Born in Maidstone in 1925, Norman Anthony Hart demonstrated an interest in art from a young age, but, reaching adulthood during the Second World War he initially became an officer for the 1st Gurkha Rifles, spending the next four years in India, though he retained his interest in pursuing a career in art post-war, training in a Madras school when he was off duty. He returned to Britain in 1947, enrolling at Maidstone College of Art, from where he graduated in 1950. He spent the next couple of years freelancing, until a chance meeting with a TV producer in 1952 led to a job at the BBC, where he worked on several shows, including children shows Saturday Special, Playbox and Blue Peter, for whom he created an illustrated segment starring Packi, a little elephant. He became a regular artist for TV Comic, producing strips for Packi, Sooty, Billy Bean and Runaway Band.
As time passed Hart's TV career took off, with a commensurate reduction in his comics work. Able to draw exceptionally quickly, he went from presenting art sections on shows like Vision On, where he would draw pictures as the audience watched, to presenting his own award-winning art shows such as Take Hart, which introduced the character of Morph, Hart Beat, Artbox Bunch and Smart Hart. His health declined in the 2000s, and he finally passed away early in 2009 at the age of 83.
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