Norman Weaver

A true Cockney, born within the sound of Bow Bells in London, Weaver won a scholarship to the Hammersmith School of Art as a teenager but was unable to complete the course because the grant did not cover his living expenses. He began work in the cabinet-making department of Heal's, a furniture shop on Tottenham Court Road, but moved after two years to become a manuscript writer and calligrapher in another department. During this period, he was attending evening classes in art and was able to win a scholarship to the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London, where he became a teacher after he completed his course shortly before the Second World War.

When the war began he joined the Ordnance Survey and was automatically enlisted in the Royal Engineers. In 1942, he became a cartographer for UNRRA (United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration) and worked on the Rhine Barrage project. He was seconded in 1944 to the American army as a "cartographer for the operations room at HQ in France". In September 1944 he moved to Versailles and worked for the Operational Analysis Team of G.5 SHAFF (Supreme Headquarters Allied Forces in France). It was during this part of his war-service that he was employed as General Eisenhower's map-maker.

When the war ended, Weaver returned to UNRRA as a photo-reporter, covering "repatriation from concentration camps, welfare [and] tracing bureaux" and contributing public-relations stories to publications like Life, Time and Ebony. He was invalided out with nerve damage to his hands. After successful treatment, he began work with the designer Beverley Pick on industrial design, model-making and mural painting, creating exhibitions for companies like Ideal Home. In 1951 he and Pick worked on the "Iron and Steel Pavilion" at the Festival of Britain and created a giant three-dimensional mural "illustrating all the known methods of making steel".