15.06.12 Happy Birthday Bill
In 2002 my Granddad, Bill Hewison, sadly passed away, leaving a long legacy behind him. At the time I was only 9 and yes it was sad, but i didn’t realise how important he really was not only to myself and my family, but also to the world of British Catroonists.
He attended South Shields Art School before being called into the military service where he served in the 1st Royal Tank Regiment in France and then Cairo. When he returned he studied painting at Regent Street Polytechnic where he met my Grandma, Elsie. After getting his Art Teachers Diploma at the University of London, and working part time at The Latymer School in Hammersmith he finally had his first cartoon published in 1949 in Lilliput.
In 1956 he was invited to join the Punch Editorial Board as Deputy Art Editor, and according to my Granddad he won this over Quentin Blake, because he was his senior! (Which I really hope is true!) When Art Editor Russell Brockbank left his role in 1960, he stepped into this role; he would select all of the cartoons that appeared in the magazines, and create the layout and order of pieces in each issue. He also contributed to Punch as an illustrator, cartoonist, cover artist and, from 1961, as the theatre caricaturist, a job that he inherited from the late and amazing Ronald Searle. He did this job for 24 years until retiring in 1984, post retirement he exhibited his cartoons at the National Theatre, and was also one of the key go-betweens for artists and editors at Punch until it shut down in 1992.
For me, Bill is one of my key inspirations; he kept at what he wanted, even in the military he didn’t stop sketching, and after he had worked as hard as he could he got one of the most important jobs in the British Cartoonist scene, in one of the most influential and popular Cartoonist Magazines, Punch, and kept it for 24 years.
In a way it is really sad that he passed away when I was 9 as I didn’t get to pick his brains as much as I had liked, or had crazy drawing sessions with him. But he is my family and will always be with me; for my 18th birthday I chose to get the Punch logo tattooed on my right wrist with his signature that he would sign all of his drawings with underneath, then last November I got one of my favourite covers of his on my left forearm, a MASSIVE thank you to Emily Wood and every one at Black Heart Tattoo Studio in Epsom for allowing me to keep this memory of him, every time I look at them they remind me to work my hardest and one day it WILL pay off, just like him.
Today would have been Bill’s 87th birthday, so please join me in having a glass of Red Wine and a bar of Cadbury’s Bourneville, these were his favourite and he would have them every day!
You will always be in my heart Bill, encouraging me to keep working as hard as I can, a true inspiration and an amazing man, so lucky you were my Granddad.
Happy Birthday, RIP,
Your Granddaughter,
Natalie x x x x
