For 50 years, he has been at the heart of Britain’s morning conversation, as much a part of breakfast time as cornflakes and toast and marmalade.
We are talking, of course, of Mac, the Daily Mail’s celebrated cartoonist whose laugh-out-loud drawings – sardonic but never cruel – have ensured readers up and down the country start their day with a chuckle.
But today marks the end of an era, the very last Mac to appear in the Mail.
above: Mac’s last cartoon
As Stanley “Mac” McMurtry retires London’s Daily Mail pays tribute to its longtime political cartoonist.
Over the years he has mocked, ribbed, roasted and, at times, ridiculed our political masters and spiked pomposity – but always with warmth and humanity.
As Daily Mail editor Geordie Greig declared last night, Mac has ‘touched the funny bone of middle Britain with a humour that is as original as it is memorable’.
And hails Mac’s astonishing output.
Over those five decades, he has produced some 15,000 cartoons – for many years there were six a week. It is a remarkable body of work.
But that is only part of the story. For all those finished cartoons, he drew 100,000 rough draughts, offering his editors at least three different cartoons for them to make the final choice.
The Daily Mail farewell, with selected cartoons, can be read here.
Of course 50 years of editorial cartooning does not go by without some controversy,
the Daily Mail avoids such topics in the appreciation.
The Daily Mail also notes that the cartooning slot will be filled.
Mac may have gone – but the Daily Mail will unveil a brilliant new cartoonist in the new year.