Churchill in Punch by Gary L. Stiles is a splendid volume that reproduces all of the cartoons featuring Winston Churchill published in Punch, the British weekly satirical magazine. The first cartoon in which Churchill appeared was published in the magazine’s issue dated December 5, 1900 and he remained a popular figure for the magazine’s cartoonists throughout his life and career. There were 600 cartoons with Churchill by about 50 cartoonists published in Punch. A few of the cartoons included in the book refer to Churchill but do not include him in the image and a further dozen cartoons portray him in pictorial advertising. The reproductions of the cartoons are crisp, vivid, and printed on high-quality paper. Each cartoon includes its title, date of the issue, cartoonist, and a short description written by Stiles explaining the cartoon’s background.
Punch cartoonists depicted Churchill in many forms, including animal. Among others, he was shown as a cat, hen, fox, snake, crocodile, Pooh-Bear, mouse, lion, bird, and hunting dog. Churchill was famous for his many hats and a favorite device of the cartoonists was to play on this by portraying him as wearing a miniature hat.
The cartoons in the volume are arranged chronologically so that the reader can follow the cartoon interpretation of Churchill from a young controversial member of parliament to his old age by which time he was the symbol of Britain. Over the decades, the cartoons ranged from supportive to critical and mocking. The Punch cartoons made occasional barbed references to Gallipoli and his other setbacks, but after Munich in 1938, the magazine ran cartoons that were calls for Churchill to be brought into government. The cartoon titled “Old Sea-Dog” depicted Churchill in Elizabethan costume bowling as he awaits a telegram to join the government, referencing the legend of Sir Francis Drake finishing his game of bowls after the Spanish Armada had been sighted. During the Second World War, some of the cartoons portrayed him in a heroic frame, including one from the January 1, 1941 issue titled “The Dragon-Slayer” that portrayed Churchill as St. George. The most critical cartoon of Churchill published in the magazine was “Man Goeth Forth unto his Work and to his labour until the evening” drawn by Leslie Gilbert Illingworth. Published in the February 3, 1954 issue it was “a personal attack on WSC and his faculties.” It depicted Churchill as “a haggard old man with strong remnants of his stroke evident on his drooping and asymmetric face.” Churchill was insulted by the cartoon.
Churchill in Punch is an excellent volume and will be of interest to all Churchill readers.