[1] Birdsall was born in Wakefield, Yorkshire on 1 August 1934, and attended The King's School, Pontefract, Wakefield College of Art and Central School of Arts and Crafts in London.
[2] "At Central, Birdsall came under the influence of Anthony Froshaug, who – alongside Herbert Spencer and Edward Wright – taught his students the difference between beautiful lettering and typography proper, with its pre-eminent concerns of clarity, directness and, above all, textual legibility."
Birdsall failed to earn a diploma, however, and began his career in design in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
During his long career—among much other work—Birdsall designed Penguin book covers and Pirelli calendars; he art-directed several magazines (including Nova and Mobil Oil's Pegasus; and he designed books for the Yale Center for British Art, the Tate, the V&A and the British Council and designed Common Worship: Services and Prayers for the Church of England in 2000.
[2] Birdsall was the author of Notes On Book Design, published by Yale University Press in 2004.