thumb|right|Bentley in 1953.
Nicolas Clerihew Bentley (14 June 1907 – 14 August 1978) was a British writer and illustrator, best known for his humorous cartoon drawings in books and magazines in the 1930s and 1940s. The son of Edmund Clerihew Bentley (inventor of the clerihew verse form), he was given the name Nicholas, but opted to change the spelling.
Early career
Nicholas Clerihew Bentley was born on 14 June 1907 at Highgate in London. He was educated at University College School, which he left at the age of 17, having decided that his academic abilities would not take him to university. He then enrolled at Heatherleys School of Fine Art, a prestigious private college, but left after a few months. After leaving Heatherley's, Bentley worked without pay as a clown in a circus. When this job ended, he was a film extra; and during the General Strike of 1926 he worked on the London Underground.
Author and Illustrator
During the 1930s Bentley illustrated works ranging from J. B. Morton to Damon Runyon. His most famous drawings were to illustrate T. S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, but he illustrated more than 70 books in the course of a long career. He customarily used the byline "Nicolas Bentley drew the pictures". His favourite illustration work was for his own books and he considered himself primarily an author. One of his best-known books, Ready Refusals, or, The White Liar's Engagement Book gives a quotation for every day of the year, drawn from a surprisingly wide range of sources, together with an appropriate illustration. He also wrote and illustrated Golden Sovereigns – and some of lesser value – from Boadicea to Elizabeth II (1970), a humorous book about the English/British monarchy.
Marriage
On 17 October 1934, he married Barbara Hastings (1908–1989), a writer of children's books and the daughter of Sir Patrick Gardiner Hastings; they had one child, Arabella, in 1943.
Post-war work
Bentley had enrolled as an auxiliary fireman in 1938 and served in the London Fire Brigade during the Second World War. He illustrated How to be an Alien (1946) by George Mikes.
After the war he took a few regular cartooning jobs, including on Time and Tide (1952–54) and drawing pocket cartoons for the Daily Mail from 1958. He gave this job up in 1962, complaining that it put too much strain on him. In later life he was the illustrator for Auberon Waugh's Diary in Private Eye and contributed other cartoons to the magazine.
He moved to Downhead, near Shepton Mallet in Somerset.