Wilfrid R. Addey (1912-1999) worked as a commercial artist for over sixty years, working for Dorland Advertising and Mitchells among other London advertising firms. His work shows the range of products and illustration styles, from aeroplanes and cars, beer and perfume, to satirical cartoons and calendar pin-up girls and is representative of the post war boom in advertising during the late 1940s and 1950s.

This pen and wash drawing is a design for a cartoon illustration that shows the four stages of serving a Christmas pudding. In the cartoon four illustrations show a young lady in 1940s dress pouring brandy over the Christmas pudding, striking a match, look with a satisfied expression at the flames engulfing the pudding and finally look down shocked at all that remains, the cinders of the pudding. Such cartoons with their humorous allusions to the festive season would have appeared in magazines of the time.