A RENOWNED county war cartoonist, dubbed "The Man Who Won the War" will be honoured on a Belgian battlefield tomorrow.

Several hundred people are expected to attend the unveiling of a plaque on the site of the First World War battlefield, near Ypres, in Belgium, where Captain Bruce Bairnsfather produced the first of his famous caricatures.

Capt Bairnsfather, who lived in both Colwall and Littleworth before he died in 1959 at Worcester Royal Infirmary, inspired a legion of loyal fans around the world.

There is even a Bairnsfather magazine, The Old Bill Newsletter, named after his most famous creation.

It is edited by Mark Warby, from Redditch, whose fascination with the cartoonist started with an O-level history project and has continued for 25 years.

Mr Warby said, "He was the most famous cartoonist of his day - bigger than Charles Schulz, creator of Snoopy."

The dedication of Bairnsfather's fans is staggering. Among those expected to attend is Graham Meiklejohn, who is travelling more than 10,000 miles from New Zealand in order to attend the unveiling.

Mr Warby will lay a wreath on behalf of Bairnsfather's daughter, Barbara Littlejohn, aged 81, who is unable to attend.

Bairnsfather's cartoons are now highly sought after as collectors' items, and members of the Royal British Legion in Colwall, where he often drank, treasure the drawings he made on their wooden bar doors.

His background was both military and artistic. Educated at an Army school in Stratford, he served briefly with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment Militia before attending the John Hassall School of Art in London.

During this time he produced poster designs for national brands, including Players Tobacco and Lipton's Tea.

During the war, he rejoined his former regiment and was posted to France. On December 25, 1914, he participated in the famous "Christmas Truce", where British and German troops played football in no man's land.

His work was originally circulated around his friends, but he received widespread recognition for his Fragments from France series, published weekly in The Bystander magazine from 1915.

The cartoons spawned plays, films and books, but Bairnsfather never received any official recognition or honours.

After the Second World War, his popularity waned and he lived in total obscurity until his address was published with a letter to a national newspaper.