Colonel Blimp is a British cartoon character by
cartoonist
A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...
David Low. It was first drawn for
Lord Beaverbrook
William Maxwell Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook (25 May 1879 – 9 June 1964), was a Canadian-British newspaper publisher and backstage politician who was an influential figure in British media and politics of the first half of the 20th century ...
's
London ''Evening Standard'' in April 1934. Blimp is pompous, irascible,
jingoistic
Jingoism is nationalism in the form of aggressive and proactive foreign policy, such as a country's advocacy for the use of threats or actual force, as opposed to peaceful relations, in efforts to safeguard what it perceives as its national inter ...
, and
stereotypically British. He is identifiable by his
walrus moustache and the
interjection
An interjection is a word or expression that occurs as an utterance on its own and expresses a spontaneous feeling, situation or reaction. It is a diverse category, with many different types, such as exclamations ''(ouch!'', ''wow!''), curses (''da ...
"Gad, Sir!"
Low claimed that he developed the character after overhearing two military men in a
Victorian-style Turkish bath declare that
cavalry
Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from ''cheval'' meaning "horse") are groups of soldiers or warriors who Horses in warfare, fight mounted on horseback. Until the 20th century, cavalry were the most mob ...
officers should be entitled to wear their
spur
A spur is a metal tool designed to be worn in pairs on the heels of riding boots for the purpose of directing a horse or other animal to move forward or laterally while riding. It is usually used to refine the riding aids (commands) and to ba ...
s inside
tank
A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine; ...
s.
The character was named after the
non-rigid airship
A non-rigid airship, commonly called a blimp ( /blɪmp/), is an airship (dirigible) without an internal structural framework or a keel. Unlike semi-rigid and rigid airships (e.g. Zeppelins), blimps rely on the pressure of their lifting gas (us ...
and
barrage balloon
A barrage balloon is a type of airborne barrage, a large uncrewed tethered balloon used to defend ground targets against aircraft attack, by raising aloft steel cables which pose a severe risk of collision with hostile aircraft, making the atta ...
, which were known as
blimps.
Character
Blimp issues proclamations from the bath, wrapped in his towel and brandishing some mundane weapon to emphasize his passion on some issue of current affairs. Red-faced with rage and emotion, he often makes confused pronouncements. Blimp's phrasing often includes direct contradiction, as though upon starting the sentence he did not know how the sentence was to end. His initial words were always a part of an emotional catchphrase. For instance: "Gad, Sir! Mr Lansbury is right. The League of Nations should insist on peace — except of course in the case of war.", or: "Gad, Sir! Lord Bunk is right. The government is marching over the edge of an abyss, and the nation must march solidly behind them." Blimp is usually depicted speaking to a cartoon version of David Low, the cartoon's creator, and Blimp's comments are not infrequently directed at the opinions of
Lord Beaverbrook
William Maxwell Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook (25 May 1879 – 9 June 1964), was a Canadian-British newspaper publisher and backstage politician who was an influential figure in British media and politics of the first half of the 20th century ...
, the owner of the newspaper in which the cartoon appeared.
Blimp was a
satire
Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of exposin ...
on the
reactionary
In politics, a reactionary is a person who favors a return to a previous state of society which they believe possessed positive characteristics absent from contemporary.''The New Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought'' Third Edition, (1999) p. 729. ...
opinions of the British establishment of the 1930s and 1940s. The cartoon was intended to criticise attitudes of isolationism, impatience with the concerns of common people, and a lack of enthusiasm for democracy. These were attitudes which Low, a New Zealander, considered as being common in British politics.
Although Low described his character Blimp as "a symbol of stupidity", he lessened the insult to the British upper class by adding that "stupid people are quite nice".
Legacy
The character has earned a legacy as a
cliché
A cliché ( or ; ) is a saying, idea, or element of an artistic work that has become overused to the point of losing its original meaning, novelty, or literal and figurative language, figurative or artistic power, even to the point of now being b ...
d phrase – very reactionary opinions are characterised as "Colonel Blimp" statements.
Brigadier General Frank Crozier referred to Colonel Blimp in his anti-war book "The Men I Killed" (1937).
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to a ...
and
Tom Wintringham
Thomas Henry Wintringham (15 May 1898 – 16 August 1949) was a British soldier, military historian, journalist, poet, Marxist, politician and author. He was a supporter of the Home Guard during the Second World War and was one of the founders ...
made especially extensive use of the term "Blimps" to refer to this type of military officer, Orwell in his articles and Wintringham in his books ''How to Reform the Army'' and ''People's War''. In his 1941 essay "
The Lion and the Unicorn", Orwell referred to two important sub-sections of the middle class, one of which was the military and imperialistic middle class, nicknamed the Blimps, and characterised by the "
half-pay
Half-pay (h.p.) was a term used in the British Army and Royal Navy of the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries to refer to the pay or allowance an officer received when in retirement or not in actual service.
Past usage United Kingdom
In the E ...
(i.e retired) colonel with his bull neck and diminutive brain". He added that they had been losing their vitality during the past thirty years, "writhing impotently under the changes that were happening".
[Orwell, Sonia and Angus, Ian (eds.) ''The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell Volume 2: My Country Right or Left'', (London, Penguin)]
E. M. Forster used the term "Colonel Blimp" to describe British people who expressed disdain for
Indian culture.
Herbert Read
Sir Herbert Edward Read, (; 4 December 1893 – 12 June 1968) was an English art historian, poet, literary critic and philosopher, best known for numerous books on art, which included influential volumes on the role of art in education. Read wa ...
also used the term to describe people who were strongly hostile to
modern art
Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradit ...
. The history book ''Roads to Ruin: The Shocking History of Social Reform'' (1950) by
E. S. Turner was ironically dedicated to "Colonel Blimp", and reprinted a Low cartoon of Blimp next to the dedication: Turner's book described traditionalist politicians who opposed
humanitarian
Humanitarianism is an ideology centered on the value of human life, whereby humans practice benevolent treatment and provide assistance to other humans to reduce suffering and improve the conditions of humanity for moral, altruistic, and emotiona ...
reforms as "Colonel Blimp figures".
The term "Blimp" continues to be referenced from time to time. In a 1994 article published in ''
The New York Review of Books
''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of ...
'',
John Banville
William John Banville (born 8 December 1945) is an Irish novelist, short story writer, Literary adaptation, adapter of dramas and screenwriter. Though he has been described as "the heir to Marcel Proust, Proust, via Vladimir Nabokov, Nabokov", ...
recalled a televised exchange between an elderly lady and
Kingsley Amis
Sir Kingsley William Amis (16 April 1922 – 22 October 1995) was an English novelist, poet, critic and teacher. He wrote more than 20 novels, six volumes of poetry, a memoir, short stories, radio and television scripts, and works of social crit ...
as "an endearing moment, in which one glimpsed the warm and funny man that Amis used to be before he decided, some time in the 1960s, to turn himself into a literary Colonel Blimp". In a 2006 book, historian
Christopher Clark used the term "blimpish" to characterise the
Prussia
Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...
n
Field Marshal von Mollendorf (1724–1816), who distinguished himself as an officer in the
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...
but whose conservatism and opposition to military reform were considered to have contributed to Prussia's defeat in the
Battle of Jena
A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...
in 1806. In his review of ''
Garner's Modern American Usage
''Garner's Modern English Usage'' (GMEU), written by Bryan A. Garner and published by Oxford University Press, is a usage dictionary and style guide (or "Linguistic prescription, prescriptive dictionary") for contemporary Modern English. It was f ...
'',
David Foster Wallace
David Foster Wallace (February 21, 1962 – September 12, 2008) was an American writer and professor who published novels, short stories, and essays. He is best known for his 1996 novel ''Infinite Jest'', which ''Time (magazine), Time'' magazine ...
referred to the "Colonel Blimp's rage" of
prescriptivist journalists like
William Safire
William Lewis Safire (; Safir; December 17, 1929 – September 27, 2009Safire, William (1986). ''Take My Word for It: More on Language.'' Times Books. . p. 185.) was an American author, columnist, journalist, and presidential speechwriter. He ...
.
The graphic novel series ''
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
''The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen'' (''LoEG'') is a multi-genre, cross-over comic book series co-created by writer Alan Moore and artist Kevin O'Neill which began in 1999. The comic book spans four volumes, an original graphic novel, and ...
'', which depicts numerous literary characters interacting with each other, includes
Horatio Blimp as an overconfident major of the British army who commands the initial strike against the Martians of
H. G. Wells
Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946) was an English writer, prolific in many genres. He wrote more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories. His non-fiction output included works of social commentary, politics, hist ...
' ''
The War of the Worlds
''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells. It was written between 1895 and 1897, and serialised in '' Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and ''Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US in 1897. The full novel was ...
''.
Film
In 1943,
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger wrote, produced, and directed the motion picture ''
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
''The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp'' is a 1943 British romantic-war film written, produced and directed by the British film-making team of Powell and Pressburger, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. It stars Roger Livesey, Deborah Kerr and ...
'' (1943). Filmed during wartime, the movie portrayed the life of an admirable British officer named Clive Candy. The story encouraged the audience to accept that although the officer was honorable, with time his opinions had become outdated, and that winning a modern war required irregular means. The British film featured
Roger Livesey
Roger Livesey (25 June 1906 – 4 February 1976) was a British stage and film actor. He is most often remembered for the three Powell and Pressburger, Powell & Pressburger films in which he starred: ''The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp'', '' ...
in the title role,
Deborah Kerr
Deborah Jane Trimmer CBE (30 September 192116 October 2007), known professionally as Deborah Kerr (), was a Scottish actress. She was nominated six times for the Academy Award for Best Actress, becoming the first person from Scotland to be no ...
, and
Anton Walbrook. The "Blimp" character was not actually called "Blimp" other than in the title, nor did he die.
See also
*
Horatio Blimp
*
Sir Bufton Tufton
*
Gammon
References
{{Authority control
1934 comics debuts
British comic strips
Blimp, Colonel
British satire
Comics characters introduced in 1934
Fictional British Army officers
Blimp, Colonel
Gag cartoon comics
Male characters in comics
Military comics
Military humor
Satirical comics
fr:Colonel Blimp