In The News

Cartoonist and illustrator Ronald Searle passes away

Cartoonist and illustrator Ronald Searle passes away

TRIBUTES have been paid to the cartoonist and illustrator Ronald Searle, who has passed away aged 91.

His work included the light hearted — he created the fictional girls’ school St. Trinian’s — to serious reportage which included his drawings of life in a Japanese prisoner of war camp during World War II.

He spent four years as a P.o.W. being forced to work on the building of the Siam-Burma railway.

Mr. Searle said he regarded himself during this time as “an unofficial war artist” recording the harrowing conditions faced by the prisoners. He would swap cigarettes for bits of paper to draw on.

As a light relief he drew the first of what was to become the St. Trinian’s schoolgirls. Following the war he developed the outrageous schoolgirls into a successful platform for his career. 

He also co-created with Geoffrey Willans the schoolboy character Nigel who appeared in Molesworth series.

His work appeared in a range of publications including Punch, The New Yorker and La Monde.

His reportage included an assignment for Life in 1961 when he spent a month at the trial in Israel of the Nazi Adolf Eichmann.

During his career he had illustrated more than 100 books.

Mr. Searle had lived in France since the 1960s and was awarded the country’s Legion d’Honneur in 2007. 

He was made a CBE in his home country.

To view an interview Mr. Searle gave last year click here.

 

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