Borderline Funny
June 13, 2019 in Events, General
Rupert Besley writes:
On the banks of the Tyne at Wallsend, downstream from Newcastle, is Segedunum, the large Roman fort that marked the eastern end of Hadrian’s Wall. A century back, the space was crammed with terraced housing and rang to the sounds of shipbuilding in the Swan Hunter yard. It was here in 1906 that the Mauretania was launched, then the biggest moving structure ever made.These days the houses have gone and site cleared to reveal the foundations of the mighty garrison. Shipyard buildings have been converted to form a superb museum, impressive for its collection of Roman finds, its reconstructions and its many activities. The museum’s Viewing Tower is a welcome sight to those completing the 84-mile Hadrian’s Wall Walk from Bowness-on-Solway. And this summer, for all who like cartoons (that’s everyone, isn’t it?), there is one further attraction: an exhibition of Hadrian’s Wall in cartoons.
The museum exterior.
Many congratulations to all involved, notably the volunteer Friends of Segedunum who have so well researched, resourced and curated ‘Borderline Funny‘. With generous support from a variety of directions (including Lottery funding), they have put together a handsomely mounted show that includes contributions from a good few PCO members along with cartooning colleagues well known from Private Eye and Viz.Prominent in the exhibition, and rightly so, is the work of Roger Oram (1952-2016), an archaeologist who worked for 20 years at Segedunum and was also a spare-time cartoonist with an eye for satirical barbs.
One of the contributions from the children of Richardson Dees Primary School.
The exhibition spills over into the adjoining gallery with its cartoon contributions from visitors and local children, notably those from Richardson Dees Primary School in Wallsend, who worked on the project with Beano artist Nigel Auchterlounie.
Time was when printed publications had plentiful space for cartoons. Such outlets are shrinking fast, so it’s a most welcome thing that the enterprising folk of Tyne & Wear have done. A themed cartoon show makes an attractive add-on for any event or site – not just museums or places of interest: think sporting occasions, food fairs, professional conventions, local festivals, cultural happenings…
The PCO has regularly engaged with such undertakings, but the costs and logistical problems of such an exercise are really too much to expect one or two volunteers to manage. The task of assembling originals from all round the country, storing these, mounting, framing, hanging, insuring, supervising, handling sales and return despatch, is prohibitive, unless done in partnership with a gallery set up full-time for such activity.
Cartoon original by © Tony Husband
Top panel by Viz cartoonists © Graham Dury and Simon Thorp, courtesy of Dennis Publishing. Plus below cartoons by © K J Lamb and Clive Goddard.
At Segedunum they found another way through. Dispensing with originals (apart from the two generously donated by Tony Husband for fundraising purposes), they first obtained permissions and digital scans from the artists and then had these plus text printed by a local firm (to a very high standard) on to thick display board, cut to appropriate shapes. (A note advises visitors of contact details available to anyone interested in buying.) Still a way that needs money, hard work and much input from volunteers, but a very neat solution. Borderline brilliant, I’d say.
© Rupert Besley’s take on the theme.
List of contributors
The exhibition runs right until Sunday 22 September.
Latest Blog
by Glenn Marshall
What’s your favourite cartoon book?
March 2, 2019 in Comment, General
We’ve been talking in the inner sanctums of the PCO forum about favourite books on cartoons/cartoonists. Here I share some of our choices:
Steve Jones (Jonesy)
I could easily have gone with Sempe, Stauber or Ungerer – Steadman, in particular, was a really close call – but Matt Jones’ mighty labour of love blew me away. Ronald Searle should be worshipped as a god.
Pete Dredge
Apologies for blatant trumpet blowing and self promotion. It was a long time ago (1982). It won’t happen again. When my cartoon career first took off in 1976 I had quite a purple patch (now a long distant memory!) where everything I touched seemed to turn to gold (plate)! Today I’m scratching around (does the Weekly News still take gags??) but I can look back at those early successes with a nostalgic eye and be somewhat grateful that there was a thriving market where a half decent cartoonist could get his/her foot on the ladder.
To be included in that list of Hitler’s favourite (mainly US) cartoonists still gives me a thrill. Whatever happened to those other guys?
Here’s a sample page from that tome:
Rupert Besley
No question which for me. It’s the book I grew up with and where I first discovered the joy of cartoons. Four books actually (Down With Skool!, How to be Topp, Whizz for Atomms & Back in the Jug Agane). My father was a headteacher and a new volume arrived each Christmas, to be fought over by the rest of the family for the rest of the year. The cover below is from a later omnibus edition.
The Willans/Searle collaboration was that rare thing in books, a perfect meeting of brilliant minds, with text and illustrations equally superb, each enhancing the other. And just as funny 60 years on.
Wilbur Dawbarn
A Searle book was the first thing to come to my mind, too. We could probably do a blog post purely on Searle books!
To throw in something different, then, here’s a collection of the also brilliant but considerably underrated Rowland Emett. What I love about Emett is the way he caricatured not just people, but trains and other vehicles, buildings, trees… everything! An absolute master of composition and chaos. Richard Ingrams once told me he didn’t like Emett’s stuff, it was ‘too spidery’, I think he said. The utter heathen.
Cathy Simpson
The Complete Molesworth is a strong contender, but perhaps ‘Bert Fegg’s Nasty Book for Boys & Girls’ does it for me. A friend gave me a copy of it when I was 16, and it was the first time I’d come across the work of the sorely-missed Martin Honeysett.
Roger Penwill
Russell Brockbank was a very early influence. He had a cartoon in the back of the weekly The Motor in the 50’s and 60’s. I read that mag every week as I was keen on cars (Dad worked for Ford’s) and loved the weekly dose of Brockbank humour. Over The Line is a typical collection, published in 1955.
Matthew Buck
Always enjoyed Philip Thompson and Mel Calman’s work together over many years.
Guy Venables
This was bought for me on Christmas 1981 and the foreword is by Tom Wolfe. It is a definitive collection of the finest satirical cartoonists from all over the world covering from the 60s to the 80s. Bletchman, Booth, Descloozeaux, Feiffer, Francois, Flora, Gorey, Koren, Bill Lee, Le-Tin, Levine, Mihaesco, Myers, Osbourn, Rauch, Roth, Searle, Steadman, Sempe, Sorel, Ungerer and Wilson. The young cartoonists brain couldn’t want a better introduction to satirical cartooning than this book which explained to me the sheer width of styles and scale of ambition ideas and narratives could have. If you haven’t got it, you should get it. Without it I probably wouldn’t have become a cartoonist.
Glenn Marshall
I could quite easily have plumped for the wonderful ‘Ronald Searle’s America’ book already chosen by Jonesy but instead I’ll pick this one on Timothy Birdsall (who Searle was a fan of) given to me by a friend. Shamefully I didn’t know his work at all, which appeared in Private Eye, The Spectator and The Sunday Times. He was more widely known for his regular appearances drawing live on the BBC show ‘That Was The Week That Was’. Here he is explaining how political cartoons are made.
I love his smudgy and yet detailed style. Sadly he died tragically young aged just 27 in 1963.
There should be a few suggestions here to send you scurrying to eBay but what are your favourites? Let us know in the comments section below.
Tags: Cathy Simpson, Geoffrey Willians, Glenn Marshall, Guy Venables, Jonesy, Man Bites Man, Martin Honeysett, Matt Buck, Matt Jones, Mel Calman, Pete Dredge, Private Eye, Roger Penwill, Ronald Searle, Ronald Searle's America, Rowland Emett, Rupert Besley, Russell Brockbank, Steve Jones, That Was The Week That Was, The Complete Molesworth, The Spectator, Timothy Birdsall, Wilbur Dawbarn 3 Comments »