Leonard Matheson Norris (December 1, 1913 – August 12, 1997) was an

editorial cartoonist An editorial cartoonist, also known as a political cartoonist, is an artist who draws editorial cartoons that contain some level of political or social commentary. Their cartoons are used to convey and question an aspect of daily news or current ...

for the Canadian newspaper ''

Vancouver Sun The ''Vancouver Sun'', also known as the ''Sun'', is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The newspaper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network, and is the larg ...

'' from 1950 to 1988. Called "the best in the business" by

Walt Kelly Walter Crawford Kelly Jr. (August 25, 1913 – October 18, 1973) was an American animator and cartoonist, best known for the comic strip ''Pogo (comic strip), Pogo''. He began his animation career in 1936 at The Walt Disney Company, Walt Disney S ...

, the creator of

Pogo Pogo, PoGo or POGO may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Gaming * Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator, any Philippines-based online gambling service * Pogo.com, a website featuring free online games Music * "Pogo", a song by Digitalism * ...

, Norris skewered the foibles of

British Columbia politics The politics of British Columbia involve not only the governance of British Columbia, Canada, and the various political factions that have held or vied for legislative power, but also a number of experiments or attempts at political and electoral ...

and social mores. His drawings were full of extraneous but intriguing detail, with more going on in them besides the main action, from sardonic pictures on the living room wall to children or animals acting up in corners, and the captions contained wry monologues. Norris's cartoons remain popular today even though much of their original political or social context is gone. Recurring themes and characters in Norris cartoons included the setting of Amblesnide and Tiddlycove, a play on the tweedy

West Vancouver West Vancouver is a district municipality in the province of British Columbia, Canada. A member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District, West Vancouver is situated on the north shore of Burrard Inlet to the northwest of the city ...

neighbourhoods of Ambleside and Dundarave; Rodney, a

caricature A caricature is a rendered image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way through sketching, pencil strokes, or other artistic drawings (compare to: cartoon). Caricatures can be either insulting or complimentary, ...

of an Anglo-centric monarchical Canadian; the " Socred cow" for the British Columbia government's

liquor stores A liquor store is a retail business that predominantly sells prepackaged alcoholic beverages, including liquors (typically in bottles), wine or beer, usually intended to be consumed off the store's premises. Depending on region and local idiom ...

; and lampoons of the

Pacific Great Eastern Railway The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

. One of his cartoons has been reproduced as a 15-foot mural in the resurrected Celebrity Club at PAL Place in Toronto. It shows a mythical day in the famed Studio G at CBC Radio on Jarvis Street sometime in the early 1960s, with caricatures of some of the luminaries of the great days of radio. Norris received an honorary doctorate from the

University of Windsor The University of Windsor (UWindsor, U of W, or UWin) is a public university, public research university in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's southernmost university. It has approximately 17,500 students. The university was incorporated by ...

. In the 1960s one of his famous Brockton Oval cricket cartoons was re-produced on a limited edition T-shirt for participants in the University of Windsor's Senior Seminar. A small collection of his sketches and finished cartoons are held by a collector of political cartoons in the Windsor, Ontario, region.Dr. C. L Brown-John, Editorial Columnist

References

External links

Simon Fraser University Len Norris Collection introThe SFU Library Editorial Cartoons Collection
*http://www.vancouversun.com/news/This+history+Award+winning+cartoonist+born+England/9234373/story.html 1913 births 1997 deaths Canadian editorial cartoonists Vancouver Sun people British emigrants to Canada Artists from London {{Canadian-comics-creator-stub