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Giles Annuals

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  • Giles Annuals

    One of the stalwart memories of the DYR era. I often got a 'Giles' cartoon annual for Christmas, and bought a few older ones secondhand as well. Ronald 'Carl' Giles was a cartoonist for the Daily Express and produced single picture cartoons, often featuring the Giles family, with the moody Granny in her dark coat and hat, waving her folded up umbrella about.

    Like similar cartoonsists Jak and Mac, Giles often drew his cartoons about news stories of the era, so '70s annuals were often full of punks, strikes and european holidays, '80s annuals featured many cartoons about the royals and modern technology. In a way, they're quite valuable documents of the eras they were produced. The annuals started long before the '70s, but it's the '70s and '80s annuals that stand out most for me, for obvious reasons.

    Giles passed away in 1995, but annuals of his back catalogue are still being churned out now. I know I still have a huge pile of annuals tucked away in a cupboard somewhere. A couple of years ago I even went to an exhibition of his work in Canterbury. I think 'Giles' cartoons fit in well with the DYR era.
    "We're the Sweeney son, and we haven't had any dinner!"

  • #2
    Re: Giles Annuals

    I've got a couple of my Dad's Giles books from the late 1960s, covering 1967-8, & 1969-70.
    The Trickster On The Roof

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    • #3
      Re: Giles Annuals

      Giles was one of the best cartoonists there's ever been. Jak said he was influenced by Giles, but his stuff is a poor imitation.

      The cartoons are as much works of art as jokes - wonderful detail, especially on what a shabby, falling-apart country Britain was (and of course still is - it's just a bit glossier now).

      My collection, inherited from my parents, covers the 60s and the early 70s - four of them, and the books themselves are a nice relic of my childhood. I didn't start actually looking at them until I was well into my teens, but I remember them, with their distinctive spines, on the bottom shelf of our bookcase. (Distinctive spines - in the early ones, the spine contained part of the cover picture - in later conditions, it contained only the GILES logo.
      The present is a foreign country. They do things differently here.

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