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Ronald "Carl" Giles (September 29, 1916 – August 28, 1995), 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 whom 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.
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Early life
Giles was born in Islington 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 the first full-length British 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 Standard, 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 Express's 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.1
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 Express's "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:
"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. 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 charitable organisations and friends, like the RNLI of which he was Life President and which continues to issue charity Christmas cards each Christmas 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.
Influences
Giles cited his influences as Bruce Bairnsfather 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'.
Tributes
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 wheelchair-bound, was present at the unveiling.
He supported Ipswich Town F.C.
Bibliography
By Giles
- Golden Jubilee Special Edition (2002)
- Giles VE Day Cartoons (1995)
- Fifty Years At Work (1994)
- Fifty Years At The Express (1994)
- Nurse! (1975)
- Giles At War (1955)
- Children by Giles (1955)
- Cartoons from The Journalist (1948)
About Giles
- Giles: a life in cartoons by Peter Tory (1992)
- The Giles Family by Peter Tory (1993)
- Giles At War by Peter Tory (1994)
- The Ultimate Giles by Peter Tory (1995)
- Grandma by Robert Beaumont (1999)
Notes
- ^ Kennedy, Maev (27 October 2008), "Dark side of Giles, scourge of Rupert Bear and authority", The Guardian, http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2008/oct/27/giles-cartoonist-exhibition
References
- Giles, Carl - Biography at the British Cartoon Archive, University of Kent. Accessed August 2008
- Blain, Max (2006-03-03). "Cartoon collection scoops originals from the hilarious world of Giles: Laughter Box", Canterbury Adscene (UK local newspaper), pp. 6–7.
- Tory, Peter (1994). Giles At War. Headline Book Publishing. pp. 145–155.
External links
- A 'Tribute' page
- 'A Celebration of Giles' 'A Celebration of Giles', with a good database of publications by / featuring Giles, plus other ephemera
- a short biography
- British Cartoon Archive A substantial online collection of Giles' work. The physical museum also has everyday objects from his studio.
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 2 January 2009, at 21:23.
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