Ken Pyne
About
Ken Pyne was born in London on 30 April 1951, the son of John Ernest Pyne, a boot-repairer. Self-taught, he had his first cartoon published in Punch at the age of sixteen – the youngest artist in the magazine in the twentieth century. Over the next few years he worked in a number of jobs, including layout artist on Materials Reclamation Weekly, before becoming a full-time freelance cartoonist at the age of twenty.
In addition to his contributions to Punch, Pyne’s work has appeared in Private Eye (since 1976, notably the ‘Corporation Street’ strip from October 1986), Today, The Times, Independent, Guardian, Evening Standard, Hampstead & Highgate Express, Oldie, New Statesman, People, Observer and Which? In 1981 he was voted CCGB Joke Cartoonist of the Year. He has also done a considerable amount of advertising work and has illustrated three guidebooks for English Heritage and six editions of the Good Beer Guide, in 1985-9, and 1992. Pyne uses a mapping pen with a Gillott nib.
Holdings
1841 uncatalogued originals [KP0001 – 1841] (undated – fl. 1966-2000s)
2 uncatalogued originals [PU1807 – 1808]
References used in biography
- Mark Bryant Dictionary of Twentieth-Century British Cartoonists and Caricaturists (Ashgate, Aldershot, 2000), pp.178-9.