmith's striker for six months before joining the Vacuum Oil Company as a truck driver. He continued to take art lessons by correspondence.

In 1931 he married Ella May Laws (d. 1975) in South Balmain, New South Wales.

At the age of 28, he was involved in a traffic accident in Erskineville, sustaining a fracture at the base of the skull and dislocating his spine. As a result of his injuries he was forced to leave the oil company. While on the dole, he studied life drawing at the Catholic Guild, Sydney. During this time he became a freelance artist, selling illustrations and comics to magazines such as Smith's Weekly, The Bulletin and Rydges Business Journal and drew comic stories for Frank Johnson Publications.

He enlisted in the Australian army on 22 January 1942 in Gladesville, New South Wales but was discharged three months later on 5 May 1942 as his earlier injuries prevented him from wearing a tin hat.

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