Clarke, Peter

Dates: 1935-2012. Joined the RAF at 16, but moved to working in Fleet Street following his discharge 6 years later. He started in an administrative role at the Daily Express found for him by an ex-pilot friend, but then moved on to the role of political cartoonist at the Daily Sketch and then Picture Editor at the Daily Mail. He joined Gemini News Service in the late 1960s, working all over Africa and became managing director of GeminiScan, the subsidiary company of Gemini which produced graphics for the news service. He left Gemini in 1980 and joined the Guardian where he stayed until the late 1990s. Clarke was known for his inventive artwork which combined pen and ink with technology - he was the first Guardian staffer to use the then unsophisticated graphics capabilities of Apple Macs. In 1988 he won the Cartoonist of the Year award. Dates and places: Born 18 September 1935. Died 16 December 2012.. Source: 'News on a Knife Edge', by Richard Bourne; Guardian Obituary, 19 December 2012..