News: April 2013

CARTOONISTS BID FAREWELL TO A GREAT INSPIRATION

THE PASSING OF MARGARET THATCHER has ignited an explosion of obituary cartoons by a world of appreciative cartoonists - many of whom enjoyed ridiculing her in the 1980's; the decade of her prime.

Love or hate her politics (cartoonists tend towards the left and so were more inclined to the latter), "Maggie's" iconic style and powerful disposition brought inspiration to cartoonists the world over.

Indeed, she inspired an industry of satire in the form of theatrical plays, films, TV shows, paintings, songs and cartoons. BBC Arts Editor Will Gompertz asks "Has any other post-war politician provoked so much artistic output?"Author and satirist John O'Farrell notes that ""the arrival of Margaret Thatcher was the cue for the rise of political cabaret, Not the Nine O'clock News and Spitting Image”.

And when the Soviet news agency TASS coined the term 'Iron Lady' (not realising then that she would outlast the Iron Curtain that they owed their existence to), cartoonists and satirists swooned at the gifted metaphor. [read on]