Category: British Cartooning

By Norman Thelwell (Magnum/Eyre Methuen)
ISBN: 0-413-37320-7

Norman Thelwell (3^rd May 1923 – 7^th February 2004) is one of Britain’s greatest and most beloved cartoonists. His superbly gentle cartooning combined mannered abstraction with a keen and accurate eye for background detail, not just on the riding and countryside themes that made him a household name, but on all the myriad subjects he turned his canny eye and subtle brush upon. His compositions are an immaculate condensation of everything deprecatingly; resolutely Baby-Booming British – without ever becoming parochial or provincial. He also had a gently vicious, charmingly sardonic sensibility that enabled him to repeatedly hit home like a mink cosh…

His work has international implications and scope, displaying the British to the world for decades. There are 32 books of his work and every aficionado of humour – illustrated or otherwise -could do much worse than possess them all.

From 1950 when his gag-panel Chicko began in the Eagle, and especially two years later with his first sale to Punch, he built a solid body of irresistible, seductive and always funny work. He appeared in innumerable magazines, comics and papers ranging from Men Only to Everybody’s Weekly. In 1957 his first collection of published cartoons Angels on Horseback was released and in 1961 he made the rare reverse trip by releasing a book of all-new cartoons that was subsequently serialised in the Sunday Express.

His dry, sly, cannily observed drawings were a huge success and other books followed to supplement his regular appearances in a variety of newspapers and magazines. Every so often an extra edge of refined bile entered his work, as can be seen in this splendidly spiteful collection of reworked ideas from Punch with new, specially created material on that bane of the modern world, the Motor Car.

Within these pages is a bombastic barrage of car-themed cartoon experiences so nearly universal in range and breadth that any poor fool who has ever put pedal to metal cannot help but cringe in sympathy.

From the wonderfully silly to the pitch-blackly trenchant, created by a man who has come to epitomise middle-class values, aspirations and self-delusions, Thelwell dismantled our love affair with the infernal combustion engine and manufacturers’ style over substance, but, knowing human nature never really evolves, didn’t expect to alter a single point of view… just blow off steam at the extremes of daftness and pigheadedness we can resort to whilst trying to get somewhere in comfort and good time…

Broken down into the hilarious Diagram of Controls, followed by such sections as Technical Terms, Men and Their Motors, Women at the Wheel, Children’s Corner, How to Have an Accident, You Have Been Warned, How to Give a Driving Lesson, Do’s and Don’ts for Drivers, Drivers Frantic and How to Get Rid of Your Car this brilliantly vitriolic visual thesis is still bitingly funny today: another startling exhibition of the artist’s fantastic, funny foresight and the British motorist’s beloved intransigence.

The roads may have become an even more frustrating arena than Thelwell could have imagined, but the lure of the open highway or a coveted parking space still obsesses us all and these superb cartoons are simply the most effective cure to traffic jam whim-whams that I can imagine. Timeless and delightful, why not idle your racing engine and pick up this book…?
© 1974, 1978 Norman Thelwell.

By Norman Thelwell (Magnum/Eyre Methuen)
ISBN: 0-417-01000-1

Norman Thelwell (3^rd May 1923 – 7^th February 2004) is one of our most beloved cartoonists. His superbly gentle cartooning combined Bigfoot abstractions with a keen and accurate eye for background detail, not just on the riding and countryside themes that made him a household name, but on all the myriad subjects he turned his canny eye and subtle brushstrokes to. His compositions are an immaculate condensation of everything deprecatingly; resolutely Post-War, Baby-Booming British – without ever becoming parochial or provincial.

His work has international implications and scope, neatly achieving that by presenting us to the world for decades. There are 32 books of his work and every aficionado of humour – illustrated or otherwise – could do much worse than possess them all.

From 1950 when his gag-panel Chicko began in the Eagle, and especially two years later with his first sale to Punch, he built a solid body of irresistible, seductive and always funny work. He appeared in innumerable magazines, comics and papers ranging from Men Only to Everybody’s Weekly. In 1957 his first collection of published cartoons Angels on Horseback was released and in 1961 he made the rare reverse trip by releasing a book of all-new cartoons that was subsequently serialised in the Sunday Express.

His dry, sly, cannily observed drawings were a huge success and other books followed to supplement his regular appearances in a variety of newspapers and magazines. Thus we have here his shrewd pictorial observations of the growth of a Leisure Economy and the strange phenomenon of people of all classes with a little time on their hands…

These strips, culled mostly from the venerable and equally-missed Punch, (the others all originally appearing in the Sunday Express) come from a time when hobbies and holidays were just starting to become the inviolable, inalienable right of all Britons: no matter how annoying, painful and just plain frustrating they might be…

These cartoons range from the wonderfully silly to the near-mordant, created by a man who came to epitomise middle-class values, aspirations and self-delusions, but Thelwell was also an observer who could spot cupidity, cant and social imbecility a mile off and knew human nature never really evolved, so don’t expect to see a point of view… just the extremes of daftness and pigheadedness we can resort to whilst trying to relax and have a good time…

Subdivided into Leisure on Wheels, Messing About…, Strictly For the Birds…, Relaxing at Home, Drinks by the Pool, Away From it All, The Inner Man (an especially telling sally against food-ism and consumption), Leisurely Pastimes and a particularly exhilarating general section of gags, all still trenchantly relevant and bitingly funny today: another startling exhibition of the artist’s fantastic, funny foresight and the British unwillingness to embrace change.

We may do stranger things today than even Thelwell could have dreamed of, but the art of down-time still obsesses us all and these superb cartoons are simply the most effective cure to the stress of relaxation that I can imagine. Timeless and delightful, why not chill out to these gems and give the Leisure rat-race a miss this year…?
© 1968, 1978 Norman Thelwell.

By Norman Thelwell (Magnum/Eyre Methuen)
ISBN: 0-417-01110-5

Norman Thelwell is one of Britain’s greatest cartoonists, and instead of astounding you with my encyclopedic knowledge of this superb national treasure I heartily recommend his official website (www.thelwell.org.uk/biography/biography.html) as well as Steve Holland’s excellent Bear Alley…

Thelwell’s genteel yet rowdily raucous cartooning combined Bigfoot abstraction with a keen and accurate eye for detail, not just on the horse-riding and countryside themes that made him a household name, but on all the myriad subjects he turned his canny eye and subtle brushstrokes to. His pictures are an immaculate condensation of a uniquely United Kingdom: everything warmly resonant, resolutely Post-War, Baby-Booming British, without ever being parochial or provincial – and where all animals and inanimate objects loathe humanity and will go to any extreme to vex or even harm us…

His work has international implications and scope, neatly distilling and presenting us to the world. There are 32 books of his work and every aficionado of humour – illustrated or otherwise – could do much worse than own them all.

From 1950 when his gag-panel Chicko first began in the Eagle, and especially two years later with his first sale to Punch, he built a solid body of irresistible, seductive and always funny work. He appeared in a host of magazines, comics and papers ranging from Men Only to Everybody’s Weekly. In 1957 his first collection of cartoons Angels on Horseback was released and in 1961 he made the rare return journey by releasing a book of original gags that was subsequently serialised in the Sunday Express.

His dry, sly, cannily observed drawings were a huge success and other books followed to supplement his regular periodical appearances. He is of course most famous for his countryside and equine subjects. The phrase “Thelwell Pony” is an instant verbal shortcut to a whole other world of adroit, goblin-like little girls constantly battling malevolent, chubby mini-horses gifted with the guile of Machiavelli, the mass and temerity of a deranged mule and the cheery disposition of Bill Sikes.

The artist’s fascination and endless reservoir of dressage drollery originated with a pair of short obnoxious muses in the field next door to his home, where also roamed two shaggy ponies. They were, his own words “Small and round and fat and of very uncertain temper” – and apparently owned by “Two little girls about three feet high who could have done with losing a few ounces themselves….”

“As the children got near, the ponies would swing round and present their ample hindquarters and give a few lightning kicks which the children would side-step calmly as if they were avoiding the kitchen table, and they had the head-collars on those animals before they knew what was happening. I was astonished at how meekly they were led away; but they were planning vengeance – you could tell by their eyes.”

His observations were best depicted in the classic Penelope and Penelope Rides Again, but in this instance he cast his gaze a little further afield for a wickedly insightful and memorable draughted discourse weighing the benefits and pitfalls (oh, so very many painful falls) of Brit and Yank riding preferences and techniques.

After his introductory comparison/blueprint ‘The English Rider’ and ‘The Western Horseman’ Thelwell pits cocky little Cowboys against surly Show-jumping Schoolgirls in such compelling, picture packed chapters as Western Riding, What to Wear, Western Horses, Quick on the Drawl, How to Understand Your Horse, On the Trail, How to Manage a Mean Horse, How to Cross Water and Rodeo Dough before ending with a comprehensive Western Quiz.

So which is best: East or West?

The answer, of course, is simple: Avoid all close equine encounters and read this book instead.
© 1975 Norman Thelwell.

By Norman Thelwell (Magnum/Eyre Methuen)
ISBN: 0-417-01050-8

Norman Thelwell is still one of our most beloved cartoonists – even though he passed away in 2004. I was going to astound you with my encyclopedic knowledge here but frankly his work has always been its own best advocate, and if you need to know more about this brilliant creator you should crank up your search-engine of choice. I heartily recommend the official website as well as Steve Holland’s excellent Bear Alley resource.

Thelwell’s superbly gentle cartooning combined Bigfoot abstractions with a keen and accurate eye for background detail, not just on the riding and countryside themes that made him a household name, but on all the myriad subjects upon which he turned his canny eye. His compositions are an immaculate condensation of everything warm yet charged, resonant with being resolutely Post-War, Baby-Booming British without ever being parochial or provincial.

His work has international implications and scope, neatly achieving that by presenting us to the world for decades. There are 32 books of his work and every aficionado of humour – illustrated or otherwise – could do much worse than possess them all.

From 1950 when his gag-panel Chicko first began in the Eagle, and especially two years later with his first sale to Punch, he built a solid body of irresistible, seductive and always funny work. He appeared in innumerable magazines, comics and papers ranging from Men Only to Everybody’s Weekly. In 1957 his first collection of published cartoons Angels on Horseback was released and in 1961 he made the rare reverse trip by releasing a book of all-new cartoons that was subsequently serialised in the Sunday Express.

His dry, sly, cannily observed drawings were a huge success and other books followed to supplement his regular appearances in a variety of newspapers and magazines. Thus we have here his shrewd graphic ruminations on Tomorrow’s World: the then-budding Conservation Movement.

These strips, culled mostly from the venerable and equally-missed Punch, come from a time when Global Warming and Climate Change were unheard of and “Population Explosions” and “Pollution” were the media bugbears of choice – but for all that an era when many scientists were finally beginning to make themselves heard in a commercial and political arena that simply did not want to listen…

These cartoons range from the wonderfully silly to the painfully trenchant, created by a man who loved and valued the countryside, but Thelwell was also an observer who could spot cupidity and cant a mile off, so here no cows were sacred and all sides are similarly targeted…

Subdivided into Water, Water Everywhere, The Good Earth, A Breath of Fresh Air, Down in the Dumps, The Race for Space (that’s residences not rocket-ships), Animal Farm (food production), All Creatures Great and Small, Technical Hitch, The Grave New World and Let’s Protest, far too many of these gags are still devastatingly relevant today: which is as much a condemnation of Society’s truculent procrastination as the artist’s fantastic, funny foresight.

Clearly it’s not too late to stack down this manifesto of mirth, and perhaps somebody should be thinking about re-issuing this classy cracker…
© 1971 Norman Thelwell.

By various (Panther Books)
No ISBN:

On the 1st April 1960 a bunch of jaded hacks and whackos who made their dubious living from drawing humorous skits and silly pictures of tough men and largely unclad women met in a pub called The Feathers in Tudor Street, London. From that inaugural drunken binge the British Cartoonists Club was formed. (Today they’re known as the Cartoonists Club of Great Britain).

In 1962 this loose agglomeration of the greatest gagsters, pen-men and brush-smiths in the Kingdom produced a wonderful over-sized book in conjunction with Anthony Gibbs & Phillips (subsequently released as a paperback in 1964) that highlighted the talents and achievements of the membership and consequently became one of my favourite books of cartooning ever.

Still available if you trawl that there interweb thing, The British Cartoonists Album is stuffed with examples of brilliant work, both dramatic and comedic from the last days of mass-market cartooning, when our profession was still big enough to differentiate between topical, editorial, sporting, caricature, juvenile (which means for young people, not what you’re thinking), illustrative, technical, sophisticated , saucy and probably a dozen other categories I’m not old enough to remember. The book also and acted not just as a proud example of Cartoon work but also as a professional portfolio for the club which always sought (and still does) ways to further and promote members careers.

With examples from 169 different creators including Bill Tidy, Scarfe, Low, Thelwell, David Langdon, Smythe, Ferrier, Dickens, Giles, Osbert Lancaster, Les Lilley, Roy Nixon, Gammidge, Maddocks, Trog, Sax, Steadman and a host of others, and including a mouth-watering selection of contemporary newspaper strips such Garth, The Perishers, Jane – Daughter of Jane, Romeo Brown, Andy Capp, Buck Ryan, The Flutters, The Larks, Barley Bottom, Colonel Pewter, Useless Eustace, Lindy, Flook, Paul Temple, Matt Marriott, Twick and For Better or Worse this is a lost treasure in desperate need of up-dating and re-release.

Perhaps it’s a little cruel to highlight such a wonderful book that many of you won’t ever see, but the material here and lost in the mouldering pages of thousands of papers and magazines is a vital part of our culture and heritage and their eventual loss is something we’ll all regret in the end, so I’m going to bang on about until someone – be it commercial publisher or heritage wallah does something about it.

Hell, get me an Arts Council grant and I’ll do it myself…
© 1962 Anthony Gibbs & Phillips. All rights reserved. The proprietary rights of all individual trademark and copyright holders is acknowledged throughout.