Photographer, stage and film designer, draughtsman, painter and writer. Born in London, he was educated at Harrow – where he studied art under W Egerton Hine – and at St John’s College, Cambridge. From the mid-1920s he fast established a reputation as a society photographer and arbiter of beauty, publishing his Book of Beauty and working for Vogue. First one-man show at Cooling Galleries in 1927, of photographs, drawings and stage designs. He was to hold a number of exhibitions, in Britain and abroad. Designed for C B Cochran, including Frederick Ashton’s ballet The Last Shoot. During World War II worked for the Ministry of Information and travelled widely abroad, his Indian Album and Chinese Album resulting from the trips. Illustrated books such as The School for Scandal and The Importance of Being Earnest, designed book covers and notable stage and film successes such as Lady Windermere’s Fan and My Fair Lady.