David Langdon , who has died aged 97, was a cartoonist whose work (notably for Punch and The New Yorker) spanned some 60 years; he was best known for a famous wartime series of advertisements for London Transport entitled “Billy Brown of London Town”.
David Langdon at work
In Britain in the Second World War, humour contributed in numerous contexts to the construction of the British national character at war as improvisational, rural and suburban, lovable and human (if somewhat class-obsessed), in contrast to the mechanised inhumanity of the enemy. In one of Langdon’s wartime cartoons a wife is seen telling her husband: “I’ve invited the Hendersons over for the air raid, George.”
“Billy Brown of London Town” was created for the then London Passenger Transport Board for a series of cautionary posters aimed at helping travellers on public transport during the Blitz. The board was concerned that passengers on underground trains were removing the criss-cross tapes that had been applied to the windows to limit blast injuries, and asked Langdon to design a cartoon to warn them of the dangers.
Billy Brown, a city gent in pin stripes, bowler hat and umbrella, appeared in his first poster pointing to the tape being peeled off and saying: “I trust you will pardon my correction, that stuff is there for your protection” – to which one wag graffitied the reply “Thank you for your information but I can’t see the b***** station”.
Another poster, designed to discourage bus passengers from clustering around the exit, had Billy Brown saying: “Kindly pass along the bus and so make room for all of us”. A graffitied reply read: “That’s alright without a doubt, but how the Hell do we get out?”
Billy Brown caught the public’s imagination, helping to raise people’s spirits, and continued even after the war had ended. Indeed, such was his popularity that he was even included in a song by Noel Gay: “Who stood up and saved the town when London Bridge was falling down? Mr Brown of London town — Oi! Mr Brown!”
In the foreword to his first book of cartoons, Home Front Lines (1941), Langdon wrote: “To me it is the British sense of humour which is still the fount of ideas, and in paying my tribute to it and to the marvellous way it has persisted undaunted through the darkest hours, I raise my tin hat to those faintly ridiculous but wonderful people, the men, women and children of the blitzed areas whose sense of humour will carry through to victory.”
Born in London on February 24 1914, David Langdon was educated at Davenant Grammar School, where he contributed sketches to the school magazine. In 1931 he left school to work in the Architects’ Department of the London County Council, where he sent occasional cartoons to the LCC staff journal.
In 1936 he sold his first cartoon — a joke about Mussolini — to Time and Tide, and the following year he was invited to contribute to Punch at a time when the magazine was moving away from the stylised, detailed drawings and laboured jokes of an earlier era to crisper, simpler drawings and short, snappy captions. Langdon’s pared-down style and quick wit (he once described his method of working as “controlled mind-wandering”) suited the moment, and in 1937 he began contributing to the new magazine Lilliput. Among other things, he claimed to have introduced the “open mouth” into humorous art, to indicate who is speaking.
On the outbreak of war in 1939 Langdon became an executive officer in the London Rescue and Demolition Service, and it was during his time with the service that he produced his Billy Brown series. In 1941 he joined the RAF, eventually becoming a squadron leader and, in 1945-46, editor of the RAF Journal, to which he also contributed a strip entitled “Joe” featuring a naive new recruit known as Joe the Erk.
During the war years Langdon acquired an observant eye for the incongruities and absurdities of service life, the social comedy of class and a sympathy with the ordinary airman and soldier. These were reflected in his prolific output both during and after the war, when he became a leading humorous (gentle, rather than satirical) commentator on the British social scene,
As well as providing cartoons for Punch and Lilliput, Langdon founded a weekly cartoon column of topical gags with the Sunday Pictorial (later the Sunday Mirror) and continued to work for Mirror Group Newspapers until 1990. His work appeared frequently in The New Yorker from 1952; and for the children’s comic Eagle he created Professor Puff and His Dog Wuff.
He also pursued a lucrative sideline in advertising — providing cartoons for Bovril, Shell and Schweppes, among others. From 1959 he produced an annual racing calendar for Ladbrokes. In 1958 he was elected to the Punch “Table”.
Langdon published many collections of his cartoons and brought humour and wit to publications by others, such as Basil Boothroyd’s Let’s Move House (1977); George Mikes’s The Best of Mikes (1962); and Fred Trueman’s You Nearly Had Him That Time (1968). He exhibited widely around the world and was the official cartoonist for the Centre International Audio-Visuel d’Etudes et de Recherches in Saint-Ghislain, Belgium, from 1970 to 1975.
Langdon continued producing cartoons into old age, beginning an association with The Spectator in 1997 when he was in his 80s.
He lived finally at Amersham, where he played golf at Harewood Downs and was a devoted supporter of the Wycombe Wanderers football team.
In 1988 he was appointed OBE and elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. In 2001 he was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Cartoon Art Trust.
He married, in 1955, April Sadler-Philips, who survives him with two sons and a daughter.
David Langdon, born February 24 1914, died November 18 2011
Born in London on February 24 1914, David Langdon was educated at Davenant Grammar School, where he contributed sketches to the school magazine. In 1931 he left school to work in the Architects’ Department of the London County Council, where he sent occasional cartoons to the LCC staff journal.
In 1936 he sold his first cartoon — a joke about Mussolini — to Time and Tide, and the following year he was invited to contribute to Punch at a time when the magazine was moving away from the stylised, detailed drawings and laboured jokes of an earlier era to crisper, simpler drawings and short, snappy captions. Langdon’s pared-down style and quick wit (he once described his method of working as “controlled mind-wandering”) suited the moment, and in 1937 he began contributing to the new magazine Lilliput. Among other things, he claimed to have introduced the “open mouth” into humorous art, to indicate who is speaking.
On the outbreak of war in 1939 Langdon became an executive officer in the London Rescue and Demolition Service, and it was during his time with the service that he produced his Billy Brown series. In 1941 he joined the RAF, eventually becoming a squadron leader and, in 1945-46, editor of the RAF Journal, to which he also contributed a strip entitled “Joe” featuring a naive new recruit known as Joe the Erk.
During the war years Langdon acquired an observant eye for the incongruities and absurdities of service life, the social comedy of class and a sympathy with the ordinary airman and soldier. These were reflected in his prolific output both during and after the war, when he became a leading humorous (gentle, rather than satirical) commentator on the British social scene,
As well as providing cartoons for Punch and Lilliput, Langdon founded a weekly cartoon column of topical gags with the Sunday Pictorial (later the Sunday Mirror) and continued to work for Mirror Group Newspapers until 1990. His work appeared frequently in The New Yorker from 1952; and for the children’s comic Eagle he created Professor Puff and His Dog Wuff.
He also pursued a lucrative sideline in advertising — providing cartoons for Bovril, Shell and Schweppes, among others. From 1959 he produced an annual racing calendar for Ladbrokes. In 1958 he was elected to the Punch “Table”.
Langdon published many collections of his cartoons and brought humour and wit to publications by others, such as Basil Boothroyd’s Let’s Move House (1977); George Mikes’s The Best of Mikes (1962); and Fred Trueman’s You Nearly Had Him That Time (1968). He exhibited widely around the world and was the official cartoonist for the Centre International Audio-Visuel d’Etudes et de Recherches in Saint-Ghislain, Belgium, from 1970 to 1975.
Langdon continued producing cartoons into old age, beginning an association with The Spectator in 1997 when he was in his 80s.
He lived finally at Amersham, where he played golf at Harewood Downs and was a devoted supporter of the Wycombe Wanderers football team.
In 1988 he was appointed OBE and elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. In 2001 he was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Cartoon Art Trust.
He married, in 1955, April Sadler-Philips, who survives him with two sons and a daughter.
David Langdon, born February 24 1914, died November 18 2011
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