Norman Thelwell
Encyclopedia
Norman Thelwell was an English
cartoon
ist well-known for his humorous illustrations of ponies
and horse
s. Born in Birkenhead
, as a promising young student from Liverpool College of Art
, he soon became a contributor to the satirical magazine Punch in the 1950s, and earned many lasting devotees by illustrating Chicko in the British boys' comic Eagle
.
Known to many only as Thelwell, he found his true comic niche with Pony Club
girls and ponies refusing fences, a subject for which he became best-known. His cartoons and drawings delighted millions.
For the last quarter of a century of his life he lived in the Test valley at Timsbury, near Romsey, gradually restoring a farm house and landscaping the grounds which gave rise to his first factual book, A Plank Bridge by a Pool, which detailed the first two lakes he dug there. A third lake was later featured on the BBC’s South Today programme. Written much earlier, but published three years later, A Millstone Round My Neck described his experiences in re-building a Cornish water mill (Addicroft Mill at Liskeard, which he called Penruin), that was sold before the book was published. He always loved old buildings, and in his auto-biography, Wrestling with a Pencil wrote about his joy in the beauty of old cottages.
Thelwell Country (1959)
A Leg at Each Corner (1962)
Top Dog (1964)
Thelwell's Riding Academy (1965)
Drawing Ponies (1966)
Up the Garden Path (1967)
Thelwell's Compleat Tangler (1967)
Thelwell's Book of Leisure (1968)
This Desirable Plot (1970)
The Effluent Society (1971)
Penelope (1972)
Three Sheets in the Wind (1973)
Belt Up (1974)
A Plank Bridge by a Pool (1978)
A Millstone Round My Neck (1981)
Pony Calvalcade (1981)
Some Damn Fool's Signed the Rubens Again (1982)
Penelope Rides Again (1988)
The Cat's Pyjamas (1992)
Magnificat (1983)
Wrestling with a Pencil: The Life of a Freelance Artist (1986)
Play It As It Lies (1987)
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
cartoon
Cartoon
A cartoon is a form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art. While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or to the artistic style of such works...
ist well-known for his humorous illustrations of ponies
Pony
A pony is a small horse . Depending on context, a pony may be a horse that is under an approximate or exact height at the withers, or a small horse with a specific conformation and temperament. There are many different breeds...
and horse
Horse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
s. Born in Birkenhead
Birkenhead
Birkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite the city of Liverpool...
, as a promising young student from Liverpool College of Art
Liverpool College of Art
Liverpool College of Art is located at 68 Hope Street, in Liverpool, England. It is a Grade II listed building.The building is currently owned by Liverpool John Moores University housing its School of Social Science....
, he soon became a contributor to the satirical magazine Punch in the 1950s, and earned many lasting devotees by illustrating Chicko in the British boys' comic Eagle
Eagle (comic)
Eagle was a seminal British children's comic, first published from 1950 to 1969, and then in a relaunched format from 1982 to 1994. It was founded by Marcus Morris, an Anglican vicar from Lancashire. Morris edited a parish magazine called The Anvil, but felt that the church was not communicating...
.
Known to many only as Thelwell, he found his true comic niche with Pony Club
Pony Club
Pony Club is an international youth organization devoted to the educating youths about horses and riding. Pony Club organizations exist in over 30 countries worldwide...
girls and ponies refusing fences, a subject for which he became best-known. His cartoons and drawings delighted millions.
For the last quarter of a century of his life he lived in the Test valley at Timsbury, near Romsey, gradually restoring a farm house and landscaping the grounds which gave rise to his first factual book, A Plank Bridge by a Pool, which detailed the first two lakes he dug there. A third lake was later featured on the BBC’s South Today programme. Written much earlier, but published three years later, A Millstone Round My Neck described his experiences in re-building a Cornish water mill (Addicroft Mill at Liskeard, which he called Penruin), that was sold before the book was published. He always loved old buildings, and in his auto-biography, Wrestling with a Pencil wrote about his joy in the beauty of old cottages.
Published books
Angels on Horseback (1957)Thelwell Country (1959)
A Leg at Each Corner (1962)
Top Dog (1964)
Thelwell's Riding Academy (1965)
Drawing Ponies (1966)
Up the Garden Path (1967)
Thelwell's Compleat Tangler (1967)
Thelwell's Book of Leisure (1968)
This Desirable Plot (1970)
The Effluent Society (1971)
Penelope (1972)
Three Sheets in the Wind (1973)
Belt Up (1974)
A Plank Bridge by a Pool (1978)
A Millstone Round My Neck (1981)
Pony Calvalcade (1981)
Some Damn Fool's Signed the Rubens Again (1982)
Penelope Rides Again (1988)
The Cat's Pyjamas (1992)
Magnificat (1983)
Wrestling with a Pencil: The Life of a Freelance Artist (1986)
Play It As It Lies (1987)