Giles and his adopted town, Ipswich

As a child, I well remember looking at cartoons in the newspaper and an annual compilation by Giles.

Like most of the audience at History Society in November, I had no idea that he lived in Ipswich and that many of the people and places were familiar to the locals.

Carl Giles was born in London, but came to work in Ipswich when he was twenty-one. He married, and bought a farm outside the town where he lived until his death in 1995. John Field, who gave the talk, showed us many cartoons by this talented artist and followed each one with a photograph of the real place (often a pub!) depicted in it.

He used local people as models and his quirky take on politics, popular culture and family life proved to be a very funny look at life in Britain during his lifetime.

He was awarded the OBE in 1959 for charity work, most notably for the RNLI, for whom he designed Christmas cards each year.