Martin Rowson’s ‘Life Drawing’ series on Radio 4

Martin Rowson and Julia Langdon

In what is described as a series of “inky interviews”, Martin draws and interviews people who have shaped his work and wider life.

During the five part series, which started on Monday and continues all week (check out BBC i>Player here), the Guardian and Daily Mirror political cartoonist (and PCO member) also puts pen to paper with ex-Chancellor George Osborne, illustrator Ralph Steadman, zoologist Sarah Christie and punk poet John Cooper Clarke.

Interviewed for the BBC’s Radio Times, the hard hitting cartoonist makes a surprising confession:

“There’s almost a wilful self-delusion about the whole mutually abusive, if mutually dependent, relationship that I describe as mind over matter – the politicians pretend they don’t mind; the cartoonists pretend we matter.

One of our occupational hazards is a weird variation on Stockholm Syndrome, whereby kidnap victims fall in love with their captors. We, instead, fall in love with our victims, whom, however much we deplore them or their policies, we come to love drawing.”

Reassuringly (or not, depending on your point of view) Martin proves he’s not going totally soft on “the enemy” by concluding that what he does is “what we have instead of bloody revolutions – for a while anyway.”

You can see the great man at work on his Julia Langdon portrait here

Cartoonist and politician (sorry, editor) gaze into each other’s eyes over a caricature

Martin Rowson’s series Life Drawing started on Monday and runs until Friday at 1.45pm on Radio 4 (Monday and Friday on FM only)

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