Frank Bellamy and Captain Cook

****UPDATED JUNE 2024****

For a long time I suspected that Bellamy had done some odds and ends in Look and Learn beyond the recently reprinted "Frank Bellamy's Story of World War One" -(with intro by yours truly).

Steve Holland's writing for the Look and Learn blog gives me a good excuse to show you Bellamy's Captain Cook illustration.

© Look and Learn

It comes from LOOK AND LEARN #422 (14 February 1970) and is titled "The man and the moment: James Cook" I'm glad we have some authority on this one, as I would be hard pressed to say it was Bellamy - except by the faces of the 'gentlemen' in the rear. Cook's pose is odd, in my opinion, the colouring looks as if Bellamy used a different medium from his normal inks.

Interestingly the left hand portion of the artwork seems to have vanished

Look and Learn #422 14 February 1970, pp4-5

Here's the Polaroid that Bellamy took of the artwork before sending it to the publisher (thanks to Alan Davis for rescuing it)

Frank Bellamy's Polaroid of the original artwork

Here, for completeness, is the first page of the article

Look and Learn #422 14 February 1970 p.3

"The Man and the Moment" series had lots of lovely art by Doughty, McBride, Hardy, Embleton, and Richard Hook.Here's a list of the Look and Learn issue numbers with their subjects:

412 6 December 1969 = #1 Jellicoe of Jutland
413 "Bravest of the Brave" = Marshall Ney
414 "'The Flyer' flies" = The Wright Brothers
415 "Tommy Atkins - his first Christmas at the front" = Christmas Eve 1914
416 Jameson and the Night raiders
417 "First across the Channel" = Jefferies and Blanchard
418 Sir John Moore at Corunna
419 James Watt and the Steam Revolution
420 The lat days of Charles I
421 Charles Dickens - friend of the needy
422 James Cook and his voyages of discovery
423 Tamerlane's Last battle
424 William Cody - the Greta Showman
425 First across the Antarctic Wasteland = Dr Vivian Fuchs
426 Alexander Graham bell - the first telephone call
427 They called him Ivan The Terrible
428 Admiral Cunningham of H.M.S. Warspite
429 Trenchard - father of the RAF
430 Dick Turpin - his last ride
431 Trevithick and his Puffing Billy
432 The Mounties - they always get their man
433 Opening day at the Zoo - Sir Stamford Raffles
434 Captain Turner of the Lusitania
435 Nansen - Conqueror of the Arctic ice
436 First hero of Everest = Colonel C.K. Howard Bury
 

Issue #437 (30 May 1970) was the start of the long running "Story of World War I" illustrated by Bellamy

Over the years this illustration has been reprinted including in the 10th Look and Learn Book of 1001 Questions & Answers 1977 (1976), on pages 42-43 an illustration accompanying a general quiz article called "They Discovered the Earth" (which I've listed under the "Books" section). Thanks to Richard Sheaf for alerting me to this.

Thanks to eBay seller 'newgolddream' who provided the photos from which I 'stitched' this photo.

10th Look and Learn Book of 1001 Questions & Answers 1977 pp42-43

Geoff West had the original art for sale on his site, but it eventually sold (2024) (Archived here)

And I should also mention Captain Cook and many other explorers were written about many times in Look and Learn's 20 year history. But here's a very similar scene used in the magazine's first year - Look and Learn #37, 29 September 1962 (pp. 8-9)

Look and Learn #37 29 September 1962