Nick Newman (born 17 July 1958) is a satirical British cartoonist and comedy scriptwriter.
Early life
The son of an
RAF officer, Newman was born in
Kuala Lumpur and schooled at
Ardingly College where his satirical career began, working on
revues with
Ian Hislop. In his last term at Ardingly, Newman was 'asked to leave' (thrown out), after wiring up the chapel to play rock music ("Happy in the Lord" by
Stackridge) during a chapel service. Despite this incident Newman managed to secure a place at Oriel College, Oxford where he read history and continued collaborating with Hislop, who was studying English at Magdalen College.
Career
Hislop and Newman subsequently wrote for
Maureen Lipman and co-wrote several episodes of
Murder Most Horrid for
Dawn French. Newman and Hislop's credits also include two series of
My Dad's the Prime Minister for
BBC One, sketches for
Harry Enfield & Chums, creating the character Tim Nice-But-Dim, and the BBC Radio 4 series
Gush, a satire based on the first
Gulf War, in the style of
Jeffrey Archer. Writing for radio, he has co-written all episodes of
Dave Podmore's World of Cricket,
Dave Podmore's Ashes and
Strictly Dave Podmore with performer Chris Douglas and
Andrew Nickolds and
The News at Bedtime with long-time friend and schoolmate Ian Hislop.
Also with Chris Douglas, he wrote two series of
Mastering the Universe for
Dawn French on Radio 4. In 2008 he co-wrote
A Bunch of Amateurs – starring
Burt Reynolds,
Derek Jacobi and
Samantha Bond – which was the Royal Film Performance for that year.
Newman's career as a cartoonist began in 1976, when he sold his first drawings to Yachting Monthly – and by 1981 he was working regularly for Private Eye. Since 1989, he has been pocket cartoonist for The Sunday Times. His cartoons and strips have appeared in many other publications including Punch and The Spectator. He also draws for Times Higher Education (THE), Estates Gazette, The Wisden Cricketer, the Wisden Almanack and The Big Issue. The Cartoon Art Trust voted him Pocket Cartoonist of the Year 1997 and Gag Cartoonist of the Year 1998 and 2005. He won the Sports Journalists' Association's award for Sports Cartoonist of the Year in 2005, 2007 and 2008.
He has produced many cartoon anthologies and books, including three Wallace & Gromit adventures (with Tristan Davies, published by Hodder & Stoughton).
External links
-
cartoons.ac.uk, A biography of Newman can be seen at the British Cartoon Archive, University of Kent
