Happy Birthday James Bond!

Seventy years ago on 13th April 1953, Ian Fleming published his first James Bond novel – Casino Royale. To note this anniversary, at the beginning of April our fabulous intern Jenni Nicholl who is studying an MA in Curating, used our British Cartoon Archive collections to look at where the James Bond character has featured in our collections. We hope you enjoy this sample of cartoons from Jenni!

Bond, James Bond.

A line synonymous with the Bond franchise, James Bond represents to the world an idealised version of the British upper class through the representation of decorum, humour and seemingly, suave middle-aged men. Due to this, cartoons depicting Bond have been used widely in many circles such as politics and comedy in order to portray the seriousness or lack thereof of many matters concerning society through different time periods which is extremely well encapsulated in the British Cartoon Archive of The University Of Kent.

A brilliant use of the James Bond franchise within the political cartoons seen throughout the 1990s’ is Michael Cummings ‘fishbowl’ view of the fight between democracy and communism. This post-Cold War decade marked the end of the Soviet Union and so the battle of communism vs democracy was largely felt to be won by the side of the democrats with the individuals looking into the screen surmising that the hero always wins in the end of the Bond films, which however whilst actually looking at the screen, doesn’t appear to be true with Bond grasping for the democratic side under bombardment.

Cartoon in black and white showing a swimming pool with two people looking at the scene. In the pool a man (Mikhail Gorbachev) wearing swimming trunks labelled 007 has dived into the pool from a diving board labelled with a hammer and sickle (representing communism), and is swimming towards a ladder to get out of the pool. The ladder is labelled 'Democracy'. As he swims he is trying to avoid multiple attacks or obstacles including a crocodile with it's mouth open, a shark, a missile, a bullet coming out of a gun, an octopus, a bomb dropping from the sky, and a tiger prowling around the edge of the pool.

Michael Cummings, “What’s so nice about the James Bond films is that the hero always wins in the end”, Daily Express, 7th February 1990. British Cartoon Archive, Ref: CU1641. (Copyright: Express Syndication)

Whilst the cartoons may be used for political satire, the Bond Franchise was also used in the comedic arena in order to portray very normal aspects of daily life. Within this cartoon James Bond can be seen delivering his infamous line to his Facebook audience revealing his entire name, despite the nature of his job, with his supervisor urging caution. This may also give reference to the fact that despite building their foundations as the secret backbone of the safety of Britain and the monarchy, the MI6 building is one of the best known and most visited throughout London.

Colour cartoon showing a man in a blue suit at a computer terminal with the text showing on the screen "The name's Bond...James Bond". Another man in a green suit stands behind the first man and says "You want to be careful what you put on Facebook 007".

Tim Sanders, “You want to be careful what you put on Facebook 007”. The Independent, 11 June 2013. British Cartoon Archive, Ref: 99154 (Copyright: Tim Sanders).

Satire mixed with solemnity gives rise to a brilliant cartoon by Dave Brown depicting the MI6 disaster of the 14th of May 1999 in which a former officer leaked hundreds of names of agents some of whom were on active duty abroad and whose lives were put in serious danger. The cartoon highlights the nonchalant nature of the internet and the ease at which such an integral aspect of society can be broken and represents the fragility of the British security system.

Black and white cartoon showing Bond villain 'Blofeld' with his cat sitting on a armchair - viewed between the legs of James Bond standing as if immediately infront of the viewer and framing the cartoon - holding a gun down alongside his right leg. Blofeld is saying 'Resistance is futile Mr Bond... I have a web site and I'm not afraid to use it!'. Blofeld is using a computer mouse in one hand and stroking his cat with the other.

Dave Brown, “Resistance is futile Mr Bond…”, The Independent, 14 May 1999. British Cartoon Archive, Ref: DB0197A. (Copyright: Dave Brown).

Though the situation may prove to be humorous, Theresa May would have to disagree as Mr. Avila, who was due to be deported back to his country of birth, was allowed to stay in England as he cared for a cat. This hilarious situation caused such a political uproar that it was used as a point in order to stop the abuse of Labour’s Human Rights Act which were occurring during 2011.

Colour cartoon showing James Bond pointing a gun at Blofeld, sitting on a chair holding his cat, with two women standing behind him. The caption reads: You'll never get rid of me Mr Bond! They'll never deport me while I have a cat to care for'.

Michael Heath, “You’ll never get rid of me Mr Bond! They’ll never deport me while I have a cat to care for’.” Mail on Sunday, 9 October 2011. British Cartoon Archive, Ref: 95323. (Copyright: Associated Newspapers Ltd/Solo Syndication)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Curated and written by Jenni Nicholl, April 2023. 

 

The 50/50 Project: Celebrating 50 Years of the British Cartoon Archive

Help us to select 50 cartoons representing 50 years of the British Cartoon Archive!

We are looking for volunteers to participate in a project to explore and select 50 cartoons from across the British Cartoon Archive collections to feature in an exhibition in the Templeman Gallery. The project will take place on Mondays, 11am-4pm, throughout June 2023.  The exhibition will be on display from September to November 2023.

This is an opportunity to get hands-on with our cartoon collections and be involved with our celebration activities for the 50th anniversary of the British Cartoon Archive. Volunteers will receive a tour of the collections, training in searching our catalogues and writing captions, and an opportunity to gain experience in selecting material and curating an exhibition. Remote participation is also available.

Get in touch with us for more information or to volunteer to take part. We would love to hear from you: specialcollections@kent.ac.uk

And now – enjoy a selection of cartoons from the British Cartoon Archive marking other 50th anniversaries!

Black and white cartoon of a mug with a royal crest and a central depiction of Queen Elizabeth II jumping on a bouncy castle with a corgi with a label above reading Children's Tea Party

Cartoon marking the 50th Anniversary of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II – Patrick Blower, “50th Anniversary Mug”, Evening Standard, 2nd June 2013. (Reference: British Cartoon Archive, Cuttings, 65815)

Black and white cartoon of a residential street with park gates, with Grandma, Vera, George Junior, Stinker and the twins (members of the Giles Family) standing on the pavement. George Junior is chaining Grandma's foot to the railings while she looks the other way.

“Fifty Years Ago…”- Giles cartoon featuring Grandma and Vera from the Giles Family, showing George Junior and Stinker chaining Grandma to the park gates as a prank. A poster held by one of the children notes the 50th Anniversary of Votes for Women. Ronald Carl Giles, Daily Express, 6th February 1968. (Reference: GAN1736)

Black and white cartoon titled Happy 50th Birthday Ikea..., showing a man drinking a glass of Moet champagne at Ikea HQ and another man reading instructions for how to drink: 1. Hold glass firmly in hand, 2. Empty Contents into mouth, 3. Swallow...

“Happy 50th Birthday Ikea” – Cartoon marking the 50th Birthday of Ikea in 2006. Neil Kerber and David Black, Daily Mirror, 30th June 2006. (Reference: British Cartoon Archive, Cuttings, 87975)

Black and white cartoon showing a poster on a wall reading Dr Who 50th Anniversary and a Dalek on a stair lift

“Dr Who 50th Anniversary” – Cartoon marking the 50th Anniversary of Dr Who in 2013. Matt [Matthew Pritchard], Sunday Telegraph, 24th November 2013. (Reference: British Cartoon Archive, Cuttings, 99878)

Colour cartoon showing Queen Elizabeth II drinking a glass of champagne with a man, below a poster reading "Blue Peter 50th Birthday Party". The Queen says "Who invited the elephant" and is depicted standing in a pile of elephant dung, next to one of her Corgis.

“Who invited the elephant?” – Cartoon marking the 50th Birthday of Blue Peter in 2008, depicting Queen Elizabeth II. Nicholas Newman, Sunday Times, 19th October 2008. (Reference: British Cartoon Archive, Cuttings, 90501)

100 Years: T.S. Eliot and The Waste Land

T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land is one of the world’s most popular and most studied poems, published 100 years ago in October 1922 in the first issue of the literary magazine, The Criterion. Our new exhibition celebrates the centenary of the publication of this remarkable poem with a display of archives and rare books from Special Collections and Archives.

We will be launching our new exhibition, with accompanying poetry readings, on Monday 12th December at 1pm in the Templeman Gallery (Templeman Library, A block, Floor 1). All welcome – please join us.

The exhibition will be on display from December 2022 until April 30th 2023. Anyone is welcome to view the exhibition, please see the Templeman Library visitor guide for more information. 

 

Image of front cover of the first edition of The Waste Land by T.S Eliot - which has blue marbled cover papers

T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land, Hogarth Press: 1923.

The exhibition features a rare first edition of The Waste Land printed by the Hogarth Press, alongside the extraordinary portrait of T.S. Eliot by Patrick Heron, and the bust of T.S. Eliot by Jacob Epstein. We explore the history of the poem, what inspired The Waste Land, and how it was critically received. We also consider the role of the editor and contributions of Bonamy Dobrée and Ezra Pound to the manuscript of the poem, as well as the role of Eliot as an editor himself. We also explore the experimental poetry of T.S Eliot, Gertrude Stein and John Ashbery as part of the exhibition.

Our display highlights examples from the works of T.S. Eliot including unique material about his play “Murder in the Cathedral” with correspondence showing how the play was commissioned for the Canterbury Festival in 1935.

The T.S Eliot works are displayed alongside notable examples from the incredible Modern First Editions Poetry collection held in Special Collections and Archives. The items on display have been selected to highlight the significance of the collection and showcase some of the rare and fascinating small press poetry that forms the nucleus of the collection.

The University of Kent has a close link with T.S Eliot, having named our first College – Eliot College – in 1965, the year that T.S Eliot died. We are displaying some unique items from the Eliot College Archives that reveal the history behind the T.S. Eliot Memorial Lectures and the University’s T.S Eliot Poetry Prize.

The exhibition has been co-curated with the Department of English at the University of Kent, and we are grateful to all our contributors for their help and support.

With thanks to Dr Ben Hickman, Professor David Herd, Dr Paul March-Russell, Miguel Santos, Beth Astridge, Christine Davies, Clair Waller, Karen Brayshaw, Matt Wilson and Fran Williams.

 

The caricature of T.S. Eliot that features in the logo for the exhibition is by John Jensen, and was donated to the University in 1973 as part of a series of four representing the names of the four Colleges – Eliot, Rutherford, Darwin and Keynes.

 

Missing Voices from the British Chinese Community

Research and Curation Group Blog Series Number 3:

The third in our blog series from members of the Research and Curation Group features the research and selection of items by Christopher De Coulon Berthoud.  Christopher was interested in looking at the content of Special Collections and Archives to see not just what could be found in the collection, but what was missing. 

 

I noted the exhibition’s mention of the Chinese chip shop owner, but the absence of any interviews or depictions of them, although the website for the original exhibition does address this issue. Reflecting on a wider absence of the British Chinese community’s voice in British culture, I chose a selection of British newspaper cartoons spanning a 60-year period.

In the 1930s Chinese restaurants were a rarity in Britain, and located mainly in London. The Good Food Guide 1955 listed only single examples of Chinese eating-places in Brighton, Liverpool and Manchester. A decade later as many as thirty-one per cent of British people who ate out had visited Chinese restaurants.

All of the cartoons selected caricatured Chinese people as restaurant owners or waiters, and it is interesting to note that while the stereotypes employed remain quite similar, the sense of racial animus becomes more marked over time as the size of the immigrant population increased. A Joseph Lee cartoon from 1936 published in the Evening News titled “Honourable diner eatee up chop-sticks” (Ref: JL0644) suggests the butt of the joke is the British diner unused to an unfamiliar cuisine. Later, an example from 1992 demonstrates no such finesse while employing a crude racist stereotype of dog-eating Chinese people. (Tom Johnston cartoon published in The Sun newspaper, 11th November 1992 Ref No 38714).

The cartoons illustrate what would become commonplace in the depiction of Chinese diaspora as a community, often problematically ‘other’ from British culture, using the restaurant as shorthand for a whole group.

The selection gives us an opportunity to note the role of the cartoonist as someone who both reflects, but also moulds and guides public opinion.

Christopher de Coulon Berthoud

 

Click on the links to see images of the cartoons in the British Cartoon Archive catalogue. 

 Nay, lad. No hard feelings about pud championship… [London, 1970][Stan McMurtry], Ref No: 17686]

A response to the ‘Great Yorkshire Pudding Contest,’ which took place in Leeds in 1970 and was won by Mr. Tin Sung Chan, a chef from a local Chinese restaurant, over a field of British contestants.

Although a generous reading of the cartoon suggests that the council member’s depiction as bad losers makes them the object of ridicule, it remains an illustration of the catch-22 situation facing immigrant communities. The stylized racial caricature presents the immigrant simultaneously as someone incapable of assimilation while also being penalised for doing so too successfully.

Colour washed image of the interior of a Chinese restaurant in which a male customer is sitting next to a female customer and flicking an object using his chopsticks so that it hits the head of the Chinese waiter who is walking away from him

Flicking bamboo shoots at the waiters is a damn childish way of retaliating for the Hong Kong riots. [London, 1967] Ronald Carl Giles, Ref No: CG/1/1/2/700

Flicking bamboo shoots at the waiters is a damn childish way of retaliating for the Hong Kong riots. [London, 1967] – [Ronald Carl Giles, Ref No: CG/1/1/2/700] 

and

As a protest against China’s record in Darfur I shall not be using the chopsticks [London, 2008] – [Matt (Pritchett; Matthew), Ref No: 90084] 

This pair of cartoons, created four decades apart but remarkably similar in content, illustrate a refusal to recognize migrant groups as really British. The identification of a diaspora population with the perceived political faults of China weaponizes the trope of divided loyalty, a recurring theme in xenophobic discourse.

 

Worse news, Prime Minister… they’ve just eaten Chris Patten! [London, 1992] – [Tom Johnston, Ref No 38714]

Perhaps the most crudely racist of all these cartoons comes from 1992 in the lead up to the transfer of Hong Kong’s sovereignty to China. This cartoon unashamedly draws on one of the oldest racist clichés weaponized against Chinese people in a cartoon commenting on an accusation by an Australian diplomat that the British Governor’s missing dog had been eaten.

Nautical Playbills and The Sea Around Us

Research and Curation Group Blog Series Number 2:

Elizabeth Grimshaw writes the second in our blog series from members of the Research and Curation Group. Elizabeth tells us about her selection of items for the Reflections on the Great British Fish & Chips exhibition, which included some playbills from our theatre collections, and a book by Rachel Carson. 

I had the pleasure of digitizing Dickens playbills while completing my Master of Arts in Victorian literature at the University of Kent, and was so pleased to work with the Research & Curation group to revisit some of these incredible archival resources.

This fantastic 19th century playbill should call to mind two very different songs: the classic anthem Rule Britannia, and the Beatles hit For the Benefit of Mr. Kite.

Historic document, a playbill, for a performance of The Waterman in 1829

Playbill – Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. For the Benefit of Mr Braham. “The Waterman”
Reference: POS/LDN DRU/0599532

In 1829, Britannia indisputably ruled the waves. Not only across an Empire through the might of the Royal Navy, but also here her cultural capital takes centre stage. The Waterman is an opera based on the annual race on the Thames that began in 1721, providing entertainment and sport for the ever growing London population. After this play was performed, vocalists in naval uniform, aboard a realistic Man of War, sang nautical tunes, blending fiction and reality at the height of England’s global powers. Invoking the mythical sea king Neptune for this feast aligns with the divine power of the Crown that would change drastically in the years to come. Britannia used to rule from shore to shore, with the sun never setting on the empire. Rule, Britannia! has been sung since 1740, but today should be modified to include and celebrate former colonies in its patriotic performances. The Beatles drew inspiration from a similarly busy playbill to write the lyrics for their hit 1967 song, taking these types of 19th-century entertainments into the 20th century.

Black and White plate from Rachel Carson's book The Sea Around Us

Plate illustration Part 3: Man and the Sea About Him, in Rachel Carson “The Sea Around Us”
Classmark: GC 21

I wanted to end with Rachel Carson’s landmark 1951 environmental text, The Sea Around Us. Her work emphasizes not one country’s mastery over the ocean, but places humanity within an ecosystem we all must support and share. Environmental degradation endangers all living creatures, from the depths of the sea, to the ever changing landscape of tidal pools, to the communities who are reliant on these shoals for survival. This classic work is a timely reminder of how precious the planet is that we all share. The sea supports us, connects us, and sustains us, but can only do so if we care for it. We can take Carson’s text as a guide to connecting with others and protecting the vulnerable, especially as the climate crisis escalates.

Elizabeth Grimshaw, University of Buckingham