Why Britain Doesn’t Have Revolutions
The BBC on its web site has published an article outlining an interesting theory about why Britain has not had a violent revolution in recent centuries.
Apparently, it’s all down to our political cartoonists.
Most of the article, is based on an interview with Lord Baker, who is an avid fan, despite having suffered at their hands a few times.
Ed Milliband Admits He Looks Like Wallace
It’s all here in the Daily Mail.
I suppose it could be worse, if looked like some other cartoon characters.
At least Peter Sallis, who voices Wallace, went to the sane school as I did, Minchenden in North London.
Top Cat Returns
It would appear that the latest film is a remake of the kids’ cartoon, Top Cat. It’s so old, I used to watch it as a child. Although, they had to call it Boss Cat to avoid conflict with a tinned cat food of the same name.
Top Cat Returns
Judging by the number of buses, they’re advertising it on, it isn’t going to do very well.
The Cartoonist’s Pen Is Mightier Than The Dictator’s Thugs
I’d never heard of the cartoonist, Ali Ferzat. until I read about him in The Times today. But he is lauded in their third leader as the Syrian cartoonist, who stood up to Assad and his thugs. There is more about him here on the BBC.
If I hsadn’t got emotional earlier, I certainly would be now!
Farewell Ronald Searle
Ronald Searle was one of the greatest cartoonists this country has ever produced.
He is remembered most for St. Trinians. But I saw his wartime drawings from the Burma Railway in the sixties and they left a deep impression about the horrors of war and man’s inhumanity to man. All are part of a legacy of a great artist, who is mainly remembered for just one small part of his work.
He deserves to have a proper retrospective exhibition at a major gallery in the UK.
I noticed that Ronald Searle had the initials, RDI, after his name. The initials stand for Royal Designers for Industry. It is is a distinction established by the Royal Society of Arts in 1936, to encourage a high standard of industrial design and enhance the status of designers.
The Best Christmas Card I’ve Received This Year
This was the card I got from Ken Pyne, the cartoonist.
Ken Pyne's 2010 Christmas Card
If you’d like any of Ken’s work or feel you want him to draw something special for you, then use the contact form in this blog.
Street Sculpture in Ipswich
I have always liked street sculpture and feel it is something that brings art to everybody, or in the case of Minsk in Belarus to the people. There are some of the Belarus street statues on this page. I must add to this page, as I have lots of photos from when I visited the city to support England.
Ipswich has some good street sculptues or statues, which tend to be on the popular side of culture. Here’s the Giles family in the Buttermarket.
The Giles Family, Ipswich
It was erected as a tribute to the cartoonist Carl Giles, who lived in the town. Does any other cartoonist have a statue of his famous characters? Or do they have the street named after them?
You might think a statue of cartoon characters is unusual, but the other two popular statues in the town are those of Sir Bobby Robson and Sir Alf Ramsey. Can any other town boast two statues to their football managers, but none to any of their footballers? I doubt it!
Here’s Sir Alf, on the touchline for the World Cup victory in 1966.
Statue of Sir Alf Ramsey, Ipswich
And then there is Sir Bobby in a much more animated pose.
Statue of Sir Bobby Robson, Ipswich
There is also a sculpture trail for Ipswich. Is Ipswich unique in not having any full-size statues of military or royal and often obscure figures in the town centre? There is only one statue of a prince in the town and he was Russian. But Alexander Obolensky is not rememberedso much for being a prince as for scoring one of the greatest tries in the history of rugby.
Saucy Postcards Make a Comback
In a recession or time of adversity or austerity, humour always does well.
Even Bamforth’s saucy postcards have found a new champion to develop their totally British institution. It’s all in The Independent.
Scrappy Bits of Paper
Buy a paper in some places like W H Smith and they give you all sorts of scraps of paper for things as varied as an on-line shopping voucher or a free bar of non-gluten-free chocolate. Because, I try to travel light and only have one good hand for holding things, I usually refuse the receipt as well.
So why do they not get the point, that they actually annoy the customers with these pointless offers. I’ve got to leaving them on the counter.
I thought it was just me until I saw a cartoon in Private Eye, this week.
It shows a supermarket checkout labelled “5 Irritations Questions or Less”.
We could be so lucky!
The Anonymous Widower 