442: Osbert Lancaster

Osbert Lancaster
Daily Express, 1 July 1960

A nifty exemplification of the hypocrisy underpinning the arguments about the illegality of homosexuality from the ever piquant Osbert Lancaster. As cartoonists go, Osbert Lancaster was infinitely more wordly and sophisticated than the conservative newspaper he appeared in. Lancaster was the companion and equal of the likes of Evelyn Waugh, the Mitfords and John Betjeman, hence he was a lot more clear-sighted and able to mock the moralising pettifogging of MPs and newspaper leader writers. Incidentally in its satirical manner, this cartoon is a knowing argument that homosexuals are just another part of society too.

194: Jeremy Thorpe 12

by Osbert Lancaster
in “The Daily Express”, 20 October 1977

On 19th October 1977, after a year and a half’s quiet for the Liberals, the “Evening News” published an interview with the newly freed Andrew Newton – “I Was Hired to Kill Scott”. This set off a chain of revelations over the next couple of days. Various investigative journalist scrambled to beat each other to the punchline, as the public was reminded of things they may have forgotten in the meantime, alongside new shocking details. A lot of circumspection, however, would result from the fact that Newton only said he had been hired by a nameless “prominent Liberal”, thereby leaving the newspapers hanging, unwilling and unable to make a direct accusation.

184: Jeremy Thorpe 2

by Osbert Lancaster
in the “Daily Express” 30 January 1976

Printed in the wake of the British media at long last acknowledging Norman Scott’s accusations against Jeremy Thorpe. Nothing sneering or condescending about either homosexuals or the Liberals, just good honest shock. Which would be a fairly honest response by most of the populace at the time. Osbert Lancaster’s cartoons, since they are just little pocket cartoons, rather than the larger canvas used by most editorial cartoonists, can often just use rely upon simple interaction between its characters rather than having to inflate the point to fill the available space – no need for masses of collapsed women in a collective faint or enraged men clenching their fists in horror and disgust. This cartoon features his two main recurring characters, Maudie and William Littlehampton.