Stan McMurtry

Biography

Stanley McMurtry was born in Edinburgh on 4 May 1936. At the age of eight, he moved with his family to Birmingham and later attended Birmingham College of Art (1950-53). His artistic development was interrupted in 1954 by two years of national service in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps. His first published cartoon appeared in Today on 7 January 1961 and he became a freelance cartoonist four years later, working on children’s comics Wham! and Buster as well as contributing to Punch under his own name before taking on the persona of Mac for his cartoons for the Daily Sketch (1969-71). Following the publication’s takeover by the Daily Mail, he succeeded Illingworth and worked alternately with Emmwood as Political and Social Cartoonist until his retirement in 1975.

Over thirty years on, Mac continues to amuse the nation with his cartoons for the Daily Mail. Despite his prolific career, he is still under the pressure of the editorial decision, and of the twenty or more designs he produces each week, only four are published. Taking his influence from Giles, he has an approach that is essentially apolitical, a stance proved popular not only with the public but also his peers.

His notable awards comprise:

The Cartoonists’ Club of Great Britain
Cartoonist of the Year (1982,1983, 1988)
Political and Social Cartoonist of the Year (1983, 1984)
Master Cartoonist Award for Services to Cartooning (2000)

Charity Radar
Man of the year ‘for tickling the nations funny bone’ (1988)

UK Press Gazette
Cartoonist of the Year (1999)

Cartoon Art Trust
Voted 4th in a poll of the Top Cartoonist of the Century (1999). He was top of the living cartoonists.
Pont Award for depicting the British way of life (2004)

What the Papers Say
Cartoonist of the Year (2003)