Apres Holiday Blues

Here's how it feels to return to Glasgow after a European vacation where literally everywhere else in the world is 10 degrees more summery than here.

Gregg Wallace (Masterchef)

Caricature of Gregg Wallace presenter of UK Masterchef.  Just in time for the start of celebrity Masterchef.

Magna Carta 800th tl;dr

Today is the 800th anniversary of the sealing of the Magna Carta in 1215 (although there was another version in 1225) where King John had to declare himself subject to the law at the insistence of his barons.  This we are told is one of the cornerstones of our modern democracy despite it being a failure as a peace treaty and as a document it was more concerned with the grievances of the times and not meant as a human rights rallying cry for the ages.

TL;DR (Too Long; Didn't Read) is one of my favourite new bits of Internet speak although I'm not sure what intersection of interests would make this a popular cartoon.

My other favourite historical document signing is of course the US Declaration of Independence which our cousins will be celebrating again shortly.  Here are my 4th July cartoons from 2013 and 2011

Trooping the colour

Given the set caption "Arnold Throgmorton was never one to stand on ceremony" I thought I'd go for a Trooping the Colour cartoon.

I have drawn the queen a few times the last time on this blog she trying to help Andy Murray win Wimbledon (before he did).

Police Siren

This week I had to do a cartoon on the police but I was thinking about mermaids because of the Australian kids series H20 and so I came up with this.

It's not the best or worst pun I've entered in the competition, my favourite groaner would be this one about King Kanute.

Of course sirens and mermaids are not exactly the same except in the popular imagination.  Sirens in some mythology were more a mashup of birds and women, and they lost a sing-off with the Muses and in the Homer's blockbuster The Odyssey the heroes had to put wax in their ears to ward off their songs.  Mermaids didn't originally sing until recent books and films.  Finally if your view of mermaids comes from the Disney film The Little Mermaid it is way different from the original darker Hans Christian Anderson book.

Father Ted (Dermot Morgan)

A caricature of the late Dermot Morgan as Father Ted in the brilliant comedy series of the same name.

Overreacting

An attempt at a chemistry joke for this week's competition.  Turns out all I could think of in terms of over reactions was water and magnesium.