Showing 75 results

Collection consists of original illustrations some of which appeared in the Observer between 1948 and 1964. The illustrations are predominately simple line drawings and cartoons in indian ink. Also includes artwork and illustrations for other publications including the Daily Mail, Time & Tide and Tatler, as well as books and other printed material. Clippings, transparencies, facsimiles, sketch books and cuttings are also included and some personal papers.

Administrative/Biographical history: Haro Hodson was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on 9 February 1923. He studied at Stroud School of Art in 1939. He was posted as an official war artist attached to GHQ New Delhi during the Second World War. His first published drawing appeared in 1941 in Lilliput. He studied English at Wadham College, Oxford and Bath Academy of Art, Corsham after the war. Some of his poems were published in the Observer and Adelphi during this time. He joined the Observer as an illustrator in 1948 and left in 1964. He has made contributions to the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, Punch, Tatler, Time & Tide, Harpers & Queen, New York Herald-Tribune and Daily Telegraph.

Creator: Hodson; Haro (1923-); cartoonist and illustrator

Original artwork by Krauze for the Guardian Comment pages.

Administrative/Biographical history: Polish born illustrator, poster maker, cartoonist and painter who has contributed regularly to the Guardian since 1989.

A collection of cartoons which appeared in the Saturday and Tuesday Guardian.

Administrative/Biographical history: Biff are artist Chris Garratt and writer Mick Kidd, who met at school in the 1950s. They have produced Biff since the mid 1970s, with Chris creating the artwork, and Mick devising the characters and text. Biff cartoons originated with the self published Interplanetary News in 1976 (print run 200), Biff Quarterly nos 1 and 2 (1979 and 1980) and as postcards and badges, sold from a stall in Camden Lock market (1980-1992) and various bookshops. Biff strips appeared in International Times (1976-1980), City Limits (1983-1988) and appeared in the Guardian from 1985 to 2005.

Clare in the Community original artwork and accompanying items by Harry Venning for the Guardian.

Administrative/Biographical history: Harry Venning is a British cartoonist, illustrator and comedy writer. He has contributed regularly to the Guardian since 1996 in the form of the Clare in the Community cartoon strip which appears in the Society pages and which since 2004 has also been made into a programme for BBC Radio 4. Venning's other work has appeared in the Mail On Sunday, the Sunday Telegraph, the Independent, the Sunday Times, The Stage and the Radio Times, as well as publications in Canada, Switzerland, South Africa and New Zealand and in numerous books. Venning currently lives and works in Brighton.

Creator: Venning; Harry: illustrator

Contains original artwork and copies of Posy Simmond's drawings for the Guardian, 1977-2004, including 'The Silent Three' comic strip which ran from 1977 to 1987. Also includes a number of drawings which appeared in the Observer and Harper's New York.

Administrative/Biographical history: Rosemary Elizabeth (Posy) Simmonds was born in Berkshire in 1945. She was educated at Queen Anne's School, Caversham and went on to study art at L'Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris and Central School of Art and Design, London. From 1969 she worked for The Sun on a daily cartoon entitled 'Bear'. She first began work for the Guardian in 1972, initially producing illustrations for a range of articles. In 1977 she began her weekly comic strip 'The Silent Three' for the Guardian's Women's page which ran for 10 years. From 1987 Posy Simmonds concentrated on writing and illustrating children's books although she still contributed some illustrations to the paper, and returned in 1992 with a weekly comic strip featuring J D Crouch which ran for a year. In the late 1990s she drew the 'Gemma Bovery' series for the paper which was published as a graphic novel in 1999. From November 2002 to December 2004 she worked on the 'Literary Life' series which appeared in the Saturday Review section of the Guardian, and from September 2005 - December 2006 on 'Tamara Drewe'. In 2002 she was awarded an MBE for services to the newspaper industry.

Original cartoons and caricatures by David Low for the Manchester Guardian.

Administrative/Biographical history: Low was born in Dunedin, New Zealand on 7 April 1891. In 1902 he was appointed as political cartoonist at the Spectator in Christchurch, New Zealand. In 1911 he moved to the Bulletin in Sydney, Australia.

He travelled to London to join the Star in 1919 and later worked for the Evening Standard (1927-50) and the Daily Herald (1950-53). He Joined the Manchester Guardian in 1953 and continued to work for the paper until shortly before his death in 1963.

Original artwork of Guardian political cartoons.

Administrative/Biographical history: A self taught artist and a political cartoonist, Rowson's career started when he contributed cartoons whilst at Cambridge (1978-82) to 'Broadsheet'. He has drawn cartoons for the New Statesman (1982-3), Financial Weekly, Sunday Today, Today, Sunday Correspondant, Independent on Sunday, Independent Magazine , The Guardian, Time Out, Dublin Sunday Tribune, Daily Mirror, the Observer, Tribune, Daily Express, Scotsman, and the Times Educational Supplement.

Publications include: Scenes from the Lives of the Great Socialists, 1983 (with Kevin Killane); Lower than Vermin: an anatomy of Thatcher’s Britain, 1986; The Waste Land, 1990; (with Anna Clarke) The Nodland Express, 1994; (with Chris Scarre) Imperial Exits, 1995; (with Will Self) Sweet Smell of Psychosis, 1996; The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, 1996; (with John Sweeney) Purple Homicide, 1997; Mugshots, 2005; Snatches, 2006.

Cartoons and strips by Steve Bell that have appeared in the Guardian between 1982 and 2004

Administrative/Biographical history: Editorial cartoonist for the Guardian since 1990, Bell has also produced cartoons for Private Eye, New Statesman and many other popular publications. Graduated in Fine Art from Leeds University in 1974 and taught art before becoming a freelance cartoonist in 1997. Bell has also made short animations (with Bob Godfrey) for the BBC and Channel 4 Television. Recipient of various awards, including CAT Political Cartoonist of the Year (1995, 1997) and CAT Strip Cartoonist of the Year (1996 - 8).

A collection of letters written by CP Scott, editor of the Manchester Guardian (1873-1929) and WP Crozier (then assistant editor), to Cecil Sprigge from March 1923 to February 1929 during his employment as foreign correspondent for the paper. The letters provide an insight into post war Italy and cover topics relating to the economic and political climate and in particular the fascist regime under the leadership of Mussolini. Other topics covered include the arts and archeology with reference to excavations at Herculaneum, and general discussions centered around daily life as a foreign correspondent in difficult times.

Administrative/Biographical history: Cecil Jackson Squire Sprigge, son of Sir Squire Sprigge, was born in London in 1896 and educated at Eton and Kings College Cambridge. In 1923 he joined the Manchester Guardian as Italian correspondent based in Rome, succeeding the literary critic Emilio Cecchi. He left Italy for Berlin in 1929 but was recalled to England in the same year to take up the post of city editor, a role he was to remain in until his departure from the paper in 1939. He later returned to the Guardian in 1953 as leader writer on foreign affairs. He died in London on 22 December 1959.

Photographic prints of Denis Thorpe's work from 1950 including photographs taken in a personal capacity, and work produced for the Daily Mail (1957-74) and the Guardian (1974-96). Also includes examples of Denis's freelance work for the Guardian, 1996-2000.

Administrative/Biographical history: Denis Thorpe initially aspired to become a reporter having been praised for some of his writing whilst at school. He joined the Mansfield Reporter as junior journalist in 1948, his job responsibilities mostly assisting the photographer. After National Service he rejoined the Mansfield Reporter as photographer. He then worked for the Northampton Chronicle & Echo (1954-55), the Lincolnshire Echo (1955), Birmingham Gazette & Dispatch (1955-57) before joining the Daily Mail in 1957. He joined the Guardian on the 12 August 1974, where he stayed for over 22 years. The Guardian encouraged his work and allowed him to explore new methods and to become adept in all genres of photography. Thorpe retired in April 1996 but continues to take photographs and give talks. An exhibition of photographs from his book 'Photographs 1950-2000' was displayed in the Guardian Newsroom from the 7 May-25 June 2004.

Personal and professional papers of journalist and writer Hella Pick. Includes correspondence with friends, family and work colleagues, research for her books and articles, newspaper cuttings including her Guardian cuttings books and ephemera from travels and events attended.

Administrative/Biographical history: Born in Vienna, Austria to Jewish parents in 1927, Hella Pick came to the UK alone as a child refugee on the Kindertransport in March 1939. Later joined by her mother, after an initial period in London she spent most of her remainder of her childhood in the Lake District before going on to study at the London School of Economics (LSE).

Pick entered the world of journalism in 1958 as commercial editor for the London based weekly magazine, West Africa. In 1961, Pick joined the Guardian initially as a freelance journalist but was quickly appointed as UN correspondent, one of the first female diplomatic correspondents in the British media. It was the start of a long career as a foreign correspondent at the newspaper covering political events across the globe for the next 35 years.

Pick later published her own memoir 'Invisible Walls' in 2021, which was her third book following 'Guilty Victim - Austria from the Holocaust' (2000) and her biography on Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal, 'A Life in Search of Justice' (1996).

She was awarded a CBE in 2000 for her work as a writer and journalist.

Includes original artwork which appeared in the Guardian and copies and cuttings of her work.

Administrative/Biographical history: Anne Morrow studied at the Hornsey College of Art and the Royal College of Art. She has worked on the Sunday Times Magazine, Scotland on Sunday, The Observer and the Independent. From 1988 to the late 1997, Morrow produced a range of black and white and colour illustrations for various sections of the Guardian including byline pictures, features pages, and Weekend Guardian columns. In addition to the newspapers, she has worked in television (Jackanory, Rainbow), advertising (Habitat, Mothercare, The Post Office) and publishing (Penguin, Oxford University Press, Octopus).

This collection contains original illustrations by Clifford Harper for the Guardian.

Administrative/Biographical history: Clifford Harper was an illustrator for a number of 1970s radical publications, including Undercurrents, Cienfuegos Press Anarchist Review and his self-published Class War Comix, before becoming a regular contributor to the Guardian. He contributed illustrations for the 'Country Diary' column, from November 1996. Harper provided illustrations for the 'Last word' column by philosopher AC Grayling, which appeared in the Guardian from September 1999 to May 2002. He was also a contributor to Readers Digest and the Radio Times. An exhibition of Harper's work, titled Graphic Anarchy, was shown in the Guardian Newsroom in April 2003.

Original wood cut prints produced for the Guardian's comment pages.

Administrative/Biographical history: Born in Paris, Daniel Pudles spent his childhood in Brazil and America before returning to France to study at the Ecole Supérieure d'Arts Graphiques. In 1993 Pudles moved to London to work as an illustrator for a number of publications including The Daily Telegraph and The Economist. He began contributing to the Guardian's Comment pages in 1999 and his pieces regularly accompanied George Monbiot's Tuesday articles. Whilst in London he won three first prizes for illustration at the National Art Library Illustration Awards as well as the Victoria and Albert Illustration Award in 1996, 2001 and 2004. Pudles currently lives and works in Brussels.

Five acrylic and ink on board illustrations for Guardian Comment pages.

Original artwork by Ian McNee for the Guardian Weekend supplement, which later became Weekend magazine. Also includes cuttings from Weekend featuring Ian McNee's artwork.

Administrative/Biographical history: Provided illustrations for the Guardian, mainly the Weekend supplement from 1991-97. Also contributed illustrations for Guardian Friday, Women's Page and Music. Also contributed editorial work for the Observer.

Children's book designer and illustrator for Usborne publishing 1990-2004. Freelance illustrations for Usborne 2004-2011

Collection of original artwork which featured alongside articles, predominantly in the Guardian, but also in other papers. Also includes a drawing for the exhibition at Kings Place in 2011.

Administrative/Biographical history: James A Sillavan (JAS) studied advertising at Manchester School of Art in the early 1970s. Returning to the UK after a year in Colombia he went into magazine design and ended up as a layout artist on the Daily Express. In 1991, Sillavan was offered the post of diary cartoonist on the Times. This was followed by a move to Paris in 1996 where Sillavan took up photography. Sillavan received his first Guardian commission in 1999, changed his 'sign off' to JAS and began cartooning again, providing the Guardian with two illustrations per week. In the years that followed, Sillavan’s cartoons accompanied hundreds of articles across various sections of the paper, most commonly the Education and Comment & Debate pages. As well as the Guardian, Sillavan’s work has appeared in numerous other papers including the Observer, Financial Times, Daily Telegraph and the Economist.

The majority of the collection is comprised of original political cartoons that were published in the Guardian newspaper between the years 1969 and 1993. The collection contains other original material such as illustrations, caricatures, sketches and ideas' books. The ideas' books show how Gibbard created rough forms of images that would later become published political cartoons. There is also a large number of copies of work contained within this collection. These copies are in a variety of formats including photocopies, bromides, process prints and negatives.

Administrative/Biographical history: Leslie David Gibbard was born on 26 October 1945 in Kaiapoi, New Zealand. Gibbard started out on his career path in 1962 drawing cartoons, illustrations and caricatures for such newspapers as the Auckland Star, New Zealand Weekly News, Sunday News, Melbourne Herald and New Zealand Herald. It was at the New Zealand Herald that Gibbard was coached and greatly influenced by the political cartoonist Sir Gordon Minhinnick. Gibbard arrived in London on 1 June 1967 and got his first job as arts caricaturist and pocket cartoonist for the Sunday Telegraph (1967-1970). Soon he became the successor of Bill Papas, the political cartoonist of the Guardian (1969-1994). Gibbard is the Guardian's longest serving political cartoonist and the youngest to have started his career there at the age of 23. Gibbard contributed to a variety of other newspapers and magazines including the Daily Mirror, Daily Sketch, Daily Telegraph, Sunday Mirror, Evening Standard and Time Out. He also worked as an animator for Richard Williams (1973-1975) and Ken Harris of Warner Brothers. Gibbard was involved in the animation of 'Beatrix Potter', 'Wind in the Willows', 'Famous Fred' and other such series for television. Gibbard produced his own animated political cartoon series for Granada TV's 'Reports Politics' entitled 'Newshound' (1976-1977). He has drawn weekly political cartoons for BBC's 'On The Record' (1988-1995), 'Newsnight' and Channel 4's 'A Week in Politics' (1982-1986). He was voted the BISFA Slide/Strip Artist of the Year 1980 and National Canine Defence League Dog Cartoonist of the Year in 1989. A collection of Gibbard's best works entitled 'Gibbard's Double Decade Omnibus' was published in 1991 by Bellew Publishing, London.

Original artwork which accompanied Monday Profile articles in the Guardian. Clarke created these caricatures through the manipulation of photographs.

Administrative/Biographical history: Peter Clarke 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.

The collection comprises original black and white ink and colour illustrations, one colour facsimile illustration and cuttings of works which appeared largely in the Guardian accompanying Comment and Analysis articles from 1992-2011.

Administrative/Biographical history: Peter Till, a British illustrator, began contributing to the Guardian c1994.

Born in Manchester in 1945, he read English Literature at Cambridge University. One of his drawings was bought by Oz magazine in 1969 and his work also appeared in Time Out, beginning his career in illustration. He has contributed illustrations to major publications both nationally and worldwide, including the Radio Times, the Times, the Sunday Times, the New York Times, the New Yorker, and to magazines in France, Holland, Germany, and Australia.

In 1991 the Royal Mail commissioned him to design postage stamps portraying eminent Englishmen such as Michael Faraday, the scientist. Till won a Victoria and Albert Museum runner up award for editorial illustration in 2005.

Mainly contains sketchbooks and pocket cartoons which appeared in the Guardian between 1996 and 2005. Also includes artwork for other publications including the Spectator, Private Eye, Broadcast Magazine and Computer Weekly and drawings relating to Austin's creative projects such as 'Merrie England' and a Y2K book.

Administrative/Biographical history: David Austin was born in in Lavendon, Buckinghamshire in 1935, the elder of two children of Jack and Toni Austin. The family moved near to Southend-on-Sea soon after his birth and David attended Southend High School for Boys. He went on to study Chemistry at Leicester University and spent his National Service in the RAF. His first job was as an industrial chemist but he resigned in 1966 to re-train as a teacher and went on to work in two primary schools in London. In 1970 he began to draw the 'Hom Sap' cartoon strip for Private Eye which ran for 35 years and he became a full-time cartoonist in 1976, having resigned as a teacher in 1974. He founded a comic magazine called 'Duck Soup' with cartoonists Kipper Williams and Tom Johnston in 1978 and later worked for Today, Mail on Sunday, The Spectator and Daily Telegraph before moving to the Guardian in 1990. At the Guardian he produced a daily front-page pocket cartoon and later an additional drawing for the letters page. His last cartoon for the Guardian was published on 28 October 2005.

Creator: Austin; David (1935-2005); cartoonist

The collection consists of 5 boxes of orginal artwork drawn by Abu Abraham for the Observer, the Guardian, the Tribune and various Indian publications. The collection also includes 1 further box containing newspaper cuttings of Abu's work, correspondence, photographs, articles and publications.

Administrative/Biographical history: The son of a lawyer, Abu was born Attupurathu Mathew Abraham into a Syrian Christian family in Tiruvalla, India, on 11 June 1924. He studied English, French and Mathematics at University College, Trivandrum, and graduated in 1945. He later moved to Mumbai (formerly Bombay) where he became a reporter for the Bombay Chronicle, drawing cartoons in his spare time for Blitz magazine and political journal Bharat. In 1951 he moved north again to New Delhi, where he joined the satirical English language journal Shankar's Weekly to work as a cartoonist and caricaturist. Two years later, he met political cartoonist Fred Joss, who encouraged him to try his luck in London. Abraham arrived in London in 1953 and within a few days, Malcolm Muggeridge, then editor of Punch, had bought one of his cartoons for seven guineas. In spring 1956 Michael Foot, future leader of the Labour party but then editor of the left-wing weekly Tribune, published two of his cartoons. Two days later, David Astor asked Abu to become the Observer's first-ever staff political cartoonist. He signed an agreement shortly afterwards and took his first cartoon to his new editor for approval on Friday 6 April. Astor requested that Abraham sign his cartoons as 'Abu' instead of 'Abraham', since 'any Abraham in Europe would be taken as a Jew and all cartoons would take on a slant for no reason.' The signature 'Abu' thus appeared on his first Observer cartoon on Sunday 8 April 1956 and Abu used this pseudonym for the rest of his career.

By July 1966, Abu was becoming increasingly unhappy with the change in the paper's stance on the Middle East and in September of that year, accepted an offer to move to the Guardian. Here he learnt to draw much faster and simplified his style to pocket cartoons. In 1969 he returned to India and began working as a political cartoonist on the Indian Express in Delhi. He left here in 1981 and chose instead to turn freelance, and in 1988, returned to his home state of Kerla where he continued to draw and write until his death in Thiruvananthapurum, India, on 1 December 2002.

Papers of, and relating to, Alastair Hetherington who worked for the Guardian from 1950 to 1975, and was editor between 1956 and 1975.

Hetherington's papers in this collection were retained separately from other records of his personal life and career, and demonstrate the breadth of his interests. The material concerning his work in establishing Die Welt newspaper at the end of the second world war illustrate his early journalism. Individual letters and photographs provide insights into his work at the Guardian and press cuttings, film and other items demonstrate his work outside of, and after, the Guardian. The memorials and tributes, retained by Sheila Hetherington and passed to the archive with these records, complete the picture of his life and work.

Personal and professional papers of Hugo Young, British journalist and columnist and the Guardian's senior political commentator from 1984 to his death in 2003. Includes a series of notes of interviews and conversations conducted with significant individuals including politicians and senior civil servants, 1969-2003. Also includes personal and professional correspondence, research papers relating to two published books, 'One of Us' and 'This Blessed Plot', and papers relating to his role as chair of the Scott Trust.

Administrative/Biographical history: Born in Sheffield in 1938, Hugo Young was head boy at Ampleforth College in York and read law at Balliol College, Oxford. In 1961 he joined the Yorkshire Post in Leeds and in 1963, he spent a year as a Harkness fellow in the USA, followed by a year working as a congressional fellow.

After returning to the UK in 1965, Young joined The Sunday Times, becoming chief leader writer in his second year on the paper, a position which he kept until 1977. From 1973 to 1984, Young was also the paper's political editor, and established the Sunday column 'Inside politics'. From 1981 he additionally held the position of joint deputy editor. However, Young's relationship with the Sunday Times cooled when Rupert Murdoch took over the paper in 1981, and prompted Young to leave The Sunday Times for the Guardian in 1984.

Young continued to write a twice weekly political column for the Guardian until his death in 2003, and was widely acclaimed as one of the most influential figures in modern British journalism. Young was a strong proponent of Europe, and sharply expressed his disappointment with the British government's Europe-sceptical politics in his columns. Despite these differences, Young remained on good terms with British government officials, including Tony Blair and Margaret Thatcher, a critical biography of whom, 'One of Us', he published in 1989.

From 1989 Young was the chairman of the Scott Trust, owner of the Guardian, and helped the paper through important developments, including the purchase of the Observer.

Young married twice. His first wife, Helen Mason, with whom he had three daughters and a son, died in 1989. Young married American artist Lucy Waring in 1990. He died on September 22, 2003 at the age of 64 after an arduous battle against cancer.

Creator: DS/UK/122

Correspondence, diaries, and papers kept by Jean Stead from her time at the Guardian.

Administrative/Biographical history: Jean Stead was born on 30 May 1926. She joined the Guardian as a permanent member of staff on 6 October 1963, serving as a reporter until November 1966 when she became deputy news editor to John Cole. In 1970 she became news editor and then assistant editor in 1974, a post held until 1978. From late 1978 to 1983 she was assistant editor, special features. In 1983 she became the Guardian's Scottish correspondent, reporting notably on the miners' strike, a post held until her retirement in 1988.

The miners' strike was the subject of her book 'Never the same again: women and the miners' strike' published in 1987.

The papers of Richard Scott include: a series of memoirs written by Richard Scott covering subjects such as Charles Prestwich Scott, Edward Taylor Scott, Richard Scott's work as a Guardian journalist and The Scott Trust; a series of photographs showing CP Scott and his staff, the Scott family at Christmas and CP Scott's funeral; a series of documents and correspondence relating to the management of the Guardian and The Scott Trust; a series of printed works including the Manchester Guardian centenary number, the centenary edition of the Guardian Weekly, Winston Churchill's book 'The World Crisis, 1911-1914' containing a letter of dedication to CP Scott, and the CP Scott memorial number; and portraits of Edward Taylor Scott and Laurence Prestwich Scott.

Administrative/Biographical history: Richard Scott, journalist and chairman of the Scott Trust, held a series of senior editorial posts on the Guardian newspaper.

The son of Edward Taylor Scott and grandson of Charles Prestwich Scott, both former editors of the Guardian newspaper. Educated at Gresham School, Norfolk and Christ’s College, Cambridge. After leaving school he began his career with the Legal Nations Union in London, writing brochures, pamphlets and memoranda for members. Following this he spent a year working for The Spectator before working for the British Council and the Foreign Office in the news department.

He first contributed to the Guardian in 1947. As diplomatic correspondent Richard Scott was involved in the Guardian’s reporting of the Suez crisis. He moved to America, as Washington correspondent, in 1963.

A member of the Scott Trust from 1948-1984 and chairman from 1956-1984. As a member of the Scott Trust he was involved in guiding the Guardian through a financial crisis and possible merger with The Times in the 1960s.

He was the last member of the Scott family to hold senior office in the paper.

Papers relating to life and work of Tom Baistow.

The first section of the collection contains personal papers related to Baistow's working life including correspondence, notebooks, expenses, identification documents and professional contacts, providing an insight into a journalistic life of the mid-20th century.

Other papers have been divided into sections reflecting his journalistic career. His work for the News Chronicle from 1936 to 1960, when the newspaper closed, is shown through press cuttings of his articles, under his name and his pseudonym, Andrew Lawson. As NUJ father of the chapel his efforts to support his colleagues at the time of the newspaper's closure are recorded through correspondence, meeting papers and press cuttings.

His work for the Daily Herald from 1960 to 1965 is demonstrated through copy and press cuttings of his articles. Specific papers are related to his coverage of political crises in the Congo in 1961, including his copy and cables with the newspaper.

Baistow's work as journalist at the New Statesman, before his retirement, is shown through copy of his articles covering the period from 1965 to 1976.

Administrative/Biographical history: Enoch Thomas Baistow, known as Tom Baistow was born in Glasgow on 13 July 1914. During the First World War, he lived near Inverness where he learned to speak Gaelic. He emigrated with his family to Calgary in Canada in mid 1920s and in the late 1920s they returned to Glasgow.

He left school in 1928 and became a copyboy at the Scottish Daily Express where his father was a compositor. Then he became caption writer and started subbing, establishing himself in the newsroom. In 1931 he moved to the Daily Sketch in Manchester as 'splash' sub.

In 1936 Baistow moved to the News Chronicle as picture editor. The same year he visited Germany for the first time and became a 'secret' member of the Communist Party and Peace Pledge Union as well as the Labour Party and National Union of Journalists. In 1937 he met Mae Berg who became his wife within a year.

In 1939 he volunteered with his brother-in-law for the Navy but was told to await the call-up, so in 1940 he joined the army. He had basic training at Catterick, Yorkshire. Baistow came to senior officers notice by organising a strike about the poor quality of the food in the mess. His socialist views were also expressed in a competition to the question 'What kind of a society do you want after the war?' His officers, scared of his militant tendencies, sent him to Royal Military College at Sandhurst. There he edited a Forces newspaper. In 1941 his son Peter was born.

In 1942 Baistow joined the Royal Tank Regiment and he went to Egypt for the end of the North African campaign, Operation Torch, as a tank commander. He returned to Britain to prepare for the Operation Overlord and in 1944 he landed in Normandy on St Aubin beach near Arramanches. He lost many friends in those days, including the poet Keith Douglas. He was made a Captain in the and in 1945 fought in Belgium, Holland and Germany. He was with one of the first allied troops into the concentration camp at Belsen.

In 1946 Baistow returned to Manchester to his old job at the News Chronicle. In 1947 he moved to the News Chronicle in London as deputy features editor. The following year his daughter Karen was born. In 1948 Baistow started writing poetry in gaelic and ws broadcast on the BBC. He stood as Labour candidate in local elections.

During 1950s he worked as features editor and then foreign editor at the News Chronicle where he formed an 'infamous' lunch club (after being banned from the wine club El Vino). He late became special feature writer of the News Chronicle, covering industrial unrest in the car industry in the Midlands, housing, education, immigration - the whole of Britain's post war social development. Tom Baistow spent months covering the political crises in the Congo and in Rome for the Olympic games. He also wrote for The Tribune under the pseudonym of Ewan Pearson.

In October 1960 the News Chronicle closed down and he fought to secure best possible deal and new jobs for his colleagues. He joined the Daily Herald as special feature writer. During the 1960s, when the Daily Herald became the broadsheet The Sun, Baistow left and became deputy editor at the New Statesman. He was now frequently broadcasting on the BBC.

In 1976 he retired from the New Statesman and became part-time lecturer in the School of Journalism of the City University. In the 1980s and 1990s he contributed regularly to the letters, books and obituary columns of The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The Times and the New Statesman. Tom Baistow died on the 8 March 1999.

(Biographical details provided by the Baistow family).