On 23rd February 2006 London's first cartoon museum opened to the public. Situated at 35 Little Russell Street, a stone's throw from The British Museum, The Cartoon Museum exhibits the very finest examples of British cartoons, caricature, and comic art from the 18th century to the present day.

Beano and Dandy Birthday Bash!

30 July – 2 November 2008

This exhibition opens on 30 July 2008, the 70th birthday of The Beano comic. Together with The Dandy - launched just eight months earlier on 4 December 1937 – the two comics have been responsible for entertaining generations of British children. Included in the exhibition are iconic characters such as Desperate Dan, Dennis the Menace, the Bash Street Kids and Minnie the Minx.

In the 1950s the British comic entered one of its most dynamic periods. At D C Thomson artists such as David Law, Leo Baxendale and Ken Reid were producing brilliant, ingenious drawings which inspired many future cartoonists and animators. The decade saw the introduction of many classic characters, some of whom are still with us today such as Dennis the Menace, the Bash Street Kids, Minnie the Minx and Roger the Dodger. This period also coincided with record comic sales. In the week beginning 22 April 1950 the Beano sold a staggering 1, 974, 072 copies and sales stayed well over a million and a half throughout the decade.

The exhibition presents original comic artwork from eight decades and shows how the comics and their characters have developed over time. The cast of characters includes Ball Boy, Bully Beef and Chips, Brassneck, The Three Bears, Les Pretend and Winker Watson as well as feisty girl characters such as Pansy Potter - The Strongman’s Daughter and more recently Ivy the Terrible. Some things have changed – the comics’ graphic style has evolved to suit modern tastes; but children still love the mischief and mayhem created every week in The Beano and The Dandy.

For images or more information please contact Anita O’Brien on 020 7631 0793 or info@cartoonmuseum.org

Summer events for Kids

If you love Dennis and Gnasher, the Bash Street Kids and the rest of the gang why not come to one of our events.

There are lots of Beano cartoon and animation Kids events in August.
For more information go to our Cartoon Classes and Events page.

A group of children with cancer will be joining children's cancer charity CLIC Sargent at the Cartoon Museum on 29 July to celebrate Beano's 70th birthday. The charity has teamed up with the Beano in its 70th year to raise money for kids with cancer by encouraging kids to pull pranks and tell jokes on Gnashional Menace Day on 2 August. To learn more about CLIC Sargent’s work go to

http://www.clicsargent.org.uk/Getinvolved/Everydaywaystohelp/GnashionalMenaceDay

Observing the British
At Home and Abroad

23 April – 27 July 2008

“A sad reflection on The British Character has been A Tendency to Ignore Pont, who was a comic genius and the best cross-hatcher since George Cruikshank.”
Peter Brookes, The Times.

What does it mean to be British?  This exhibition which opens on St George’s Day celebrates the work of a very British cartoonist - Graham Laidler, ‘Pont’ (1908-1940), who died at the early age of 32 but left a rich legacy of witty observations on 1930s Britain. Pont was most famous for drawing The British Character – a series of over 100 cartoons which appeared in Punch in which he wryly observed the idiosyncrasies of the British. Some of Pont’s cartoons show how much Britain has changed but others reveal ‘tendencies’ which are as true now as when Pont drew them seventy years ago: ‘A Weakness for Oak Beams’, ‘Love of Keeping Calm’, ‘Tendency to leave the Washing up till later’ and ‘The Attitude to Fresh Air’ are just a few such gems.

Many of his drawings were packed with tiny jokes in every corner and readers pored over them at length. One group even formed a ‘Pont Club’ which met weekly to discuss his cartoons. As well as a master of the half and full-page cartoon, his smaller drawings are triumphs in miniature revealing comic glimpses of daily life we still recognise today. Though he died nearly seventy years ago his contemporary admirers include Ronald Searle, Peter Brookes, John Jensen,
Nick Garland, Ian Hislop, Richard Ingrams, Nick Newman and Posy Simmonds.

Graham Laidler was born in Newcastle-on-Tyne in July 1908 and trained as an architect. He contracted TB at the age of twenty four and spent most of the rest of his life living in Switzerland and Austria. His first cartoon appeared in Punch in 1932 and he produced nearly 500 more over the next nine years. He died suddenly of poliomyelitis on 23 November 1940.

The exhibition includes some of his most famous pictures as well as sketchbooks, journals and other material never previously exhibited. A fully illustrated catalogue is available.

For more information or images please contact Anita O’Brien or Kate Sargeant on
020 7631 0793 or info@cartoonmuseum.org

*Some highlights from this unique Museum

** Rare and original artwork on loan from The Beano, the Dandy, and Topper including The Bash Street Kids, Roger the Dodger, Billy the Whizz, Desperate Dan, Beryl the Peril and of course Dennis the Menace.

* Classic works by Gillray including The Plum Pudding and, John Bull - taking a luncheon, and The Zenith of French Glory.

* Cartoons in 3D including Gerald Scarfe¹s memorable Chairman Mao, Scarfe's caricatured original leather armchair from 1971.

* Great joke cartoons by Larry, Kipper Williams, Tony Husband, Nick Newman and many more.

* Emett¹s working ‘Fairway Birdie’ (made by this eccentric cartoonist whose wacky contraptions appeared in Chitty Bang Bang, and at The Festival of Britain.)

* Classic war cartoons including Sir David Low¹s ‘All Behind you, Winston’, and Bruce Bairnsfather¹s, ‘If you know a better ‘Ole...’

* Colour mural painted by top cartoonists including Steve Bell, Dave Brown, Martin Rowson, Peter Brookes, Chris Riddell, MAC and Hunt Emerson.

*Annual cover drawings by Carl Giles featuring the Giles family and his immortal Granny.

* A Museum shop packed with books, prints, cards and cartoon ephemera, and a Young Artists¹ Gallery with facilities for drawing and learning about cartoons, children¹s and adult cartooning, animation classes and family fun days.

* The 3000 books in The Heneage Library, will be available, by appointment, for browsing and research as well as a dedicated comics library upstairs.

...............and over 250 original cartoons over two floors !

See Events page for Pont events happening in June and July.