Born in South Africa, Bill Papas began his career working as an artist and reporter for Drum Magazine, the Johannesburg Star and the Cape Times. The latter newspaper published Papas’s first cartoon in 1951. Between 1961 and 1969 Papas drew political cartoons for The Guardian, taking over from David Low, and also contributed to Punch and The Sunday Times. His cartoons about apartheid led to him being banned from South Africa in 1980. Papas often included a mouse in his cartoons as an observer of events. In 1968, The Guardian held a competition to name the mouse and after receiving 2000 entries the name Theodore was chosen, which also happened to be the name of Papas' brother. The mouse became so popular that Papas drew a political cartoon strip featuring it.
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