Adrian Teal

As a kid, I used to get under everyone’s feet at the Spitting Image Workshop, receiving tuition from the head caricaturist with the kind forbearance of the show’s creators, Roger Law, Peter Fluck, and TV comedy guru John Lloyd.

I paid my way through university by freelancing for various clients – including Madness – before setting up as a full-time cartoonist in 1996. At first, I concentrated mainly on work for commercial clients such as UBS, Jongleurs, and Anglia TV, and I even originated a line of sculpted, celebrity-caricature garden ornaments, which enjoyed a brief vogue.

In around 2001, I began to focus on political caricature, and cartooned for publications such as the Sunday Telegraph, the Scotsman, The Times Educational Supplement, Time Out, The Sun, and the Daily Mail.

In 2008, Fate pushed me back into the path of John Lloyd, and I produced a cover and wrote/illustrated historical spreads for various QI Annuals. This, coupled with a regular cartoon slot for History Today, set me thinking about the possibilities of popular history, and my illustrated book The Gin Lane Gazette was born.