Peter Maddocks (1 April 1928 – 20 November 2024) was an English cartoonist. Maddocks contributed to many of the United Kingdom's leading daily and Sunday national papers with cartoon series such as ''Four D. Jones'' in 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 ...

in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He also created three children's animated series for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

in the 1980s: '' The Family-Ness'', ''

Jimbo and the Jet-Set ''Jimbo and the Jet-Set'' is a British animation, animated cartoon series centered on the eponymous Jimbo, an anthropomorphic aeroplane. The series, created by Peter Maddocks and produced by Maddocks Cartoon Productions, aired for 25 episodes f ...

'' and '' Penny Crayon''. He continued with many more publications through cartoons and short stories.

Background

Maddocks was born in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

on 1 April 1928. In 1939 he won a scholarship to the city's

Moseley School of Art The Moseley School of Art () on Moseley Road, Balsall Heath, Birmingham, England was built as the first municipal branch School of Art in Birmingham. The Moseley School of Art was closed by the City of Birmingham Education Committee in 1976. The ...

, where he was taught by Norman Pett. At the age of 15, Maddocks decided to leave school and join the Merchant Navy from 1943 to 1949. Maddocks died from a short illness on 20 November 2024, at the age of 96.

Career

After his six years in the Navy, Maddocks set up his own advertising agency, for which he designed cinema posters and wrote western series. He produced his first cartoons for the Daily Sketch from 1953 to 1954. From 1955 to 1965 he worked for the ''Daily Express'', for which he created his comic strip ''Four D. Jones''. In this comic, a cowboy travelled in the fourth dimension. This comic was a success for ten years for the ''Sunday Express''. He later became the Cartoon Editor for Express Newspapers from 1965 to 1966, and from 1968 to 1971 he was the Special Features Editor of ''King'' magazine. Maddocks' characters tend to have google eyes with splayed out fingers. He also drew the satirical comic ''Nr. 10'' about British politics.

Contributions

Maddocks made contributions to the following: *''Daily Star'' *''Daily Record'' *''Manchester Evening News'' *''Mail on Sunday'' *''Private Eye'' *''Daily Mirror'' *''Daily Telegraph'' *''Evening Standard'' *''Evening News'' *''Sunday Telegraph'' *''Mayfair'' *''Woman's Own''

Filmography

References

External links

Lambiek Comiclopedia biography.
* * 1928 births 2024 deaths British magazine cartoonists English comics artists English comics writers British comic strip cartoonists English humorists British satirists British satirical comics writers British satirical comics artists English poster artists British animators British animated film producers Artists from Birmingham, West Midlands English animators DreamWorks Classics people {{UK-cartoonist-stub