Les Gibbard, political cartoonist
Leslie (Les) David Gibbard (1945-2010) was born in Kaiapoi, New Zealand in 1945. He displayed an early talent for drawing, regularly contributing cartoons and caricatures to his school magazine. Outside of school he attended local election campaigns and town council meetings to practice his drawing skills and spent weekends and summer holidays studying the works of Guardian cartoonist Sir David Low.
At the age of 16 Gibbard went on a tour of his local newspaper, the Auckland Star. During the visit Gibbard so impressed the assistant editor that he was appointed as a trainee reporter. After a short spell at the Star Gibbard moved to the New Zealand Herald where he spent two days a week drawing cartoons under the supervision of the eminent cartoonist Sir Gordon Minhinnick. After a brief period working in Australia, Gibbard moved to the UK in 1967, initially working freelance and then for the Sunday Telegraph.
He joined the Guardian in 1969 succeeding Bill Papas as political cartoonist. At only 23 Gibbard was the youngest cartoonist the newspaper had ever appointed. Gibbard's first cartoon for the Guardian was published on the 10 April 1969 following the maiden flight of Concorde 002. The cartoon portrayed Labour prime minister Harold Wilson talking to a journalist about the supersonic aircraft, the caption being, "I feel I can state without contradiction that very shortly things are going to boom in Britain".
Gibbard described the Guardian he joined as "a dream shop window for any political cartoonist". At this time cartoons had a prominent role in the Guardian, accompanying major stories and often occupying the front or back pages. Unlike many other newspapers, Gibbard's cartoons were usually drawn late in the day so that they would be up to date with the latest news coverage. One example of this is shown below in a cartoon which was created for the 1970 general election. Gibbard had originally drawn Harold Wilson as the victor but as it became clear that Edward Heath was to secure an unexpected victory he returned to the Guardian offices to replace the head of Wilson with Heath.
Close up of Les Gibbard's original cartoon for the 1970 general election showing the head of Harold Wilson replaced with the head of Edward Heath following Heath’s unexpected victory. Photograph: Robin Christian for the Guardian
Gibbard worked fast, sketching many ideas for the editor to choose from before creating the final cartoon for the paper. Gibbard's sketchbooks held in the GNM Archive demonstrate his frenetic style and his excellent insight into British politics. The download below is taken from one of Gibbard's sketchbooks for the period 14 October 1980 – 15 April 1981 (GNM Archive reference: LDG/4/2/4). Drawn in typical Gibbard style using pen and ink the page shows his ideas for cartoons on 11-13 March 1981, including caricatures of prime minister Margaret Thatcher and the controversial 1981 budget which came at a time of high unemployment and inflation.
Page from Les Gibbard sketchbook, 11-13 March 1981

Gibbard left the Guardian in 1994 but still continued to contribute to the paper in a freelance capacity. In his 25 year career at the Guardian Gibbard produced cartoons on the major events of the era including the election of Margaret Thatcher, the Watergate scandal, miners strikes, and the Vietnam, Falklands and Gulf wars.
As well as the Guardian, Gibbard contributed to a number of other newspapers and magazines, including the Daily Sketch, Daily Telegraph, Evening Standard, The House Magazine and Time Out. Gibbard also worked on both TV and film animation. In 1976 Gibbard produced 'Newshound' an animated political cartoon series for Granada TV's Reports Politics programme. He later went on to work on children's TV programmes and films including the Wind in the Willows, the Animals of Farthing Wood and the Oscar nominated animated film, Famous Fred, which was based on a book by fellow Guardian cartoonist Posy Simmonds.
The GNM Archive holds a large collection of Gibbard's work for the Guardian comprising of over 2500 cartoons, caricatures and illustrations and 18 sketchbooks of ideas for his Guardian political cartoons dating from 1969-1992. The collection was presented to the GNM Archive by Gibbard in 2004. A catalogue of the material is available to search online and the collection can be consulted in the GNM Archive reading room by appointment.
More information about the life and work of Les Gibbard can be found on the pages below:
Catalogue of Les Gibbard's work held at the GNM Archive

Guardian obituary for Les Gibbard

British Cartoon Archive biography of Les Gibbard