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In April 1921, J.H. Thomas, the Labour Party MP and National Union of Railwaymen (NUR) leader, initiated libel proceedings against the Communist—journal of the Communist Party of Great Britain. He cited defamation in the form of cartoons and words depicting the events of ‘Black Friday’—when he allegedly betrayed the locked-out Miners' Federation by leading the withdrawal of NUR solidarity. To Thomas, the framing of his image by indigenous Bolsheviks threatened to fatally define his character and career within popular imagination, and undermine Labour's rise. In this paper, I argue that during the domestic and international crises surrounding the First World War, innovative left-wing editors and cartoonists tested the boundaries of newspaper cartooning, and gave dissident cartoons renewed menace before the Law. The case was the first for over a century in which graphic satires of a national political figure were successfully prosecuted. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 captured the imagination of reading publics around the world and in Britain spawned a breadth of products aimed at a domestic audience, including cigarette cards, illustrated magazines and newspaper cartoons. This essay investigates the commentary on and interpretation of the war offered by cartoons appearing in the British Sunday paper the News of the World and the Welsh daily paper the Western Mail. Editorial cartoonist J. M. Staniforth drew over 70 cartoons documenting the war for both papers, and the degree to which these visual images complemented or diverged from the editorial line expressed in leader columns is considered. The importance of distinguishing between cartoons and editorials and of taking into account the identity and career of the cartoonist is stressed. The visual codes for communicating conflict are also investigated, revealing in the process something of the intellectual horizons of both cartoonist and audience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the publications of cartoons and caricatures in the First World War in Great Britain. It reflects on the publishing opportunities for cartoonists during the period and highlights some of their works including from Will Dyson, W. K. Haselden, and Louis Raemaekers. Also mentioned are three British wartime cartoons, "Arf a Mo', Kaiser," "Bravo, Belgium!," and "Britons-Kitchener Wants YOU."

A few years ago, I, an American, was giving a talk at a political philosophy conference in the United Kingdom. My topic was religion in democratic politics, and I delivered what I thought was a splendid line of argument supporting the idea that religion has at most a highly constrained role to play in democratic politics. The audience was appreciative enough, but during the question and answer session, there emerged the charge that my paper had addressed a uniquely ‘American’ problem, a problem that was not of general significance to political philosophers outside of the United States. I replied that although the political scene in the contemporary United States provides many high-profile examples of the problem I had been addressing, the general problem of religion in politics confronts democracy as such. I then provided some cases from outside America in which the problem shows itself: the public slaying of Theo Van Gough, the controversy surrounding the publication of cartoon representations of Muhammad in Denmark, the reemergence of religiously-affiliated and reactionary political parties throughout Europe, and so on. Yet for the most part my audience remained unmoved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines David Low's depiction of unemployment in his cartoons during the interwar period, as a case study of the political cartoon as journalism. In doing so, it highlights the instability of journalism as a genre or, put more positively, the self-conscious blurring of generic forms. Even as the word “journalist” shed its mid-nineteenth-century opprobrium, late nineteenth-century voices had argued over the competing claims of reporters, leader-writers, and proprietors to the title of “journalist” (Hampton 2005). Low, while claiming his caricature as “art”, simultaneously asserted his identity as a journalist and the status of caricature as journalism. This articulation constituted, among other things, a response to contemporary debates about the New Journalism. In an era in which cultural traditionalists and leftist political writers both lamented what they saw as the debasement of public discourse through a popular journalism that was incapable of grappling with complexity, and in which, they argued, the yielding of the word to image was one of its gravest failings, Low used caricature to offer systemic critiques of British political and economic arrangements. Accordingly, while the interwar popular press was commonly dismissed as lacking in serious political content—a dismissal that has generally been echoed by historians (Bingham 2012)—Low's political cartoons demonstrated the capacity for conveying serious political messages within an entertaining medium. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We investigated how decision-making is affected by the visual presentation of flood hazard information. We exposed participants to different formats of flood hazard information while they simulated selecting a property to purchase. We compared three flood hazard formats: (i) maps currently used by the UK Environment Agency, (ii) tables that present flood level and frequency information and (iii) graphical representations depicting the level-frequency combination using a cartoon house image as a physical referent. In the experiment participants were presented, via computer screen, side-by-side information about two houses in a series of trials. Participants made a forced choice preference judgement between 108 different pairs of houses to indicate which they would purchase. Our findings indicate that when hazard information is presented in map format, individuals are less accurate in selecting lower-hazard houses, compared to when the same information is presented as a graphic representation of a house or as a table. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essay is presented examining the humor and social issues found in Andy Capp cartoons by Reg Smythe published in the "Daily Mirror" newspaper between 1957 and 1965. It looks at portrayals of domestic violence and representations of British working-class masculinity and femininity. The author goes on to discuss how the domestic life depicted by Andy Capp cartoons reflects the actual experiences of British working class families of the era.

The article explores the perceptions of race and ethnicity and attitudes on racism in Great Britain's National Health Service (NHS) from 1948 to 1988. Topics include visual representations of white and non-white figures, the values of news photography and cartoons as tools to analyze racism in NHS, and the criticism of newspaper editor Harold Evans of journalists for their reporting of race. Also discussed are the outbreak of smallpox from 1961-1962, the history of the NHS, and its visions.

Although the Congress of Vienna was not a main topic for political caricature, it was anything but ignored. During the first five months of 1815, while monarchs and diplomats were deliberating on Europe's future, caricaturists in Great Britain, France and the German-speaking states depicted the Congress as a major or minor subject in 20 satirical prints. Together these caricatures provide a multi-perspectival view of the way contemporaries assessed the diplomatic deliberations taking place in Vienna. To obtain an insight into this important part of contemporary public opinion on the Congress, the corpus of graphic satire was submitted to close scrutiny in two ways. Firstly, a context analysis ascertained the artists who produced them; how the prints were published and brought to public attention; and for what audiences they were intended. Secondly, a content analysis explored the political messages that the caricatures on the Vienna Congress tried to convey and the persuasive techniques that were applied to visualise these points of view. Notwithstanding different national origins and opposite political views, the message is a negative one: the satires denounce the territorial greed of the Great Powers and their disregard for the demands and aspirations of the peoples they seek to incorporate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a thirteenth-century English caricature sketched on the 1233 Exchequer Receipt Roll featuring a three-faced view of Jewish financier Isaac of Norwich, other Jewish companions, and demons. It considers the work as part of Medieval material culture and political context. It explores English civil culture and the habits of scribes. Other topics include Jewish–Christian relations, anti-antisemitism in the Middle Ages, and Jewish history.

Media framing scholars have long examined why journalists select certain frames over others at a given point. However, we know much less about why certain frames persist over time in the media while others fade away and still others disappear very quickly. In this study, we bring attention to the study of frame duration and offer an approach based in event-history methodologies that can assess the causes of repeated frame deployment over both long and short periods of time. As an illustration, we examine the British coverage of the 2006 Danish Muhammad cartoon controversy, demonstrating a rigorous and analytically sound approach to the longitudinal analysis of media framing dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay explores how and why the English socialist artist and Arts and Crafts designer Walter Crane came to produce an icon of anarchist martyrdom, his cartoon entitled "The Anarchists of Chicago," from 1894. In doing so it situates the ‘Haymarket Affair’ of 1886 as a crucial moment in the interplay between socialists and anarchists, one that would have a profound effect on Crane’s view of the interrelation of art and politics. "The Anarchists of Chicago" can be considered a means of political expression rather than an end. In his artistic response to the ‘martyrdom’ of the Chicago anarchists, Crane struggled to assimilate anarchist politics with his socialist art. In this regard, the only cartoon to declare his sympathy with anarchism actually marks the limits of his engagement with anarchism as a viable political philosophy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Across the United Kingdom comics have become part of the curricula of English university programmes. This roundtable discussion, held at the Third International Comics Conference at Bournemouth University in July 2012, examined the growing presence of comics on English literature degrees. Participants shared their experiences of introducing and designing undergraduate courses on comics, of embedding comics in modules dominated by poetry and prose literature, and of teaching students unfamiliar with the comics medium. This article ends with a collaboratively written evaluation of what the future holds for comics in higher education in Britain – on English degrees and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses Marianne, an allegorical figure and political caricature of the state of France featured in the German periodical "Kladderadatsch" during the early 20th century. According to the author, the character reflected Germans' ambivalent attitudes towards France. It is suggested that France was often shown as a victim of Britain or Russia, whose portrayal was more consistently negative in the magazine. Details related to domestic issues in Germany, including debates on German identity, are presented. Other topics include World War I, the French provinces of Alsace and Lorraine, and the British symbol of John Bull.

The article discusses how the 1779 English caricature "The Liberty of the Subject" by James GIllray represents of a new form of eighteenth century caricature. The artwork presents a London, England street scene featuring a press-gang being attacked by two women attempting to physically thwart efforts to impress a tailor. The author feels the print portrays popular sentiments regarding press gangs and English liberty with a high degree of verisimilitude. The author argues that the 1779 murder trial of Mary Adey for her attack on a press-gang member was the inspiration for Gillray's political satire. An overview of the British government's policies regarding impressment is presented.

The comic periodical Punch is a popular source with academics working on the Victorian period and it has often been regarded as a ‘national institution’. This article takes a more nuanced view, arguing that Punch was primarily aimed at a metropolitan and middle-class audience, although it did have considerable reach. Punch largely ignored provincial Britain and had little understanding of its mighty movements like Chartism, the Anti-Corn Law League and the temperance movement. To get a better sense of public opinion in Victorian Britain as a whole, rather than just London, this article looks at the local comic periodicals which flourished all over Britain from the late eighteen-sixties to the nineteen-hundreds. The cartoons in these periodicals were very different from London cartoons, and national symbols of identity like John Bull and Britannia were surprisingly absent. Local identities were often personified instead. The ‘nationalization’ of the press from the eighteen-nineties presaged the disappearance of these local comic periodicals and cartoons in the Edwardian period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent controversy (2006) over the depiction of Prophet Mohammed in cartoons published originally in the Danish press and later re-published in several European dailies offers a suitable opportunity to study the emergence of a European public sphere. Although the controversy started in Denmark, it soon acquired a transnational character. Editors and journalists throughout the EU mobilised, upholding or criticising their publication. The crisis was not only international in nature but also specifically European in that it called into question important political principles such as freedom of expression and respect for other religions, as well as the limits of implementing these principles in practice. This study offers a critical overview of the coverage of the Cartoons Crisis in the British and Greek press. More specifically, we check how the event has been framed in the British and Greek media discourse, paying particular attention to whether the overall crisis was linked to notions of Europe and European values or rather to national actors and values. We seek thus to assess whether themes and discursive topoi taken up by the press in the two countries analysed converge or diverge and whether they can be said to belong to a common European discursive space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports on the history of the journal "Vanity Fair." The first issue of "Vanity Fair" was published by Thomas Gibson Bowles and was described as a weekly show of politics, social and literary wares. The lead articles of the journal focused on the character and policies of Great Britain's political leaders in caricature form. These caricatures were accompanied by witty sketches of the individuals portrayed.

The article documents the whole career and artistic development of William Newman, one of the founding cartoonists of the internationally famous British humor periodical "Punch." Newman's years at the center of British cartooning, through the difficulties that drove him to emigrate in the U.S. and to his popularity in New York, were traced. He became the first artist to immortalize U.S. President Abraham Lincoln in caricature and an innovator who helped to redefine the possibilities of the American cartoon. Two untapped contemporary sources, Herbert Clayton and Thomas Butler Gunn, were also being referred to.

The article focuses on the works of British cartoonist Ronald "Carl" Giles during the early cold war. Giles, was known for his depictions of everyday life in Great Britain. However, Giles' work in the 1940s to 1960s depicted more serious issues such as those affiliated with politics and cold war. The author primarily analyzes how Giles' cartoons published in the newspapers "Daily Express," and "Sunday Express" which centers on the early cold war events affected the perception of the British public regarding the issue. He also discussed several cartoons which focuses on the subject of "politics," regardless on whether Giles' political views were apparent or not.

This article reports that the brouhaha over the Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) funding of a cultural Cold War against the Soviet Union has obscured various projects that benefited from the infusion of those dollars. The CIA's interest in waging psychological warfare against the Soviets, in winning over the undecided, and reinforcing the commitment of allies led to the funding of Great Britain's first feature length cartoon. Using the agency's funds the noted American film producer Louis de Rochemont commissioned John Halas and Joy Batchelor to animate George Orwell's book titled "Animal Farm." In Great Britain, the main uses of animation film were for instruction in certain scientific and industrial fields, education, propaganda, and especially advertising. Both the commercial and official underwriters of animation who worked with Halas and Batchelor had commissioned propaganda of one sort or another, whether it was designed to sell a product or an idea. They had found Halas and Batchelor to be an effective husband and wife team, recognized as being clever, earnest, energetic, imaginative, and hard working. By the early 1950s, Halas and Batchelor had achieved a certain renown, both as a company and as individuals; in their own sphere they were highly regarded for their efficient and highly individual artistry.

This study assesses Victorian artistic response to the crisis of the poor quality of Victorian London's water supply - a situation exacerbated by comparison of London to the ancient capitals, most notably Rome, and water's classical associations with beauty, purity, and bounty. Two major and distinct responses emerge: Victorian caricature and Victorian classicism. Artists from both camps summoned the classical tradition to allude to the irony of classical ideal versus contemporary reality. In low Victorian art the truth lay in the caricature of the classical image. In high Victorian art the truth lay in the reality that the classical image could only serve to index. To be sure, the classical tradition furnished ample material through which the artist might allow a myth, for example, to allude subtly to a social problem, and through idealization, to suggest a powerful contrast between myth and reality. Thus the artist could "strike" with the requisite decorum and without appearing resistant to the artistic and sociopolitical establishment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents information on a Popular Strip George and Lynne which appears each day in one of Great Britain's most popular newspaper "Sun." The central characters are an affluent married couple living in a spacious house on the banks of a river. The casual nakedness of the main characters in the George and Lynne strip is a major innovation. The strip has democratized the body beautiful with George like his partner presented as attractive, glamorous and sexy - a marked contrast to the oversimplified caricatures of men which appeared in earlier strips of couples. The fact that women readers find George attractive was recently confirmed by Conrad Frost, George and Lynne's creator, who commented that in the 1950's the reader response to strips such as `The Heart of Juliet Jones' was predominately from men. In the case of the George and Lynne strip the majority of letters come from women and it is they, not the men who write the `unpublished' letters. Many of the letters come from groups of three or four young women working in offices or shops who ask for full frontal nudes of George.

Recent critics of the secularization thesis have questioned the extent to which pre- modem Britain was religious by creating a caricature of a `Golden Age of Faith' and then showing that the reality fell short of that image. This rejoinder stresses the need to appreciate the nature of religion pre-Reformation and draws on the work of leading historians to show that, even if we accept the most jaundiced view of religion before and shortly after the Reformation, the previous orthodoxy was more accurate than the recent revisions. In Laslett's phrase, `the world we have lost' was a religious world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the particular version of national identity produced and reproduced by Sidney Strube's "Daily Express" cartoons of the Little Man in the 1930s in Great Britain. It notes that the Little Man in the cartoons spoke to his readers as one of their own through the language of common-sense. It is said that the Little Man character was not intended to encourage identification by class status but rather by social outlook. It adds that the character embodied a set of social, political, cultural and moral attitudes, which for the "Daily Express," defined the national character.

The article discusses a cartoon, originally published in the March 27, 1901, issue of the journal "Punch," the depicts the filming of the Oxford versus Cambridge Boat Race in Long, England.

The article presents a reprint of a cartoon originally published in "Punch" in 1927. According to the article, public interest in the total solar eclipse of August 11, 1999 led to the the publication of the book "Virginia Woolf and the Discourse of Science: the Aesthetics of Astronomy" by Holly Henry, which included two cartoons from "Punch." The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) of Great Britain purchased a third cartoon, reprinted here, depicting a priest and gardener discussing solar eclipses.