Neville Maurice Colvin (17 December 1918,

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

– 1 September 1991, London) was a New Zealand-born

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 ...

and illustrator. Dr Warren Feeney has referred to him as "alongside avidLow ..undoubtedly New Zealand's most famous international illustrator".

Early life

Colvin was born in

and educated at

Otago Boys' High School Otago Boys' High School (OBHS) is a secondary school in Dunedin, New Zealand. It is one of New Zealand's oldest boys' secondary schools. Originally known as Dunedin High School, it was founded on 3 August 1863 and moved to its present site in 18 ...

. His skill in illustration and satire were already evident at high school, where he contributed cartoons and caricatures to the school's quarterly magazine. His school career appears to have been successful: "He was a member of the first eleven cricket team and a scholar in English, Chemistry and Latin, as well as a regimental sergeant-major of the cadet corps and head boy in his final year." He attended the Dunedin Training College between 1938 and 1940, training to be a teacher and studying for an arts degree.

Career

Colvin volunteered for World War II, initially training as a commando in Australia before being conscripted into the Second Expeditionary Forces ( 2NZEF). He arrived in Egypt in October 1941, working as a draughtsman. When Peter McIntyre took on the role of war artist, Colvin took over his role as 'camp humorist', contributing regular cartoons to the ''2NZEF Times''. It was during this time that he developed the soldier characters Johnny Enzed and Fred Clueless. The latter has been described by Ian F Grant as, alongside Gordon Minhinnick's Soldier Sam, New Zealanders' 'best-loved cartoon characters' during the War. Colvin's reputation as a cartoonist was well established through is work on the 2NZEF Times when he returned to New Zealand. He took up the high-profile role of editorial cartoonist for '' the Evening Post'' in 1946, a post he held until 1956. Colvin emigrated to England in 1956, having become 'increasingly frustrated with criticism of his work by senior staff at the ''Evening Post''' and, more generally, with the stifling environment of 1950s New Zealand. He soon found work on

Fleet Street Fleet Street is a street in Central London, England. It runs west to east from Temple Bar, London, Temple Bar at the boundary of the City of London, Cities of London and City of Westminster, Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the Lo ...

, working for the ''

News Chronicle The ''News Chronicle'' was a British daily newspaper. Formed by the merger of '' The Daily News'' and the '' Daily Chronicle'' in 1930, it ceased publication on 17 October 1960,''Liberal Democrat News'' 15 October 2010, accessed 15 October 2010 b ...

'', ''

Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was foun ...

'', ''

News of the World The ''News of the World'' was a weekly national "Tabloid journalism#Red tops, red top" Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling ...

'', the ''

Daily Sketch The ''Daily Sketch'' was a British national tabloid newspaper, founded in Manchester in 1909 by Sir Edward Hulton, 1st Baronet. The ''Sketch'' was Conservative in its politics and populist in its tone during its existence through all its ch ...

'', the ''

Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first ...

'', and the ''

Sunday Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet ...

''. He branched out into serialized newspaper strips in the 1960s, working on a number of titles before, most famously, working on the comic strip

Modesty Blaise ''Modesty Blaise'' is a British comic strip featuring a fictional character of the same name, created by author Peter O'Donnell and illustrator Jim Holdaway in 1963. The strip follows Modesty Blaise, an exceptional young woman with many talen ...

. Between 1980 and 1986, he drew the daily Modesty Blaise strip, drawing approximately 1902 strips.

References

External links

Neville Colvin on DigitalNZ.
1918 births 1991 deaths New Zealand editorial cartoonists New Zealand caricaturists New Zealand emigrants to the United Kingdom Artists from Dunedin New Zealand military personnel of World War II Dunedin College of Education alumni People educated at Otago Boys' High School {{NewZealand-cartoonist-stub