Cartoonist Mel Calman was the cartoonist whose perplexed little men reacted to the day’s events in Daily Express, Sunday Telegraph, Observer, Sunday Times and Times.

Born in 1931, Calman left The Perse to study illustration at the Borough Polytechnic Arts School and St Martin’s School of Art. Despite setbacks, most notably from the editor of Punch magazine, he became a freelance cartoonist in 1956 and had drawings published in the Daily Express. Following this, he went on to draw for the Observer, Sunday Telegraph, the Times, Sunday Times, and the Evening Standard, and became the resident cartoonist on the BBC’s Tonight programme.

Calman was also an art dealer, and founded The Workshop (now the Cartoon Gallery in Museum Street) in 1970. He was also a co-founder and chairman of the Cartoon Arts Trust, and devoted a great deal of time to establishing a national museum of cartoon art.