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.

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 Eggheads (Chris Hughes, Daphne Fowler, CJ de Mooi, Barry Simmons, Judith Keppel and Kevin Ashman) by Cartoonists' team member Chris Burke

The Cartoonists, a team put together by the Professional Cartoonists Organisation, stormed to victory on the TV quiz show Eggheads last night, after winning each of their head-to-head rounds. Egghead Kevin Ashman described it as “the most comprehensive defeat we’ve ever had”. Here, team captain Alex Hughes explains how it all happened

A little over a year ago, I was approached by the makers of BBC quiz show Eggheads and asked if I’d like to put together a team of cartoonists for the upcoming series. I’ve done the odd pub quiz in the past, so accepted the offer and duly went about recruiting a team from the ranks of the Professional Cartoonists’ Organisation – a team comprising myself, Chris Burke, Robert Duncan, Graham Fowell, Royston Robertson and Martin Rowson. We sailed through the December audition and subsequently were invited to record the show in January of this year.

For the uninitiated, Eggheads itself is a fairly straightforward quiz. Each day, a new team of challengers goes up against the Eggheads, a team comprising past winners of other TV and radio quizzes such as Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Mastermind, Fifteen to One, The Weakest Link and Brain of Britain – the cream of British quiz talent.

The Cartoonists (Alex Hughes, Royston Robertson, Robert Duncan, Graham Fowell and Martin Rowson)

For our bout, the Eggheads team comprised Kevin Ashman, CJ de Mooi, Daphne Fowler, Chris Hughes and Barry Simmons. Judith Keppel was waiting in the wings and Chris Burke was the stand-in for the Cartoonists.

The first four rounds are a series of head-to-head questions from a given category, where we pick one of our team to go up against our pick from the Eggheads. The contestants then go into the “question room” (in reality, a bench behind the main set) and are given three multiple choice questions each. If there’s no outright winner, it goes to “sudden death”.

The winner of each round is “safe” and allowed to compete for their team in the final round, whilst the loser is not. The final round is a general knowledge team round with the surviving challengers competing directly against the surviving Eggheads for the prize money, which, if it’s not won is rolled-over to the next day.

The Cartoonists (Alex Hughes, Robert Duncan, Royston Robertson, Chris Burke, Graham Fowell and Martin Rowson) outside BBC Television Centre

On the day of the filming we arrived bright and early on a crisp January morning with, as requested, a selection of light, brightly coloured non-patterned shirts at BBC Television Centre in White City, London. After resting in the former Top of the Pops Green Room we were ushered into the studio, which is when the nerves kicked in. Make-up was applied, microphones were attached and we met host Jeremy Vine.

There wasn’t much time for chit-chat though (up to five episodes are shot per day), so we went straight into the contest …

…and we won! We were only the sixth team out of the ten series to beat the Eggheads in each of the first four rounds. But to top that, we are the first team to have beaten the Eggheads outright, winning in every single round plus the final – we only got three questions wrong between us in the whole show.

And best of all, the last question, which surviving Egghead Kevin Ashman could not answer, was a cartoon question.

So, well done, team, we did brilliantly! Congratulations to Robert, Royston, Graham, Martin, and Chris in reserve. And our thanks to Al Capp’s Shmoo…

The editor adds: The BBC iPlayer recording of the show should be available online until November 5th 2009.

A team representing the Professional Cartoonists’ Organisation, the organisation behind the Bloghorn, is set to appear on the BBC quiz show Eggheads tonight (October 29) at 6pm on BBC Two.

The Cartoonists are, left-to right, Chris Burke, who was team stand-in, Alex Hughes, Royston Robertson, Robert Duncan, Graham Fowell and Martin Rowson.

See the Bloghorn tomorrow for a full post-match report.

Two political cartoon exhibitions open in London next week, at the Chris Beetles Gallery and the Political Cartoon Gallery.

PeterBrookes: The Best of Times, above, is at the Chris Beetles Gallery from Monday (October 12) until October 31. More than 100 of Brookes’s most recent cartoons from The Times will be on display. Signed copies of the book accompanying the show are available from the gallery.

The Chris Beetles Gallery, at 8 and 10 Ryder Street, St James’s (nearest Tube Green Park or Piccadilly Circus) is open Mon-Sat, 10am–5.30pm.

Drawings by Peter Brookes also feature in Cameron in Caricature, an exhibition of cartoons on the Tory leader David Cameron is at the Political Cartoon Gallery from next Tuesday (October 13) until December 24.

Cameron’s infamous Twitter faux pas, as seen by Morten Morland

The exhibition of 60 original cartoons charts the fortunes of Cameron since he became leader in December 2005. It will feature cartoons by political cartoonists such as Martin Rowson, Steve Bell, Morten Morland, Dave Brown, Peter Schrank, Ingram Pinn and Andy Davey.

The Political Cartoon Gallery, 32 Store Street, is open Mon-Fri 9.30am–5.30pm and Sat 11.30am–5.30pm.

Bloghorn spotted this great work during this week ending the 31st July 2009.

One: Mike Williams in The Spectator: “Excuse me, could you pass me that magazine?”

Two: Martin Rowson in The Guardian: Waiting for the Iraq inquiry

Three: Morten Morland in The Times: Too many twits

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Cartoon by Andy Davey

The exhibition Yankee Doodles! President Barack Obama in Cartoons is at the Political Cartoon Gallery in London from today (April 23) until June 13

Here is a report on this from the BBC.

Continuing the theme American, some drawings from a recession-hit New York (via the New York Times).

A team from the Professional Cartoonists Organisation, which runs The Bloghorn, is to appear on the daily BBC Two quiz show Eggheads.

The team, called simply The Cartoonists, will challenge the Eggheads team, who are all winners from other quiz and game shows.

Pictured (seated, left to right) are PCOers Chris Burke, Alex Hughes, Royston Robertson, Robert Duncan, Graham Fowell and Martin Rowson.

Stood behind them are the host Jeremy Vine (second left) with the Eggheads team – CJ de Mooi, Barry Simmons, Daphne Fowler, Chris Hughes, Kevin Ashman and Judith Keppel.

As soon as we know the transmission date of the programme we’ll let you know, via The Bloghorn.

The PCO: Great British cartoon talent
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We spotted this great work this week …

One: Kal in The Economist on Obama’s hand of friendship to Iran

Two: Peter Schrank in The Independent on Supergordon and the IMF

Three: Martin Rowson in The Guardian on the BBC and the DEC

The PCO: Great British cartoon talent
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Christian Adams at the Telegraph writes on the challenges of drawing the prime minister and the newspaper’s leader column offers another thought in response. Other papers picked up Christian’s story with Dave Brown of The Independent chipping in here and Martin Rowson popping up on BBC Breakfast.