Description: Humour is a vital ingredient for the morale of a nation at war. From the John Bull cartoons mocking a hook-nosed Napoleon carving up the world, the caricatures of an obese Kaiser in the First World War, to an often angry Hitler, cartoons have not only portrayed the enemy in a satirical light but have raised a smile in the darkest of times.
Brief description: Dr Tim Benson is Britain's leading authority on political cartoons. He runs the Political Cartoon Gallery which is located near the River Thames in Putney. He has produced numerous books on the history of cartoons, including Giles's War, Churchill in Caricature, Low and the Dictators, The Cartoon Century: Modern Britain through the Eyes of Its Cartoonists, Drawing the Curtain: The Cold War in Cartoons and Over the Top: A Cartoon History of Australia at War. He also edits Britain's Best Political Cartoons.