Leslie Illingworth (1902 - 1979)

This time, I'm covering a cartoonist that has been said to have been superior to David Low! (oh the blasphemy!!) His name was Leslie Illingworth.

According to his biography, he was born in South Wales on September 2, 1902. Although he worked for many magazines and newspapers in his early years, his main employers were The Daily Mail and the illustrious English humor magazine Punch. In 1945, he became the main political cartoonist for the famous magazine. He left The Daily Mail in 1969. After that, he was mostly retired until he suffered a fatal stroke on December 20, 1979.









Although he is not as famous as David Low, he was just as loathed by the Third Reich. It has been shown that Adolf Hitler himself collected Illingworth's cartoons in his bunker and scribbled insults all over them. That would make any political cartoonist proud.

Victor "Vicky" Weisz (1913-1966)

Here's another post on the great political cartoonists from across the pond.

This time it's Victor Weisz, aka "Vicky". He was born in Berlin, Germany on April 25, 1913 to Hungarian -Jewish parents. When the Nazis took over the magazine he was working for in 1935, he fled to England. He then worked as a freelancer for various newspapers, including The Daily Mirror and The Evening Standard until he inherited Philip Zec's job as political cartoonist for That Daily Mirror in 1954.

Here are samples of his work:









In the 1950s, Vicky satirized Prime Minister Harold McMillan as "Supermac" (see below)

Unfortunately, Victor Weisz suffered from depression and insomnia. He committed suicide on February 22, 1966

For more on the work of the great British political cartoonists, go to The British Cartoon Archive

Until next time
Happy Trails

David Low (1891 - 1963)

Today I bring you another post on Great Britain's foremost political cartoonist, David Low. He began his illustrious career at The Evening Standard in 1927, where he stayed until 1950, where he began a three-year run at The Daily Herald. After that, he produced cartoons for The Manchester Guardian until his death in 1963.

This is one of Low's most famous cartoons.

Upon his death, Low was described to be, "the dominant cartoonist in the Western world." Many New Zealand students are taught the origins of World War Two with textbooks using his cartoons as illustrations. It was also said that Adolf Hitler had a personal hatred for David Low, and had actually written his name in The Black Book, a book containing lists of the names of people who were to be arrested after the German invasion of Great Britain. That must mean Low was doing his job right.

Until next time.

The Art of Philip Zec : British Political Cartoonist Extraordinaire

These are a few examples of the great work of British Political cartoonist Philip Zec. He worked for The Daily Mirror in London from the 1930s until 1958.

This is one of his most famous cartoons.

Until Next Time