Bloghorn liked this video from The Royal Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. Thanks to member Jonathan Cusick for the tip-off.

Revellers at the Groucho Club, London’s premier trendy media hangout, found something to distract them from the anti-climax of the General Election last Thursday night: live cartooning.

Members of the PCO, the organisation which runs the Bloghorn, were on hand to draw cartoons in an informal capacity – is there any other way in the Groucho Club? – on the subject of politics and the election, as well as drawing live caricatures. The cartoons were then pinned up on the walls, showing up the Emins and Hirsts.

Cameras are not permitted in the Groucho, and the cartoonists went untroubled by the paparazzi outside the club, so there is no photographic record. Instead, we offer you some fine drawings of the assembled scribblers by Wilbur Dawbarn.

Much fun was had by all, even if there was still no conclusive result in the election by throwing-out time at 4am. But, who knows, we may be back there for the next election in a matter of months …

Comedian, TV host and and cartoon fan Phill Jupitus has given his public support to this year’s upcoming Shrewsbury cartoon festival by signing up as a patron of the annual event. Phill and broadcaster Libby Purves will also be joined by BBC Radio 2 DJ Alex Lester.

The Festival’s full programme for 22-25 April is now available online and in a downloadable pdf brochure. You will be able to follow coverage of the event here at the Bloghorn and on our Twitter feed.

The festival, now in its seventh year, also enjoys support from long-time patrons Professor Colin Pillinger (the inspiring scientist from the Beagle 2 Mission to Mars) and TV news pundit Andrew Marr.

Highlights of this year’s event include an illustrated talk by one of Britain’s finest political cartoonists, Martin Rowson. His talk ‘Giving Offence – the Greatest Gift’ is at the Old Market Hall, 12.30pm on Saturday 24 April. Tickets are £5 from the Box Office which you can contact at 01743 281281.

Libby Purves presents an evening of conversation and cartoons with cartoonist Bill Stott at The Lion on Thursday 22 April at 7.30pm. Tickets are also £5 from Bear Steps Gallery , telephone 01743 356511

Full details of the many other free events, workshops, talks and cartooning activities are in the brochure linked above or from the official festival website.

Shrewsbury International Cartoon Festival is organised by Shropshire Council, Shrewsbury Civic Society, The Professional Cartoonists’ Organisation, and Agate Design with support from the Arts Council and many volunteers and private sector sponsors. If you would like details of opportunities around this and future festivals you can make contact using the form below.

Bloghorn spotted this great work during this week ending the 25th September 2009.

One: Peter Brookes in The Times on the special relationship

Two: Nicholas Garland in The Daily Telegraph on
a very public crash

Three: Len Hawkins in The Spectator on paranoid parenting

The PCO: Great British cartoon talent
Subscribe to The Foghorn – our print cartoon magazine

After several years as the plucky underdog, the Professional Cartoonists’ Organisation’s team, this year rebranded as Team Bloghorn, has finally emerged victorious from the annual Battle of the Cartoonists.

Our team came joint first with Private Eye in the Big Draw event in which four teams completed a large banner on the theme of “Now We Are Ten”, celebrating a decade of The Campaign for Drawing. They faced stiff competition from teams from The Sun and The Independent.

A banner year: The Bloghorn team was made up of, left to right, Andy Bunday, Clive Goddard, captain Pete Dredge, holding the cup, who oversaw proceedings, and Nathan Ariss

Work in progress: Clive and Pete get drawing. Click here, to see the full, completed banner

In a post-match interview, Pete told the Bloghorn: “Justice and victory at last for the PCO’s Battle of the Cartoonists’ team, albeit jointly with the Eye (Shurely shome mistake – Ed). What seemed like a clear-cut decision was mysteriously drawn out into a “cheer-off” head-to-head. And even then our clearly louder decibel reading was insufficient for us to be declared outright winners. A big draw indeed!”

Joint winners: The Private Eye team, left to right, Simon Pearsall, Richard Jolley and Ken Pyne, also a PCO member, with MC Andrew Marr, who is a patron of the PCO

But the event is not just about the glory of winning. PCO members Tim Harries, and Cathy Simpson were on hand to run drawing workshops for children and adults at the event, which took place at the Idea Generation gallery in Shoreditch, London.

Drawn to it: Cathy Simpson hosted a workshop for children

The workshoppers were ably assisted by The Surreal McCoy. All photographs here are by Gerard Whyman, who was on hand as the official PCO photographer.

Bloghorn spotted this great work during this week ending the 11th September 2009.

One: Colin Whittock in the Birmingham Mail: Missing the old days

Two: Steve Bell in The Guardian: A sick joke

Three: Gordon Gurvan (GG) in The Spectator:
And what do you do?

The PCO: Great British cartoon talent
Subscribe to The Foghorn – our print cartoon magazine

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

The PCO: Great British cartoon talent
Subscribe to The Foghorn – our print cartoon magazine

Bloghorn spotted this great work during this week ending the 10th July 2009.

One: Christian Adams in The Telegraph on the chase for the pink vote

Two: Hector Breeze in The Spectator: “It is suggested that one reign for a bit without pay.”

Three: And finally, Peter Brookes in The Times on trouble at No. 11

The PCO: Great British cartoon talent
Subscribe to The Foghorn – our print cartoon magazine

MPs are back in the news again with the release of their heavily blacked-out expense reports, so Bloghorn has a special round-up of the best of the redacted, censored and otherwise obscured cartoons for the week ending the 19th June 2009.

One: Matt in the Daily Telegraph gives us a historical perspective on the story.

Two: Mac in the Daily Mail shows us a sneak preview of the upcoming Iraq enquiry testimony from Gordon Brown.

Three: There’s a brand-spanking new ceremonial role in the Houses of Parliament in Peter Brookes cartoon for The Times…

Four: …whilst Dave Brown lets it all hang out in the open for the Independent

Five: Steve Bell in The Guardian goes with Tony Blair’s knowledge of torture in interrogations.

Six: It’s all done in the best possible taste for Andy Davey in the Sun

Seven and Eight: …and finally, Paul Thomas in the Daily Express and Tim Sanders in the Independent just can’t find the words…

Note: in the spirit of openness, and unlike the Goverment, Bloghorn believes that you should know all about this. Simply highlight the text above to reveal the redacted sections.

The PCO: Great British cartoon talent

Subscribe to The Foghorn – our print cartoon magazine

Helping mammon soften his image, by Stephen Collins

The Prospect magazine blog continues its Cartoonist of the Month series by firing questions at PCOer Alex Matthews. You can also read interviews on the bog with Nick Downes and Clive Goddard.

Meanwhile, the magazine has also announced a new regular cartoon strip, excerpt above, drawn by Times cartoonist and Cartoon Art Trust award winner Stephen Collins.