David Haldane
About
David Haldane was born on 10 November 1954 in Blyth, Northumberland, and studied graphic design at Newcastle-upon-Tyne Polytechnic. After graduation he started working for Northern Press newspapers based in South Shields, and began cartooning in his spare time. In 1978 he tried sending some cartoons to Punch, and although they were rejected he was invited to the Punch office, and on his second attempt six months later his work was accepted, leading to regular appearances in the magazine. In 1981 he became a freelance cartoonist.
Haldane contributed daily cartoons to the Daily Mirror and the Sun, and jokes, pocket and strip cartoons to Punch from 1979 to 1992 – including covers and the strip ‘Agent Orange.’From 1989 to 1991 he also contributed to the Guardian -including the strip ‘Wild Child’. Haldane has also contributed to a wide range of other publications including The Times, Daily Express, Sunday Times, Mail on Sunday, Oink! (a Viz “type magazine from Manchester), Spectator, Observer, and Private Eye.
Haldane has produced greetings cards for Camden Graphics, drawn advertising for companies including Asda, Cellnet, and Pedigree Chum, written scripts for Central TV’s Spitting Image and lectured in graphic design at Northumberland College.
‘He works entirely from home in Northumberland’, a colleague wrote in 1998: ‘He steers clear of computers. He says that they would slow him down. He is much happier dashing off a cartoon and putting it straight on to the fax machine.’
References used in biography
- Richard Barr ‘Meet My Cartoonist’, Solicitor’s Journal, 9 October 1998, p.920.
- David Haldane’s profile at www.blogger.com/profile/07515291452920794727