Allen first discovered that he could draw well enough for people to notice, at around the age of five, where Sioux Indians and Roman soldiers featured obsessively in the same drawings. With such people in short supply as models in London's East End (where Allen grew up), he began to utilize local models who became the source upon which he built his acknowledged expertise in the growing field of Nebbish portraits.

Completing a five year course as an apprentice compositor, while at the same time, studying graphic design at art college, Allen's world took a 180 degree turn -counter-clockwise - when he was drafted into the British Army as number 23787223 (this is now his lucky number). When he was set free, Allen taught typography at The Hornsey College of Art. He then entered the irresistible field of business, where for 25 years as 'Invitations North-West' he was to use his considerable talents in graphic art and illustration to create top-to-the-range wedding and bar/bat mitzvah invitation cards for North-West London Jewish society. Allen remains peeved to this day, that during his quarter century in business, having successfully conquered every invitation hurdle, not one Sioux Indian or Roman soldier saw fit to trust Invitations N-W with invitation cards for his simcha.

Finally, in 1995, Allen and his wife Lillian emigrated to Israel, where he has fine-tuned The Nebbish Principle: A Cartoon Commentary, using himself as a prime illustration of how far a Nebbish can go, if only he wills it.A keen observer of life, Allen has collected many fine examples of Nebbishisms, having created the complete Nebbish family - except for Geronimo, his pet Chihuahua, who refused to have anything to do with him. In Israel, he has discovered a hitherto unknown species of Nebbish which will be the subject of his next book.