Description: Comprises material from David Livesey's 50 year career as a hand drawn film and TV animator, specifically related to the TV commercials he created. Comprises six boxes containing animation drawings, animation cels and background for various animated commercials spanning 40 years from 1950s-1990s. Also 15 film cans (35mm) from various commercials made by David Livesey/Group Two Animation.
Includes material for various brands including: Guinness, Cara Matches, Airwick, Queen Anne Whiskey, Hubbards paper bags, Shelltox, Lord Cigarettes, Safety in boats, Winston Cigarettes, Blue Loo, Michelin Man, Wondermash, Rumbelows, Kellogg's Frosties (Tony the Tiger), BMW, Napoleon Munch Meat, Chicago Yellow Pages, COI Metrification and Mother's Pride. Also Discworld and Superted.
Level: Collection (Fonds)
Reference: HAT21/622
Alt Ref No.: HAT21_622
Extent: 6 boxes, 15 films
Related Material: For biography see David Livesey's own website: https://www.davidlivesey.co.uk/about
Admin History: Livesey, David (1930 – 2026)
David Livesey was born in Bolton in 1930. He spent his early childhood in Preston, until the age of nine when his family moved back to Bolton at the start of the Second World War.
David studied at Bolton Art College and then in 1945 moved to Surrey to start a career in the British Film Industry. His first job was at Gaumont British Animation Studios where young artists were being trained in the skills of Disney style animation, the latest thing in moving pictures.
Following national service in the RAF David joined up with a group of former Gaumont colleagues to establish their own animation house in London, producing the earliest black and white TV commercials and cartoon series for television including Omo, Guinness and Murraymints.
In 1957 he formed Group Two Animation Ltd in Richmond, Surrey, producing more than 250 TV commercials in B/W and colour, as well as multiple episodes of the earliest cartoon series including Dodo, the Lone Ranger and the Beatles series plus a string of sequences for the seminal 1968 Beatles’ film “Yellow Submarine”.
He also pioneered the use of Xerography on cel in Britain, one of the crucial first steps that was to accelerate hand drawn animated film production.
After Group Two Animation followed 30 years as a key animator on classic animated films including “A Christmas Carol”, “The Snowman”, “Danger Mouse”, “The Wind in the Willows” and “The BFG”.
In the 1990s David also taught animation for the British Animation Training Scheme at the Museum of the Moving Image (MOMI) on the South Bank, London until its closure in 1999.
David retired from animation in 2003 and moved to the Isle of Man, where he revived his first love of painting. He published two illustrated books of Manx Folk Tales and wrote and published three illustrated books – “My Friend Elsie”, “The Chosen”, and “Ernest” before starting to create the “My Northern Paintings” series. They include 65 works, depicting his memories of growing up as a child in Bolton: www.davidlivesey.co.uk
(Biography provided by Wendy Wilson, David's daughter)