Advertising and Art Career
After World War II Skirrow taught art in the countryside. In 1953 or 1954 he joined WS Crawford where he worked alongside Paul Peter Piech under Ashley Havinden.
During the late 1950s and early 1960s, Skirrow illustrated book jackets for the British publishers Heinemann and Secker & Warburg. Titles include Fred Hoyle's novel The Black Cloud, Max Shulman's Rally Round the Flag, Boys!, James A. Michener's Hawaii and William L. Shirer's non-fiction book The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.
In 1962 David Bernstein - creative director at McCann Erickson - hired Skirrow and Robert Brownjohn to become his deputy creative directors at McCann Erickson's London office. Bernstein describes Skirrow as "a craftsman".
Skirrow was the Creative Director of a major London advertising agency - Masius Wynne-Williams - where his colleagues included novelist Christopher Wood. Murray Walker was another Masius colleague. However, Walker claims that he and Skirrow disliked each other intensely.
Read more about this topic: Desmond Skirrow
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