Mark Boxer
Encyclopedia
Charles Mark Edward Boxer (19 May 1931 – 20 July 1988) was a British magazine editor and social observer, and a political cartoonist and graphic portrait artist working under the pen-name ‘Marc’.
) and King’s College, Cambridge, where he was editor of the student magazine Granta
.
During this period, the magazine published a poem deemed by the University authorities to be blasphemous. The Vice-Chancellor demanded he be sent down, the first student since Percy Bysshe Shelley
to receive such a sentence for this offence. E. M. Forster
spoke in his defence. His College succeeded in reducing the sentence to a week’s rustication
during May Week
, which would mean that he missed the May Ball
. The authorities forgot, however, that May Balls go on into the early hours and, on the stroke of midnight during the Ball, Boxer made a triumphant return.
Boxer’s first marriage was to Lady Arabella Stuart, youngest daughter of the eighteenth Earl of Moray
, with whom he had two children - eldest son Charles currently runs an Italian delicatessen in Vauxhall, and daughter Henrietta is known to work there also. As Arabella Boxer, she became a successful cookery writer, after Boxer designed her first book, First Slice Your Cookbook, in 1964. They later divorced.
His second marriage was to newsreader Anna Ford
, with whom he had two daughters, Kate and Claire.
He died of a brain tumour at home in Brentford, Hounslow
, Greater London
, aged 57.
, after graduation, he was appointed Art Director of the society magazine Queen
owned by Jocelyn Stevens
. In 1962, he became Founding Editor of the Sunday Times colour supplement. There he created a format subsequently copied by all UK Sunday broadsheet newspapers, and was responsible for commissioning such leading artists, photographers and writers of the 1960s as Peter Blake
, David Hockney
, Cartier-Bresson, Don McCullin
, Angus Wilson
and John Mortimer
.
In 1965 he left the Sunday Times but remained within the Thomson Organization
, then owners of the Sunday Times, to relaunch the ailing Tatler
under a new title of London Life. When that title folded, he returned to the Sunday Times in a reduced role, which gave him time to develop his work as a cartoonist.
After a brief period as a book publisher at Weidenfeld & Nicolson
, he accepted the editorship of the revived Tatler
at Condé Nast Publications
in 1983, for which he won the PA Editor of the Year award in 1986. At the time of his death, he was Editor-in-Chief of Tatler
, and Editorial Director of Condé Nast Publications
in the UK.
His influence as an editor is commemorated in the annual Mark Boxer Award, presented by the British Society of Magazine Editors for an outstanding contribution to magazine publishing in the UK.
He followed this with a long series of pocket cartoons, single frame social commentaries which were published first in The Times
, and subsequently in The Guardian
. These were created in collaboration with the humorist George Melly
, and led many to consider him the successor to Osbert Lancaster
.
between 1970 and 1978, and in The Observer
between 1982 and 1987. Many are now in the archives of the National Portrait Gallery (London).
They also appeared in 1975 as illustrations to a mock-heroic poem written by Clive James
. The Fate of Felicity Fark in the Land of the Media.
Boxer also produced a series of drawings of characters to illustrate the covers of Anthony Powell
’s 12-volume novel, A Dance To The Music of Time.
Personal life
Boxer was educated at Berkhamsted school (now Berkhamsted Collegiate SchoolBerkhamsted Collegiate School
Berkhamsted School is an independent school in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England. The present school was formed in 1997 by the amalgamation of the original Berkhamsted School, founded in 1541 by John Incent, Dean of St Paul's Cathedral, Berkhamsted School for Girls, established in 1888, and...
) and King’s College, Cambridge, where he was editor of the student magazine Granta
Granta
Granta is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centers on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story’s supreme ability to describe, illuminate and make real." In 2007, The Observer stated, "In its blend of...
.
During this period, the magazine published a poem deemed by the University authorities to be blasphemous. The Vice-Chancellor demanded he be sent down, the first student since Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley was one of the major English Romantic poets and is critically regarded as among the finest lyric poets in the English language. Shelley was famous for his association with John Keats and Lord Byron...
to receive such a sentence for this offence. E. M. Forster
E. M. Forster
Edward Morgan Forster OM, CH was an English novelist, short story writer, essayist and librettist. He is known best for his ironic and well-plotted novels examining class difference and hypocrisy in early 20th-century British society...
spoke in his defence. His College succeeded in reducing the sentence to a week’s rustication
Rustication (academia)
Rustication is a term used at Oxbridge to mean being sent down or expelled temporarily. The term derives from the Latin word rus, countryside, to indicate that a student has been sent back to their family in the country, or from medieval Latin rustici, meaning "heathens or barbarians"...
during May Week
May Week
May Week is the name used within the University of Cambridge to refer to a period of time at the end of the academic year. Originally May Week took place in the week during May before year-end exams began. Today, May Week takes place in June. The end of exams is a cause for heavy celebration...
, which would mean that he missed the May Ball
May Ball
A May Ball is a ball at the end of the academic year that happens at any one of the colleges of the University of Cambridge. They are formal affairs, requiring evening dress, with ticket prices of around £65 to £200 , with some colleges selling tickets only in pairs...
. The authorities forgot, however, that May Balls go on into the early hours and, on the stroke of midnight during the Ball, Boxer made a triumphant return.
Boxer’s first marriage was to Lady Arabella Stuart, youngest daughter of the eighteenth Earl of Moray
Earl of Moray
The title Earl of Moray has been created several times in the Peerage of Scotland.Prior to the formal establishment of the peerage, Earl of Moray, numerous individuals ruled the kingdom of Moray or Mormaer of Moray until 1130 when the kingdom was destroyed by David I of Scotland.-History of the...
, with whom he had two children - eldest son Charles currently runs an Italian delicatessen in Vauxhall, and daughter Henrietta is known to work there also. As Arabella Boxer, she became a successful cookery writer, after Boxer designed her first book, First Slice Your Cookbook, in 1964. They later divorced.
His second marriage was to newsreader Anna Ford
Anna Ford
Anna Ford is a retired English journalist and television presenter, best known as a newsreader....
, with whom he had two daughters, Kate and Claire.
He died of a brain tumour at home in Brentford, Hounslow
London Borough of Hounslow
-Political composition:Since the borough was formed it has been controlled by the Labour Party on all but two occasions. In 1968 the Conservatives formed a majority for the first and last time to date until they lost control to Labour in 1971. Labour subsequently lost control of the council in the...
, Greater London
Greater London
Greater London is the top-level administrative division of England covering London. It was created in 1965 and spans the City of London, including Middle Temple and Inner Temple, and the 32 London boroughs. This territory is coterminate with the London Government Office Region and the London...
, aged 57.
Editor
Following his editorship of the small magazine LilliputLilliput (magazine)
Lilliput was a small-format British monthly magazine of humour, short stories, photographs and the arts, founded in 1937 by the photojournalist Stefan Lorant. The first issue came out in July and it was sold shortly after to Edward Hulton, when editorship was taken over by Tom Hopkinson in 1940....
, after graduation, he was appointed Art Director of the society magazine Queen
Queen (magazine)
Queen magazine was a British society publication established by Samuel Beeton in 1861. In 1958, the magazine was sold to Jocelyn Stevens, who dropped the prefix "The" and used it as his vehicle to represent the younger side of the British Establishment, sometimes referred to as the "Chelsea Set"...
owned by Jocelyn Stevens
Jocelyn Stevens
Sir Jocelyn Stevens, CVO is the former publisher of Queen Magazine; a financier of the first British pirate radio station Radio Caroline; newspaper editor for major London dailies and former chairman of English Heritage.-Career:...
. In 1962, he became Founding Editor of the Sunday Times colour supplement. There he created a format subsequently copied by all UK Sunday broadsheet newspapers, and was responsible for commissioning such leading artists, photographers and writers of the 1960s as Peter Blake
Peter Blake (artist)
Sir Peter Thomas Blake, KBE, CBE, RDI, RA is an English pop artist, best known for his design of the sleeve for the Beatles' album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. He lives in Chiswick, London, UK.-Career:...
, David Hockney
David Hockney
David Hockney, CH, RA, is an English painter, draughtsman, printmaker, stage designer and photographer, who is based in Bridlington, Yorkshire and Kensington, London....
, Cartier-Bresson, Don McCullin
Don McCullin
Donald McCullin, FRPS CBE is an internationally known British photojournalist, particularly recognized for his war photography and images of urban strife...
, Angus Wilson
Angus Wilson
Sir Angus Frank Johnstone Wilson, CBE was an English novelist and short story writer. He was awarded the 1958 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for The Middle Age of Mrs Eliot and later received a knighthood for his services to literature.-Biography:Wilson was born in Bexhill, Sussex, England, to...
and John Mortimer
John Mortimer
Sir John Clifford Mortimer, CBE, QC was a British barrister, dramatist, screenwriter and author.-Early life:...
.
In 1965 he left the Sunday Times but remained within the Thomson Organization
Thomson Organization
International Thomson Organization was a development of the commercial empire founded by Lord Thomson of Fleet . It was formed in 1978 as a holding company for interests in publishing, travel, and natural resources...
, then owners of the Sunday Times, to relaunch the ailing Tatler
Tatler
Tatler has been the name of several British journals and magazines, each of which has viewed itself as the successor of the original literary and society journal founded by Richard Steele in 1709. The current incarnation, founded in 1901, is a glossy magazine published by Condé Nast Publications...
under a new title of London Life. When that title folded, he returned to the Sunday Times in a reduced role, which gave him time to develop his work as a cartoonist.
After a brief period as a book publisher at Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Weidenfeld & Nicolson Ltd is a British publisher of fiction and reference books. It is a division of the Orion Publishing Group.-History:...
, he accepted the editorship of the revived Tatler
Tatler
Tatler has been the name of several British journals and magazines, each of which has viewed itself as the successor of the original literary and society journal founded by Richard Steele in 1709. The current incarnation, founded in 1901, is a glossy magazine published by Condé Nast Publications...
at Condé Nast Publications
Condé Nast Publications
Condé Nast, a division of Advance Publications, is a magazine publisher. In the U.S., it produces 18 consumer magazines, including Architectural Digest, Bon Appétit, GQ, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and Vogue, as well as four business-to-business publications, 27 websites, and more than 50 apps...
in 1983, for which he won the PA Editor of the Year award in 1986. At the time of his death, he was Editor-in-Chief of Tatler
Tatler
Tatler has been the name of several British journals and magazines, each of which has viewed itself as the successor of the original literary and society journal founded by Richard Steele in 1709. The current incarnation, founded in 1901, is a glossy magazine published by Condé Nast Publications...
, and Editorial Director of Condé Nast Publications
Condé Nast Publications
Condé Nast, a division of Advance Publications, is a magazine publisher. In the U.S., it produces 18 consumer magazines, including Architectural Digest, Bon Appétit, GQ, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and Vogue, as well as four business-to-business publications, 27 websites, and more than 50 apps...
in the UK.
His influence as an editor is commemorated in the annual Mark Boxer Award, presented by the British Society of Magazine Editors for an outstanding contribution to magazine publishing in the UK.
Cartoonist
Drawing under the pen-name Marc, Boxer first came to prominence with a regular cartoon Life and Times in NW1, which ran in The Listener from 1968. This satirised the lifestyles of NW1 trendies, as typified in his characters Simon and Joanna Stringalong.He followed this with a long series of pocket cartoons, single frame social commentaries which were published first in The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, and subsequently in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
. These were created in collaboration with the humorist George Melly
George Melly
Alan George Heywood Melly was an English jazz and blues singer, critic, writer and lecturer. From 1965 to 1973 he was a film and television critic for The Observer and lectured on art history, with an emphasis on surrealism.-Early life and career:He was born in Liverpool and was educated at Stowe...
, and led many to consider him the successor to Osbert Lancaster
Osbert Lancaster
Sir Osbert Lancaster, CBE was an English cartoonist, author, art critic and stage designer, best known to the public at large for his cartoons published in the Daily Express.-Biography:Lancaster was born in London, England...
.
Profile artist
Boxer’s profile drawings of celebrated personalities, usually commissioned to accompany a feature profile article, appeared in the New StatesmanNew Statesman
New Statesman is a British centre-left political and cultural magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....
between 1970 and 1978, and in The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
between 1982 and 1987. Many are now in the archives of the National Portrait Gallery (London).
They also appeared in 1975 as illustrations to a mock-heroic poem written by Clive James
Clive James
Clive James, AM is an Australian author, critic, broadcaster, poet and memoirist, best known for his autobiographical series Unreliable Memoirs, for his chat shows and documentaries on British television and for his prolific journalism...
. The Fate of Felicity Fark in the Land of the Media.
Boxer also produced a series of drawings of characters to illustrate the covers of Anthony Powell
Anthony Powell
Anthony Dymoke Powell CH, CBE was an English novelist best known for his twelve-volume work A Dance to the Music of Time, published between 1951 and 1975....
’s 12-volume novel, A Dance To The Music of Time.
External links
- National Portrait Gallery
- web obituary
- http://www.bsme.com/awards/5/bsme-awards/16/past-winners/