Stanley McMurtry

Royal Divorce

Original cartoon in ink and watercolour

Royal Divorce

Inscription

31 x 48 cm

Stanley McMurty, MBE (born 1936), known as ‘Mac’

Since 1971, and for almost 50 years, Mac has produced regular cartoons for the Daily Mail and then its sister paper, the Mail on Sunday. He has always considered that he is essentially apolitical, and that his role is to brighten ‘the dreary news copy of the daily paper … by putting in a laugh’. He has achieved through clear, realistically drawn images, replete with mimetic detail and social comment.

Stan McMurtry was born in Edinburgh on 4 May 1936, the son of the commercial traveler, Stanley McMurtry, and his wife, Janet. When he was about the age of 10, he moved with his family to Solihull in Warwickshire, and was educated locally at Sharmans Cross High School for Boys.

In 1965, McMurtry left Nicholas Cartoon Films in order to establish himself as a freelance cartoonist. While continuing to contribute cartoons to periodicals, such as Punch and the London Evening News, he also drew strips for children’s comics, including ‘Percy’s Pets’ for Smash and ‘Pest of the West’ for Wham!