Interviewed by, wait for it, Nick Glass* for Channel 4 News.
Bloghorn says watch for the full explanation.

Cartoonist Steve Bell, who curated the current Ronald Searle show at the Cartoon Museum writes here about the experience. You can read more of Bloghorn’s coverage about the three Searle shows currently on in London here.

In the spirit of our recent coverage of the Ronald Searle exhibitions, we are pleased to publish Martin Rowson’s article from the exhibition catalogue produced by the Cartoon Museum.

In 1999 Ronald Searle was judged, by his fellow cartoonists, to be the greatest cartoonist of the 20th Century. It’s a judgement I thoroughly endorse, though as someone who was brought up on Searle, like most people of my generation born in the late 50s and early 60s, I thought distant worship would be as close as I ever got to him. After all, Searle famously scarpered when I was about one, so I, along with other British cartoonists, could only ever venerate him as the King Across the Water.

Still, when I was approached in 2005 to front a BBC4 documentary about Searle, I jumped at the chance, even though he made clear very early on he wanted nothing whatsoever to do the making of the film or anyone involved with it. That’s his prerogative, and my reverence for him includes a deep respect for his desire for a bit of peace and quiet. Nonetheless, the programme went ahead without him, and I enjoyed it for the most part (although, as I’d decided to speak to camera unscripted, to capture a greater sense of immediacy, there were occasions when the demands of the producer that I repeat a line 20 times meant that by the end I kept forgetting it, as well as forgetting what it could possibly mean.)

Part of the gig – part of the reason they’d got me to do it in the first place – was that, when pressed, I can draw a little bit like the master, and I did several pieces to camera sitting at a drawing board and replicating his style. One riff I went off on was the idea that Searle had invented his version of Hogarth’s famous “Line of Beauty”, which in his case was the “Angle of Beauty”, which I claimed was an acute angle of 37 degrees (I made that bit up, but you get the point) which can be seen repeated again and again in his depiction of feet and noses. I argued further that feet and legs – be they spindly, black-stockinged St Trinian’s legs, or the tree-trunk legs of the Masters at St Custard’s – were, for Searle, the windows to the soul.

All that may or may not be true, but I discovered a deeper truth when I was reproducing the standard Searle script for the “Entr’-Act” cards for the programme. Apart from the fact that each letter tended to twist my nibs into unusability, I soon realised something about that gnarled, nobbly lettering: that without the way Searle drew and wrote, most of the best British post-war cartooning would be unimaginable. Every line of Steadman’s or Scarfe’s had its origins in Searle’s blots. Those blots had shown us all the true path.

Anyway, we finished the film and it was duly broadcast – though in post-production I felt they added too many interviews about his life, and didn’t concentrate enough on his drawing, but what do I know? The production company sent him the film, and were greeted with silence. But unreciprocity from your gods is what you should expect, so I didn’t mind that much.

But then, a few weeks after the programme’s first transmission, I got a letter, sent to my home, addressed in a strangely familiar handwriting. It was a personal letter from Searle, thanking me for placing the garlands on his brow and apologising for the fact that he’s be dead by the time it was my turn. The letter is now framed and hangs in its place of honour next to the only Searle original my wife could afford to buy me. Better yet, in the few interviews he’s given since, he’s been kind and generous enough to say he likes my work. So happy 90th birthday, Mr Searle, from a very humble and grateful admirer…

Bloghorn thanks The Cartoon Museum and Martin for permission to publish here in advance of tonight’s opening.

Bloghorn is sad to hear Lionel Lambourne has died. Lionel, by day, Keeper of Paintings at the Victoria & Albert Museum was one of the founder members of the Cartoon Arts Trust and is consequently responsible for the setting up of the UK’s first National Cartoon Museum. Cartoonist Chris Burke adds that Lionel had an encyclopedic knowledge and love of cartoons and cartoonists. He will be sadly missed.

An exhibition entitled Only Joking! is at the Cartoon Museum, London, from January 27 until March 1. The show is billed as a collection of joke cartoons old and new designed to raise spirits in the deep winter. Meanwhile, you have until January 24 to catch 30 Years of Viz at the museum. For more, visit the website.

From 30 Years of Viz, currently at the Cartoon Museum

“Pictorial satire is so ingrained in our culture that people often don’t realise what a huge part of their lives it is. Not just in comics and newspapers, but also animations, games, advertising, greetings cards”
– Anita O’Brien, Curator, Cartoon Museum

Taken from an article in the Daily Telegraph on 21 years of the Cartoon Art Trust, the charity behind the Cartoon Museum

LINK: Funny how cartoons still have bite

Voting has now taken place for the 2009 UK Young Cartoonist of the Year awards. The awards will be presented at the annual Cartoon Art Trust event in central London this evening. The awards are made in two categories, for artists under 18 and 30s years old, and were chosen from more than 200 submissions. The judges panel was headed by Guardian cartoonist and PCO member Martin Rowson. Fellow judge Christian Adams of The Daily Telegraph has written about the process here. Bloghorn will have full coverage tomorrow.

The three-week London-centred comic festival Comica opens today, featuring the usual mix of talks, workshops and exhibitions including the Cartoon Museum’s 30 Years of Viz celebration (previously on Bloghorn) and a collection of original artwork from American underground comic legend Robert Crumb (previously). Also happening is the small press and self-publisher’s fair, Comiket, this coming Sunday at the ICA. There’s a full program of everything that’s going on here (or in PDF form here). Comica continues until the 26 November at various locations across the city.

Coming later in the month is the Thought Bubble festival in Leeds, happening between Thursday 19 and Sunday 22 November, and features more workshops, talks and exhibitions and incorporates the Thought Bubble one-day comic convention on the Saturday at Saviles Hall, opposite the Royal Armories.

“Many readers would not admit it but the first thing they do with a magazine like The Oldie is to flick through it to look at the cartoons. If that is true, as I think it is, then the cartoons assume enormous importance.”

Richard Ingrams, editor of The Oldie, and former editor of Private Eye, in an intro to The Oldie Book of Cartoons 1992-2009

Read the full piece here

The Oldie is hosting an exhibition at London’s Cartoon Museum from this Thursday, October 1, until December 24, 2009. A selection of cartoons from the new book will be on display.

You can also buy more than 100 original cartoons just around the corner at Abbott and Holder Ltd on Museum Street. See them online here

Margaret Thatcher caricatured by Charles Griffin

The Cartoon Museum in London has a series of talks coming up by Kenneth Baker, John Minnion and Steve Bell, to tie-in with the exhibition Maggie! Maggie! Maggie!

Margaret Thatcher – A Unique Phenomenon takes place on Tuesday 16th June, 6.30pm – 7.30pm. From 1985 to 1990 Kenneth Baker was a minister in Margaret Thatcher’s administrations. He is a collector and writer on cartoons and co-curator of the exhibition.

Where There is Discord: The Mrs Thatcher Show is on Tuesday 23rd June, 6.30pm – 7.30pm. John Minnion, caricaturist for the New Statesman, has put together a presentation using caricatures and music to tell the story of the Thatcher years.

Maggie – the Monster from the Blue Lagoon? takes place on Wednesday 1st July, 7pm – 8pm. Steve Bell began drawing Margaret Thatcher in “Maggie’s Farm” and later in “If…”. He has been the chief political cartoonist on The Guardian since 1990. He talks about his three decades of drawing Margaret Thatcher.

Admission prices: Adults £5, Conc £4, Friends of the Museum £3.50. Booking is essential, call 020-7580 8155. The exhibition runs until July 26. The Cartoon Museum, at 35 Little Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London is open Tuesday-Saturday 10.30am to 5.30pm and Sundays 12pm to 5.30pm.