Procartoonists.org member Clive Goddard tells us about a star-studded event
I’ve been drawing a regular cartoon for the website of Radio 2’s Alex Lester for four years now, a connection that meant I got asked along to the BBC station’s Hyde Park gig on Sunday.
The brief was to draw live caricatures of all the artists appearing – around 30 people – as well as the radio presenters who were taking part, in one large image.
As I’m not a natural “on-the-spot” caricaturist, I took the precaution of preparing roughs before the event, then inking them up on the day, but leaving out the hairstyles just in case something radical had happened to them (i.e. Jessie J).
They provided me with a space in the production area, which turned out to be a pair of teepees and far more palatial than the damp Portakabin I’d been expecting. As well as housing the console that Terry Wogan, Jo Whiley and Ken Bruce etc sat behind to do their shows, there was a comfy sofa for celeb interviews, a bar, table football, smoke machine, mirrorball – not a dump in the slightest.
Assorted famous faces drifted in and out during the day, occasionally commenting on their likenesses or perceived lack thereof.
At some points it was all a bit overwhelming: Johnny Walker sitting on my stool so I could get his hair right; the singers Jack Johnson and Josh Groban and Radio 2’s legendary Sally Traffic stopping for a chat; and Elaine Paige saying I’d made her boss-eyed (I had).
Whispering Bob Harris turned up unexpectedly and had to be pencilled in in the corner – while the Manic Street Preachers played an acoustic set behind me. It was enough to keep me in name-dropping anecdotes for years to come.
The Ed adds: Thanks, Clive. Keep an eye out for Clive’s cartoon as it may be auctioned for this autumn’s Children in Need.