'Your day got better' Beryl Cook exhibition to show unseen work

He was a seaside landlady who left school at 14 and, without any formal training, became one of Britain's most popular artists.

- Dalya Alberge

He was a seaside landlady who left school at 14 and, without any formal training, became one of Britain's most popular artists. Now, 17 years after Beryl Cook's death, her home city of Plymouth will next week announce a major exhibition that will include previously unseen works as well as her much-loved humorous paintings with larger-than-life characters.

The show at the Box, opening in January 2026, will span Cook's entire career and feature loans from private and public lenders, including her family. It will explore her significance in portraying ordinary people enjoying themselves through comedy and compassion.

Among paintings that have not been publicly exhibited before is Bingo, in which a woman in a bingo hall has just won a game, raising her hand in glee as a nearby woman gives her a classic Cook side-eye.