RONALD SEARLE (R.I.P.)....Chiz,chiz!!!

When i was a snotty kid long ago i remember around christmas they used to show a couple ofilms on the telly most years. They were "THOSE MAGNIFICENT MEN IN THEIR FLYING MACHINES." and "MONTE CARLO,OR BUST(Those brave young men in their jaunty jalopies!)",which were just silly fun-packed films and i still love' em. But the thing that caught me ,originally was the opening title sequences. One about these madcap planes and the same sort of thing about cars for the other. I saw the name RONALD SEARLE and it was a long time later until i found any of his work. I saw the original ST TRINIANS films, but didn't realise that they were from his cartoons.(i wont mention them f***kin' remakes!) But my introduction was a literary masterpeice called 'BACK IN THE JUG AGANE!"....These were the adventures of the gorilla of ST CUSTARDS, the inimitable NIGEL MOLESWORTH. I loved the whole series of books crammed with Searles scratchy dip pen drawings and even today still sit and read the wisdom of MOLESWORTH in his observations on life ,the universe, skool sossages and the skool dog!

I now have a good collection of Searles books as his work as a cartoon illustrator covers everything from the plain silly to travel reportage for magazines all over the world for every kind of major event, war zones , even the ADOLPH EICHMAN trial and heaven knows what. His work was ,clever ,funny ,nice to look at and very powerful.

He was a prisoner on the BURMA RAILWAY for most of the war, managing to amass a heap of sketches showing the conditions in the camps,which he managed to smuggle out when they were released and are well worth having a look at. There is a RONALD SEARLE BLOG called PERPETUA and is definitly worth having a look at.(ronald searle.com)

Ah well, he was my hero and in a world where there is few real legends,theres one less!

AS ANY FULE KNO ,NIGEL MOLESWORTH THE CURSE OF ST CUSTARDS SKOOL, AND GORILA OF 3B, IS NOW PRIM MINISTER OF GRATE BRITON..

As any fule kno, grate britin hav produsd many grate writrs. billy shakspere, charlie dikins and, of corse, me ....Nigel Molesworth..the curse of St Custards and gorila of 3b. i rote a heep of books abowt my xperinses at the strikt st custards which like all skools is uterly wet and weedy. but i was sentunced to all thos years in the jug to akquire culture and keep my brane kleen and ayd me to make it to the topp in this attommic age we live in. hem, hem..but aftr years of xperiances with headmasters and kanes,lat,french, geog, hist, algy, geom, chiz,chiz,....skool masters, skool dogs, skool sossages, my bro molesworth 2, fothering (hello clouds hello sky)thomas, I , being an ace reporter told uplifting tales of the brav fight of the boyz,wizz,wizz,who r brave feerless, noble ,etc, etc, also the swots, bulys, cissies, milksops, greedyguts, and oiks, hem, hem....

Grown ups r wot hapens to boyz when skool is finished. So i thort with my St Custards edukatin i would have to find something i wuld be qwalified for and i find it in politiks . i thort i would change my name to Gordon Brown and become ded importent in the gov. And when my best frend Tony Bluur, who is totaly wet and weedy with a fase like a squished tomato and to many teeth and always smiling like a weedy swot, left wurk, i become prim ministr of grate briton. Gordon Brown the curse of downing st and gorila of no 10.