Carl Giles
Encyclopedia
Ronald "Carl" Giles often referred to simply as Giles, was a cartoonist most famous for his work for the British
newspaper the Daily Express
.
His cartoon style was a single topical highly detailed panel, usually with a great deal more going on than the single joke. Certain recurring characters achieved a great deal of popularity, particularly the extended Giles family
, which first appeared in a published cartoon on 5 August 1945 and featured prominently in the strip. Of these, the most famous is the enigmatic matriarch of the family, known simply as Grandma. Another recurring favourite was Chalkie, the tyrannical school teacher who Giles claimed was modelled on one of his childhood teachers, and Larry, the mop-haired child from next door, often seen with a camera, who it is said is the alter ego
of Giles himself.
in London
, England
, the son of a tobacconist and a farmer's daughter. He was nicknamed "Karlo", later shortened to "Carl", by friends who decided he looked like Boris Karloff
. After leaving school at the age of 14 he worked as an office boy for a Wardour Street
film company before being promoted to animator for cartoon films. In 1935 he began working for director and producer Alexander Korda
on a colour cartoon film with sound, The Fox Hunt. Giles then went to Ipswich to join Roland Davies, who was setting up a studio to produce animated versions of his popular newspaper strip "Come On Steve". Six ten-minute films were produced, beginning with Steve Steps Out (1936), but even though Giles was the head animator, he received no screen credit.
, but was eventually offered a job on the Daily Express and Sunday Express instead, at a higher salary of 20 guineas
per week, and he quit Reynolds News. His first cartoon for his new employers appeared in the 3 October 1943 edition of the Sunday Express.
Giles later said that he never agreed with the Daily Expresss politics, and felt guilt for abandoning the more left wing Reynolds News for it, but it made him wealthy: by 1955 he was being paid £8,060 for producing three cartoons a week.
Giles was rejected for war service, due to being blind in one eye and deaf in one ear following a motorcycle accident, but made animated shorts for the Ministry of Information, while some of his cartoons were reprinted in poster form for the Railway Executive Committee
and others. In 1945 he became the Daily Expresss "War Correspondent Cartoonist" with the 2nd Army.
At one point during World War II he was assigned as War Correspondent to the Coldstream Guards
unit which liberated the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp
. Giles interviewed the camp commandant, Josef Kramer
, who turned out to be aware of and an admirer of Giles's work. Kramer gave Giles his Luger pistol and holster, a ceremonial dagger, and his swastika
armband, in return asking for a signed original of Giles's work. Giles:
In 1959 he was awarded an OBE
. Among his fans were the British Royal Family
, who often requested the originals of his work.
Giles finally quit working for The Daily Express in 1989; his cartoons had been allocated less and less space in the newspaper, and he said that the last straw was being stood up following a trip to London to lunch with the editor. He continued working for the Sunday Express until 1991.
He never actually sold any of his creations, preferring to donate them to friends and to charitable organisations, like the RNLI, of which he was Life President and which continues to issue charity Christmas cards each year which bear his work.
He also contributed cartoons to Men Only
and other publications, drew advertising cartoons for Guinness
, Fisons
and other companies, and designed Christmas cards for the Royal National Institute for the Deaf and Game Conservancy Research Fund.
Up until the 50th collection (published in 1996), they were given the title "1st Series", "2nd Series", up to "50th Series". Since the 1997-published collection, they have been called "The 1998 collection", "The 1999 collection", etc.
Until his death in 1995, Giles selected which cartoons would be in the annual.
Up until 1991, when Giles stopped producing new cartoons, the annual consisted of cartoons from the preceding year — for example, in the 42nd series (published in autumn 1989), the cartoons used were originally published in the Daily Express and Sunday Express between 30 June 1987 and 12 June 1988.
From 1991, the annuals consisted of cartoons previously published in collections, although some previously unpublished in annuals were included. The 46th series (1992), 47th (1993) and the 1999-2001 collections are all comprised solely of cartoons which had not previously been published in any other collection. The 2002-2006 collections included some cartoons not previously published in any collections.
The 1999-2005 collections included a calendar, with 12 cartoons from the year's collection.
Most of the annuals included a foreword from an editor of the Express newspapers or a celebrity fan, including Margot Fonteyn
(ballet dancer), Adam Faith
(singer), Spike Milligan
(comedian), Sir Malcolm Sargent
(conductor), Jim Clark
(F1 champion), Sean Connery
(actor), Frank Sinatra
(singer) and Tommy Cooper
(comedian and magician).
The 2010 collection had an introduction about Giles, as it was the first year that Hamlyn had published the collection (all previous collections had been published by Express Newspapers). The 2011 collection returned to the tradition of having an introduction written by a celebrity fan (in that case, Lee Latchford-Evans
) and the majority of the cartoons featured in the 2011 collection had never previously appeared in an annual.
and Graham Laidler
("Pont"), and he himself influenced the style of the newspaper cartoonists "Jak" and "Mac".
In April 2000, he was voted 'Britain's Favourite Cartoonist of the 20th Century'.
A bronze statue depicting Grandma looking up at the newspaper office window in Ipswich
, England
where he used to work was unveiled by Warren Mitchell
. Giles, who was by this time using a wheelchair, was present at the unveiling.
He supported Ipswich Town F.C.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
newspaper the Daily Express
Daily Express
The Daily Express switched from broadsheet to tabloid in 1977 and was bought by the construction company Trafalgar House in the same year. Its publishing company, Beaverbrook Newspapers, was renamed Express Newspapers...
.
Giles Family
The Giles family is a fictional British family created by cartoonist Carl Giles at the end of World War II, appearing first on 5 August 1945.Much of Giles's World War II work had been cartoons featuring Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini and the typical British Tommy, but he felt the need to expand...
, which first appeared in a published cartoon on 5 August 1945 and featured prominently in the strip. Of these, the most famous is the enigmatic matriarch of the family, known simply as Grandma. Another recurring favourite was Chalkie, the tyrannical school teacher who Giles claimed was modelled on one of his childhood teachers, and Larry, the mop-haired child from next door, often seen with a camera, who it is said is the alter ego
Alter ego
An alter ego is a second self, which is believe to be distinct from a person's normal or original personality. The term was coined in the early nineteenth century when dissociative identity disorder was first described by psychologists...
of Giles himself.
Early life
Giles was born in IslingtonIslington
Islington is a neighbourhood in Greater London, England and forms the central district of the London Borough of Islington. It is a district of Inner London, spanning from Islington High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the area around the busy Upper Street...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, the son of a tobacconist and a farmer's daughter. He was nicknamed "Karlo", later shortened to "Carl", by friends who decided he looked like Boris Karloff
Boris Karloff
William Henry Pratt , better known by his stage name Boris Karloff, was an English actor.Karloff is best remembered for his roles in horror films and his portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in Frankenstein , Bride of Frankenstein , and Son of Frankenstein...
. After leaving school at the age of 14 he worked as an office boy for a Wardour Street
Wardour Street
Wardour Street is a street in Soho, London. It is a one-way street south to north from Leicester Square, up through Chinatown, across Shaftesbury Avenue to Oxford Street.-History:...
film company before being promoted to animator for cartoon films. In 1935 he began working for director and producer Alexander Korda
Alexander Korda
Sir Alexander Korda was a Hungarian-born British producer and film director. He was a leading figure in the British film industry, the founder of London Films and the owner of British Lion Films, a film distributing company.-Life and career:The elder brother of filmmakers Zoltán Korda and Vincent...
on a colour cartoon film with sound, The Fox Hunt. Giles then went to Ipswich to join Roland Davies, who was setting up a studio to produce animated versions of his popular newspaper strip "Come On Steve". Six ten-minute films were produced, beginning with Steve Steps Out (1936), but even though Giles was the head animator, he received no screen credit.
Career
In 1937, Giles started work as a cartoonist for the left wing Sunday newspaper Reynolds News, for whom he drew a weekly topical cartoon and a comic strip, "Young Ernie". His strip came to the attention of the editor of the Sunday Express and in 1943 he was interviewed for a job on the Evening StandardEvening Standard
The Evening Standard, now styled the London Evening Standard, is a free local daily newspaper, published Monday–Friday in tabloid format in London. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the surrounding area, with coverage of national and international news and City of London...
, but was eventually offered a job on the Daily Express and Sunday Express instead, at a higher salary of 20 guineas
Guinea (British coin)
The guinea is a coin that was minted in the Kingdom of England and later in the Kingdom of Great Britain and the United Kingdom between 1663 and 1813...
per week, and he quit Reynolds News. His first cartoon for his new employers appeared in the 3 October 1943 edition of the Sunday Express.
Giles later said that he never agreed with the Daily Expresss politics, and felt guilt for abandoning the more left wing Reynolds News for it, but it made him wealthy: by 1955 he was being paid £8,060 for producing three cartoons a week.
Giles was rejected for war service, due to being blind in one eye and deaf in one ear following a motorcycle accident, but made animated shorts for the Ministry of Information, while some of his cartoons were reprinted in poster form for the Railway Executive Committee
Railway Executive Committee
The Railway Executive Committee was a government body which controlled the operation of Britain's railways during World War I and World War II...
and others. In 1945 he became the Daily Expresss "War Correspondent Cartoonist" with the 2nd Army.
At one point during World War II he was assigned as War Correspondent to the Coldstream Guards
Coldstream Guards
Her Majesty's Coldstream Regiment of Foot Guards, also known officially as the Coldstream Guards , is a regiment of the British Army, part of the Guards Division or Household Division....
unit which liberated the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp
Bergen-Belsen was a Nazi concentration camp in Lower Saxony in northwestern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle...
. Giles interviewed the camp commandant, Josef Kramer
Josef Kramer
Josef Kramer was the Commandant of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Dubbed "The Beast of Belsen" by camp inmates; he was a notorious Nazi war criminal, directly responsible for the deaths of thousands of people...
, who turned out to be aware of and an admirer of Giles's work. Kramer gave Giles his Luger pistol and holster, a ceremonial dagger, and his swastika
Swastika
The swastika is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing form in counter clock motion or its mirrored left-facing form in clock motion. Earliest archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates back to the Indus Valley Civilization of Ancient...
armband, in return asking for a signed original of Giles's work. Giles:
- I have to say, that I quite liked the man. I am ashamed to say such a thing. But had I not been able to see what was happening outside the window I would have said he was very civilised. Odd, isn't it? But maybe there was a rather dishonourable reason. I have always found it difficult to dislike someone who was an admirer of my work. And strangely, Kramer was. I never sent him an original. What was the point? He had been hanged.
In 1959 he was awarded an OBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
. Among his fans were the British Royal Family
British Royal Family
The British Royal Family is the group of close relatives of the monarch of the United Kingdom. The term is also commonly applied to the same group of people as the relations of the monarch in her or his role as sovereign of any of the other Commonwealth realms, thus sometimes at variance with...
, who often requested the originals of his work.
Giles finally quit working for The Daily Express in 1989; his cartoons had been allocated less and less space in the newspaper, and he said that the last straw was being stood up following a trip to London to lunch with the editor. He continued working for the Sunday Express until 1991.
He never actually sold any of his creations, preferring to donate them to friends and to charitable organisations, like the RNLI, of which he was Life President and which continues to issue charity Christmas cards each year which bear his work.
He also contributed cartoons to Men Only
Men Only
Men Only is a British soft-core pornographic magazine published by Paul Raymond since 1971. However, the title goes back to 1935 when it was founded by C. Arthur Pearson Ltd as a pocket magazine . It set out its editorial stall in the first issue:'We don't want women readers. We won't have women...
and other publications, drew advertising cartoons for Guinness
Guinness
Guinness is a popular Irish dry stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at St. James's Gate, Dublin. Guinness is directly descended from the porter style that originated in London in the early 18th century and is one of the most successful beer brands worldwide, brewed in almost...
, Fisons
Fisons
Fisons plc was a leading British pharmaceutical, scientific instrument and horticultural chemical manufacturer. The Company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but it was acquired by Rhone-Poulenc in 1995....
and other companies, and designed Christmas cards for the Royal National Institute for the Deaf and Game Conservancy Research Fund.
Annual collections of cartoons
Collections of Giles cartoons have been produced annually since 1946.Up until the 50th collection (published in 1996), they were given the title "1st Series", "2nd Series", up to "50th Series". Since the 1997-published collection, they have been called "The 1998 collection", "The 1999 collection", etc.
Until his death in 1995, Giles selected which cartoons would be in the annual.
Up until 1991, when Giles stopped producing new cartoons, the annual consisted of cartoons from the preceding year — for example, in the 42nd series (published in autumn 1989), the cartoons used were originally published in the Daily Express and Sunday Express between 30 June 1987 and 12 June 1988.
From 1991, the annuals consisted of cartoons previously published in collections, although some previously unpublished in annuals were included. The 46th series (1992), 47th (1993) and the 1999-2001 collections are all comprised solely of cartoons which had not previously been published in any other collection. The 2002-2006 collections included some cartoons not previously published in any collections.
The 1999-2005 collections included a calendar, with 12 cartoons from the year's collection.
Most of the annuals included a foreword from an editor of the Express newspapers or a celebrity fan, including Margot Fonteyn
Margot Fonteyn
Dame Margot Fonteyn de Arias, DBE , was an English ballerina of the 20th century. She is widely regarded as one of the greatest classical ballet dancers of all time...
(ballet dancer), Adam Faith
Adam Faith
Terence "Terry" Nelhams-Wright, known as Adam Faith was a Teen idol English singer, actor and later financial journalist. He was one of the most charted acts of the 1960s. He became the first UK artist to lodge his initial seven hits in the Top 5...
(singer), Spike Milligan
Spike Milligan
Terence Alan Patrick Seán "Spike" Milligan Hon. KBE was a comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright, soldier and actor. His early life was spent in India, where he was born, but the majority of his working life was spent in the United Kingdom. He became an Irish citizen in 1962 after the...
(comedian), Sir Malcolm Sargent
Malcolm Sargent
Sir Harold Malcolm Watts Sargent was an English conductor, organist and composer widely regarded as Britain's leading conductor of choral works...
(conductor), Jim Clark
Jim Clark
James "Jim" Clark, Jr OBE was a British Formula One racing driver from Scotland, who won two World Championships, in 1963 and 1965....
(F1 champion), Sean Connery
Sean Connery
Sir Thomas Sean Connery , better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy...
(actor), Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
(singer) and Tommy Cooper
Tommy Cooper
Thomas Frederick "Tommy" Cooper was a very popular British prop comedian and magician from Caerphilly, Wales.Cooper was a member of The Magic Circle, and respected by traditional magicians...
(comedian and magician).
The 2010 collection had an introduction about Giles, as it was the first year that Hamlyn had published the collection (all previous collections had been published by Express Newspapers). The 2011 collection returned to the tradition of having an introduction written by a celebrity fan (in that case, Lee Latchford-Evans
Lee Latchford-Evans
Lee Latchford-Evans is an English pop singer, actor and dancer, most famous for being a member of the British pop group Steps.-Biography:...
) and the majority of the cartoons featured in the 2011 collection had never previously appeared in an annual.
Influences
Giles cited his influences as Bruce BairnsfatherBruce Bairnsfather
Captain Bruce Bairnsfather was a prominent British humorist and cartoonist. His best-known cartoon character is Old Bill...
and Graham Laidler
Graham Laidler
Graham Laidler was born on 4 July 1908 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England at 6 Osborne Avenue, Jesmond. His father died when Laidler was 13 and the family eventually moved south, finally settling in Jordans, Buckinghamshire...
("Pont"), and he himself influenced the style of the newspaper cartoonists "Jak" and "Mac".
In April 2000, he was voted 'Britain's Favourite Cartoonist of the 20th Century'.
Tributes
Ipswich
Ipswich is a large town and a non-metropolitan district. It is the county town of Suffolk, England. Ipswich is located on the estuary of the River Orwell...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
where he used to work was unveiled by Warren Mitchell
Warren Mitchell
Warren Mitchell is an English actor who rose to initial prominence in the role of bigoted cockney Alf Garnett in the BBC television sitcom Till Death Us Do Part , and its sequels Till Death... and In Sickness and in Health , all of which were written by Johnny Speight...
. Giles, who was by this time using a wheelchair, was present at the unveiling.
He supported Ipswich Town F.C.
Ipswich Town F.C.
Ipswich Town Football Club are an English professional football team based in Ipswich, Suffolk. As of 2011, they play in the Football League Championship, having last appeared in the Premier League in 2001–02....
External links
- A Celebration of Giles
- British Cartoon Archive A substantial online collection of Giles' work, made available by the University of Kent. The related physical museum also has everyday objects from his studio.