A NEW display at Keighley Library recalls one of the most famous characters of the First World War.

Fictional soldier Old Bill features in the mini exhibition about Captain Bruce Bairnsfather, who achieved renown for his cartoons from the frontline.

Bairnsfather’s comic pictures were screened in 1916 as lantern slides at Keighley Picture House alongside documentary The Battle of the Somme.

Two years later a hit play based on Bairnsfather’s character Old Bill, entitled The Better 'Ole, spent six days at Keighley Hippodrome Theatre, which stood in what is now Keighley bus station.

Captain Bairnsfather’s contribution to raising spirits in wartime Keighley were highlighted this month by the Men of Worth Project.

The group, which researches the stories of Keighley soldiers, compiled an exhibition named Fragments of France after the illustrations sent back from the frontline by Bairnsfather.

The display, which showcases several of the captain’s cartoons, was at Keighley Picture House during the Men of Worth’s recent centenary screening of The Battle of the Somme.

Men of Worth spokesman Andy Wade said: “Many people showed an interest in our Fragments of France display, and the photographs of the original slides which were supplied by Mark Warby of the Bairnsfather Society.

“This display will be on show at Keighley Library until November.”

Fragments of France began in early 1915, when the Bystander magazine published a cartoon showing a group of soldiers peering out from the dugout, sent from “somewhere in France” by Bruce Bairnsfather.

Ben's father was blown up by an enemy shell the following month, and while recovering in England was asked by the Bystander for more sketches.

He began providing weekly cartoons, many featuring a walrus-moustached Tommy called Old Bill, and they became hugely popular around the world.

The most famous picture had Old Bill, sheltering the comrades as bullets and shells exploded around them, saying: “Well if you knows of a better ‘ole, go to it!”

Waiting 1916 Bairnsfather became an Officer Cartoonist, spending 18 months visiting the French, Italian, American and British soldiers at the front to draw them in action.

Bairnsfather’s 1917 play The Better ‘Ole toured the UK – including Keighley – and was a success across the world.

Bairnsfather went on to become an editor, lecturer, author, playwright, actor, film director, and variety, vaudeville and television star, famous throughout his life for Old Bill. He died in 1959 at the age of 72.