The son of a railwayman, Ronald Searle was born in Cambridge on 3 March 1920, and educated in the town at the Boys' Central School. He started work as a solicitor's clerk, and then joined the hire purchase department of the co-operative Society, studying in the evenings and later full-time at the Cambridge Daily News from the age of fifteen.
Enlisting in the Royal Engineers at the outbreak of the Second World War, he spent time in Kirkcudbright, where he encountered evacuees from St. Trinian's, a progressive girls' school situated in Edinburgh.
This resulted in his first cartoon for Lilliput, published in October 1941, and later developed into one of his most famous creations, through a series of books and their cinematic spin-offs. Remarkably, he survived the horrific experiences of the Changi Camp, Singapore as a Japanese prisoner-of-war and managed to produce a visual record of life in a prison camp.
On his return to England in 1945, he exhibited the surviving pictures at the Cambridge School of Art, and published Forty Drawings. The exhibition and volume together established his reputation as one of Britain's most powerful draughtsmen, and led to several opportunities to record the atmosphere of post-war Europe. He contributed to Punch and these drawings crystallised in, The Female Approach (1949). Throughout the fifties, he produced a large variety of illustrations, which together seemed present a guide to life in Britain in the 1950's.
Such was his success that his rejection of family and country in a move to Paris in 1961 came as a great surprise. However, it offered a fresh start, resulting in several solo shows, including a major exhibitions at the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, the Berlin-Dahlem Museum and the Wilhelm-Busch-Museum, Hanover. He also reached a new audience with his contributions to film and television, most notably The Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines (1965).
Note: Searle did so many works that I want to post here, that I will post them in two separate series: 1940-1960, and at a later date: 1961-2007.
For a more detailed biography see part 1, and for earlier works, see parts 1 - 7 also.
This is part 8 of a 13-part series on the works of Ronald Searle, dated 1940-1960:
1953-1973 Nigel Molesworth:
1953 Down with Skool! by Geoffrey Willans & Ronald Searle
published by Setanta Books, London
1953 Down with Skool! 
1953 Down with Skool!
original artwork
1953 Down with Skool! 
1953 Down with Skool! 
1953 Down with Skool!
original artwork
Wilhelm Busch - German Museum of Caricature and Drawing 
1953 Down with Skool!
original artwork
Wilhelm Busch - German Museum of Caricature and Drawing
1953 Down with Skool!
original artwork
Wilhelm Busch - German Museum of Caricature and Drawing
1953 Down with Skool!
original artwork
Wilhelm Busch - German Museum of Caricature and Drawing
1953 Down with Skool!
Fragrant Leaves from My Botany Book, Part 1 A Glurk Trolling. - A Blue-nosed Chuck Brooding..jpg)
1953 Down with Skool!
Fragrant Leaves from My Botany Book, Part 2 A Lesser Titwort Avoiding a Worm. - A Mongolian Thick Surprised (Rear View).
1953 Your psycho-analyst may say one thing, Blatworthy, but I say another. And my treatment is free
pen and India ink and brush on card 36.9 x 25.6 cm
Wilhelm Busch - German Museum of Caricature and Drawing
1954 How to be Topp by Geoffrey Willans & Ronald Searle
published by Max Parrish
1954 How to be Topp
published by Vanguard Press
1954 How to be Topp
Title Page
1954 How to be Topp 
1954 How to be Topp 
1954 How to be Topp 
1954 How to be Topp 
1954 How to be Topp .jpg)
1954 How to be Topp
original artwork
pen and ink
1954 Molesworth at the Bar
original artwork
pen and ink 26 x 22 cm
1956 Molesworth's Guide to the Atomic Age by Geoffrey Willans & Ronald Searle
published by Vanguard Press
1956 Molesworth's Guide to The Atomic Age
Title Page
1956 Nigel is a slo developer
original artwork
pen and ink 26 x 18.4 cm 
1956 Whizz for Atomms by Geoffrey Willans & Ronald Searle
published by Max Parish, London
1956 Whizz for Atomms 
1959 Back in the Jug Agane by Geoffrey Willans & Ronald Searle
published by Vanguard Press
1959 Back in the Jug Again
original artwork
pen and ink 19.6 x 21 cm
1968 Back in the Jug Agane 
1973 How to be Topp
published by Puffin Books, London
1973 Whizz for Atomms by Geoffrey Willans & Ronald Searle
published by Armada Paperbacks
.jpg) |
| Front Cover (French edition) |
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| Frontispiece |
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| Title Page |
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| A crumb became trapped in her glottis |
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| I did my best to drown out the noise of rushing water |
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| Obviously unaware that the arm of the Law is reaching out |
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| The Cellini of the Adze |
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| What's the bag full of? |
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| 1954 "Lovely floor…" "May I have the pleasure?…" |
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| 1954 'Trap for Dere Santa' original artwork pen and ink 27.5 x 21 cm |
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| 1954 Art: The British public knowing what it likes… original artwork pen and ink and watercolour 41.9 x 36.8 cm published in Punch magazine 1954 |
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| 1954 Eden and Churchill Gartered original artwork pen and ink, watercolour and gouache 41,9 x 31.8 cm |
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| 1954 Jumping Joan by C.H.B. Kitchin cover by Ronald Searle published by Secker & Warburg |
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| 1954 Patrick Campbell's Omnibus Drawings by Ronald Searle published by Hulton Press |
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| 1954 Play Time Punch magazine |
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| 1954 Rustlings of Spring in Paris Punch magazine |
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| 1954 The Dark is Light Enough by Christopher Fry cover by Ronald Searle |
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| 1954 The Tivoli, Copenhagen for Punch magazine original artwork 55.8 x 40.9 cm Wilhelm Busch - German Museum of Caricature and Drawing |
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| 1954 Twelfth Night Punch magazine |
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