professional worker: after a morning discussion with the paper's editor, his cartoons were drawn and ready to go by 9.50am – always topical and funny, they were never offensive. His strip "Big Deal", also known as "Threadneedle", was syndicated for thirty-five years, and he has also produced golf, cricket and rugby sporting calendars, as well as some with a business theme – notably for Bemrose Publishers for 20 years. He was official 'war artist' for the Welsh Rugby Union. His local popularity gave him other opportunities, including drawing the cover for the Max Boyce album We All Had Doctors' Papers, and resultantly became the first cartoonist to receive a gold disc from the record company EMI. Through his career he produced over 24 books; while for charity he produced his annual rugby calendar as well as selling numerous original sketches. He was voted best provincial cartoonist in Britain by the CCGB four times: 1983, 1985, 1986, and 1987. He was honoured by the Variety Club for his charity work; given an honorary degree by the University of Glamorgan in 2004; and was made an MBE for services to newspapers in 1989. Gren retired on his 65th birthday, and said of his job: "When I started out I enjoyed the same things as I'm drawing now. Wales, rugby, local politicians, anything we in this part of the world are able to relate to – I aim to reflect our life and it goes down well with the readers. I'm not trying to prove any points. I try not to get into the political area as that isn't my audience." Gren continued to produce cartoons for the Echo evening paper from home. Gren, who lived in the Llandaff area of Cardiff, died at the city's University Hospital of Wales on Thursday 4 January 2007. Fellow cartoonist Bill Tidy paid tribute to Gren: "I was a great admirer of Gren. To me he was a Max Boyce on paper and a Harry Secombe in humour. He raised a large amount of money for charity, he was crazy on rugby and was the only Welshman I'd ever met who sang out of tune deliberately. He had his finger on the pulse of Wales." Personal life Married to Anne, the couple had two sons who both became policeman. At the time of Gren's death, he had four grandchildren. Gren continued to work to the end,