The British Cartoon Archive

• Alice in Wonderland
• Although we today might think of Alice in Wonderland primarily through the lens of the Disney films made in 1951 and 2010, cartoonists have taken constant inspiration from the 92 classic illustrations by John Tenniel found in the 1865 edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. In this series, we see parliamentarians satirised through some of the famous scenes Tenniel brought to life.
• Alice was an early inspiration for surreal cartooning.

The Anglo-American ‘special relationship’ shown through the lens of both Alice, and the 1994 film Dumb and Dumber.

Enoch Powell, and his typically inflammatory attacks on Conservative immigration policy, come under attack.

• In the run up to the General Election of 1997 Labour manifesto promises seem to disappear into thin air.
• "I like the use of the Cheshire Car, with his cheesy grin and whiskers, to show how Tony Blair’s promises have evaporated." (Annamarie Burchett, 3rd Year History Student)

The spectre of the Falklands war runs amok in the 1983 General Election.

• Winnie the Pooh
• The obvious humorous potential of the characters of the Hundred Acre Wood has not escaped cartoonists. As early as 1928, just two years after A. A. Milne first published Winnie-the-Pooh, David Low satirised the childlike innocence of Winston Churchill’s policies of Chancellor of the Exchequer through Milne’s tales. Winnie the Pooh stuck in Rabbit’s Hole has been a particular source of narrative framing. Much as Pooh became stuck by virtue of his greed, so to are the politicians dressed up as him for comic effect.

• Nelson
• At the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801 Horatio Nelson 'turned a blind eye' by lifting his telescope to his patch in deliberate ignorance of Admiral Parker's signal to withdraw. This incident, and the surrounding legend, have since framed many a political satire. Iconic figures such as Nelson allow the satirist to tap into collective memory. For most Britons a man (or woman) in naval attire perched atop a slim column requires little deciphering – here Shrank, Cummings, and Blower use this motif to striking effect.

"I like the contradiction between the childrens book theme and the political subject matter, depicting the greed of the politicians." (Becky Peckham, 3rd Year History Student)