British cartoonist Ronald Searle has died aged 91.
Probably most commonly known for his St Trinians illustrations his first work was for the Cambridge Daily News in 1935 then moving to then nationally popular magazines Lilliput. London Opinion and Punch. Serving in the Royal Engineers during WW2 he was taken prisoner of war, latter publishing sketches of his experience in Changi Camp. Post war, then theatrical cartoonist for Punch, he moved to Paris, becoming in 1973 the first foreign artist to exhibit at the Bibliotheque Nationale. His work appeared in The New Yorker, Sunday Express, and News Chronicle and on the cover of Graphis. He designed for the animated film Dick Deadeye (1975) and animated sequence for Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machine (1965) and the titles for films beginning 1954 featuring the Saint Trinians schoolgirls - which had been created in Hurrah for St Trinians, 1948 . There were altogether eight St Trinians books. Almost as popular was (with Geoffrey Williams) the schoolboy Molesworth who began with Down With Skool: A Guide to Sukcess for Tiny Pupils, Including All There Is To Kno About Space.
Apart from his own works Searle collaborated with Oliver Philpot, Patrick Campbell, H.E. Bates, Christopher Fry, James Thurber, Robert Graves and others,
The latter part of his life he turned more to satire, of political dishonesty and corporate greed.
Wilhelm Busch Museum Hanover has 2,200 of his works on permanent loan.
Searle seems to have been more honoured outside of his country of birth. In 1959 and 1965 being given America’s National Cartoonist Society Advertising and Illustration Award. In 2007 he was decorated with France’s highest award, the Légion d’honneur, and in 2009 the German Order of Merit.