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Helps was born in Bristol in 1913 of English-Scots descent, and spent his childhood in the hamlet of Chelvey, Somerset. He was privately educated at a vicarage and later at Bristol Cathedral School. Leaving school he entered the antiquarian book business and attended the West of England College of Art.

Helps married Irene Orr on 8th April 1936 and his daughter, Anne, was born in July 1937. He used to tell his young daughter a bedtime story every night. His first success as an author-artist came during World War II with stories written for her. When the war came, Anne was packed off to a less noisy part of the country, but she still insisted on her story, and so Helps wrote them down for her, drew pictures to illustrate them, and sent them to her. During this time Helps and his wife lived in Shepton Mallet in Somerset and were hosts to many young American soldiers based in the town. Racey and Irene Helps ran a hairdressing salon in Shepton Mallet, and on one occasion a publisher happened to drop in and picked up one of these handwritten and illustrated booklets. Having established who was the author of this item, Helps was invited to London to discuss publication of future work with William Collins & Son, with whom he first became associated and subsequently, the Medici Society.

Helps's son, Julian, was born in 1949 and, for a while, the family lived in Clevedon, Somerset and then moved to Saltford near Bath, Somerset. In 1962 Racey, Irene, Anne and Julian Helps moved to Barnstaple in Devon, and the surrounding countryside provided inspiration his pictures.

At the age of 57, Helps suffered a fatal heart attack at his Barnstaple home.