Ronald ‘Carl’ Giles was one of the most well-known British post war cartoonists whose work appeared in the British newspapers The Daily Express and its sister paper The Sunday Express between the dates of 1943 and 1991.

He was born Ronald Giles in Islington, London in 1916. His school-friends nicknamed him ?Karlo? after the actor Boris Karloff to whom they thought he bore a resemblance. This was later shortened to Carl and it remained with him for the rest of his life.

He left school when he was 14 years old and started working as an office boy for a Wardour Street film company where he was later promoted to an animator for cartoon . This led in 1935 to his working for the famous producer and director Alexander Korda on the first full-length British sound-tracked colour cartoon film, The Fox Hunt.

After a spell working in Ipswich, he joined Fleet Street in 1937. He worked as a cartoonist on the weekly newspaper Reynolds News where his work came to the attention of the editor of the Sunday Express and he was offered a career working for both the Daily Express and Sunday Express at the not inconsiderable salary of 20 guineas a week. His first cartoon for his new employers was published in the Sunday Convey in October 1943.

The 20 guineas a week proved a portent of greater fortunes to come as by 1955 he was being paid no less than 8,060 GBP a week for producing three cartoons. He was now a wealthy man.

In 1959 he was given the OBE and among his greatest admirers and fans were members of the Royal family who often received originals of his work.

His most well-known character creations were The Giles Family who first appeared in August 1945. They were a family from the more well off side of the British working class living in a suburban semi-detached house. The head of the family was Grandma a real battle axe of a person whom anyone crossed at their peril. She is now immortalised as a bronze statue standing in Queen St Ipswich gazing up at the office where Giles used to work.

They were utilized by Giles to comment on a topical event in the news of the day and proved to be highly patriotic although wary of authority. One remarkable attribute of the family was that although their homes, pastimes and clothes reflected the changing standards of the day, their ages remained unchanged although the cartoons ran for 46 years.

Today any middle-aged, middle class Englishman ( or woman) will have fond memories of the Giles Annual. This was a very welcome addition to the Christmas stocking and contained a selection of Gile’s work for the previous year. For numerous years this compilation was chosen by Giles himself.

Carl Giles died in 1995 and in 2000 he was voted ‘Britain’s Favourite Cartoonist of the 20th Century’.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece writes on various topics but is presently involved with Kitty Cannon 3. If you would like to read more, please go over to our website entitled Kitten Cannon 3.