Dining with the Dinosaurs - the Cartoonist's Dinner

Last week I had dinner with some dinosaurs. Or, as they are more commonly known, cartoonists. The occasion was the semi-annual dinner of the BCA, that is to say the British Cartoonists Association (confusing, they also call themselves the PCO, or Pro Cartoonists Association). Anyway, open up a British newspaper (remember them?), turn to the nearest cartoon and, chances are, the cartoonist will be a member of the BCA. Or the PCO. Or both.

The night my cartoon strip almost died

Lincoln's Inn Hall - scene of the crime

Twenty years ago I became a barrister. A barrister is a kind of English lawyer - the kind that wear wigs. Think John Cleese in A Fish Called Wanda. If you want to become a barrister in England, you used to have to dine formally on 24 occasions with your fellow law students, in the dining halls of the Inns of Court, (in theory) discussing the finer points of law and jurisprudence. So I spent many evenings dining in Lincoln’s Inn hall.

The Unknown Art of Henrietta Edwards

Henrietta Edwards is not an illustrator whose work you will be familar with. She received no formal training, never published her work, and did not even consider herself an artist. Most people who knew her were probably not aware of her talent until, soon after her death from cancer in 2006, her husband Richard printed a small collection of her drawings, and distributed a few copies to her friends.