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Ronald Searle

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Artist

The Resume

    (March 3, 1920-December 30, 2011)
    Born in Cambridge, England, United Kingdom
    Illustrator and satiric cartoonist
    Drew for Life, Holiday, Punch, The New Yorker, the Sunday Express and Le Monde
    Best known for his cartoons set at St. Trinian's, a fictional girls boarding school
    Collections include 'Hurrah for St. Trinians' (1948), 'The Female Approach: The Belles of St. Trinians and Other Cartoons' (1950), 'Back to the Slaughterhouse and Other Ugly Moments' (1951), 'The Terror of St. Trinians or Angela's Prince Charming' (1952), 'Souls in Torment' (1953) and 'The St. Trinian's Story' (1959)
    Illustrated Geoffrey Willans' Molesworth books: 'Down with Skool!' (1953), 'How to Be Topp' (1954), 'Whizz for Atomms' (1955) and 'Back in the Jug Agane' (1958)
    Designed the opening and closing credits and intermission for the film 'Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines' (1965)

Why he might be annoying:

    He was fired from an early job in a solicitor's office when the boss discovered he had been spending his time drawing cartoons on the firm's highest quality paper.
    He ran off to Paris, leaving behind a wife and twin children (1961).
    In his later years, he refused to meet with his editors and agents, dealing with them solely through faxes.
    He complained that the popularity of St. Trinian's had left him 'trivialized' and 'typecast.'

Why he might not be annoying:

    He joined the British Army as a draftsman at the start of WWII, was sent to Singapore, and was taken prisoner by the Japanese.
    He and two other prisoners were punished for producing a magazine to boost POW morale by being sent as slave laborers to the Burma Railway.
    He continued drawing to create a record ('Even if I died, someone might find it and know what went on'), hiding the sketches from the guards under the mattresses of prisoners dying from cholera.
    He was the first living non-French artist to have an exhibition at the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris (1973).
    His honors included being named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (2004), the French Legion of Honor (2007) and the German Order of Merit (2009).
    Cartoonists that he influenced include Matt Groening, Pat Oliphant and Gerald Scarfe.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 4 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 16 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 11 Votes: 63.64% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 16 Votes: 50.0% Annoying