Norman Thelwell (3 May 1923 - 7 February 2004) was born in Birkenhead, Cheshire, on 3 May 1923. His earliest surviving drawing is a pencil self-portrait done at the age of 10, on which his teacher has written in red ink: 'V. good indeed'. He remembers always wanting to draw as a child and recalls finding drawing and painting much easier than other subjects - 'with drawing, the answer was always there in front of you - you only had to look'. His love of the countryside was fostered by childhood visits to a North Wales farm and was strengthened throughout his life.
He joined the Army in 1941 and, through the years of war which followed, both in Britain and in India, he always travelled with his sketchbooks. The first cartoon he ever had reproduced was an Indian subject for the London Opinion. In 1945, at Nottingham Art School evening classes, he met fellow student Rhona whom he married in 1949. After the war, he took a degree course at Liverpool College of Art and in 1950 he started teaching design and illustration at Wolverhampton College of Art.
His first cartoon for Punch was published in 1952 and led to a relationship which lasted for 25 years and over 1,500 cartoons, including 60 front covers. His first pony cartoon was published in 1953 and, by accident, led to a lifetime of association with the image of the little girl and the fat hairy pony. As he says in his autobiography: I was a sort of unofficial country cartoonist, doing funny drawings that involved birds, cattle, pigs and poultry.
One day I did a pony drawing and it was like striking a sensitive nerve. The response was instantaneous. People telephoned the editor and asked for more. Suddenly I had fan mail. So the editor told me to do a two-page spread on ponies. I was appalled. I thought I'd already squeezed the subject dry. I looked at the white drawing block and wondered what on earth to do. In the end I dreamed up some more horsey ideas and people went into raptures. The Thelwell pony was born.
Thelwell left teaching to take up illustration full-time in 1956 and his first book, a collection of his cartoons, Angels on Horseback, was published in 1957. The first book produced from cover to cover rather than collected from drawings previously published was A Leg at Each Corner, published in 1961. This was serialized in the Sunday Express and led to the development of the strip cartoon characters Penelope and Kipper.
Thelwell's range as a cartoonist has gone far beyond
ponies--fishing, gardening, house-hunting, motoring, sailing, dogs,
cats, farming, stately homes, children and country pursuits have
all been given the treatment.
He was a master of sharp social comment and sheer zany humor, and the foibles of the British at work or at play were his favorite themes. He was also a serious landscape artist, painting in watercolor and oils. His 34 books have sold over 2 million copies in the UK and been translated into languages as diverse as Finnish and Japanese and his drawings have been used on many different kinds of merchandise including stationery, jigsaws, table mats, china, glass, door mats, socks and bed linen.
Norman Thelwell's illustrations and timeless wit are bound to get
another generation of young riders 'hooked' on the 'Thelwell pony.'
It should be required reading for all children (and their parents)
attending summer riding camps. --Mid-South Horse Review
The books make a perfect gift for a nostalgic horse lover or a
child who can relate all to well to the escapades of the young
riders in the stories. --Practical Horseman
The late Norman Thelwell was a British artist whose first cartoon
appeared in the satirical magazine Punch in 1952. A generation of
stiff-upper-lip equestrian types grew up cackling over Thelwell's
uncanny depictions of horse-mad children, fat hairy ponies with a
stubborn streak, exasperated riding instructors, and weary
parents.The humor and the countryside depicted in Thelwell's three
classic books of equestrian cartoons—Angels on Horseback, A Leg at
Each Corner, and Thelwell's Riding Academy—are British,
but horse lovers everywhere related to the depictions of Thelwell's
characters and their willful equines. Now all three are back in
print in collected form: Thelwell's Pony Cavalcade celebrates the
60th anniversary of Angels on Horseback. The hunt caps and the
baggy jodhpurs may be dated, but horses and riders haven't changed
and Thelwell is as funny as ever. Buy this book and treat yourself
or a horse lover in your life to some guaranteed belly laughs.
--USDF Connection
This classic will have you roaring with laughter…Without question
horse lovers of every age will thoroughly enjoy this book. It'll
brighten you up on even the gloomiest day! A big fat YAY on this
read. Catskill Horse
Whether you're a longtime fanatic or just recently discovered them,
Norman Thelwell's artistry of determined riders atop hairy, chubby,
ponies are a classic. Now Pony Cavalcade brings pages upon pages of
those adorable drawings to one place for easy viewing. This
collection is as loveable as when the cartoons first took the world
by storm and, of course, includes Thelwell's humorous insights to
riding and horsemanship. Bottom Line: Riders young and old will
love this fun collection of Thelwell's famous ponies. --Equine
Journal
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