| Title | Forty Third Series | | Original Price | £2.75 | | Date Cartoons Start | 14/06/1988 | Date Cartoons End | 23/07/1989 | | Published by | Daily Express Publications | ISBN | |
Introduction by - Tim Rice Back in the early fifties I became an annual fan.
By that I mean an Annual fan. Whether it was Eagle Annual or the Beano
Book, Wisden or Ruff’s Guide To The Turf, Old Moore or the Guinness Book
Of Records, there was something about the yearly round-up in almost any
field that I found irresistible. And one year in the Annuals shelves of
Smith’s in St. Albans I discovered Giles. Who was this genius with only
one name who had come up with a goldmine of fun just in time for my
Christmas stocking?
Every year since I have waited, not always in St. Albans, for the
unmistakable shape and sparkle of the latest Giles collection to appear.
Immediate purchase is essential and a wonderful investment, because one
viewing of a Giles cartoon is never enough. There are always six or seven
other comic ideas in every picture, in addition to the principal gag.
I no longer wonder what Giles’ surname is, but I still wonder at his
unstoppable flow of brilliance with word and line. He has seen off many
rival annuals (though Wisden looks set to run a while yet) and is moving
towards half a century of pre-eminence. In the world of theatre he would
be Olivier and The Mousetrap combined, in his world it is enough to say he
is Giles.
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