The Giles Family

The Giles family came into being at the end of the second world war. Giles was casting around for characters to populate his cartoons to supersede Hitler, Mussolini and the British 'tommies' who had been the basis of most of his wartime work.

On 5th August 1945 'the Family' first appears, making their way along a railway line going on their holidays. They underwent a few changes in the first few years, as Giles developed the characters, but settled down to be the well known group shown in the tree above.

At the head of the family is Grandma, of course. Battleaxe and warrior, she takes on all comers with brolly and padlocked handbag. No sedentary old lady is she; variously seen on a Sinclair C5 electric vehicle, on skis, motorbike or a hang-glider. Behind her cloud of cigarette - or on the odd occasion pipe - smoke few get the better of her; although she has been known to have been captured by aliens and dragged off by the police.

Father, Grandma's son, thinks that he is head of the family. Of course he is totally wrong. He certainly goes off to work - somewhere. He has a passion for boats and betting and hiding from the younger, louder family members. He would do almost anything for a quiet life but the chances of that are minimal.

Mother is where the real power lies. It is she who seems to spend endless time cleaning and cooking and organises all the other family members. What Mother says goes. Mostly.

Their elder son. George has read everything and is universally known as the bookworm. He is imperturbable and nothing would convince him that it is important enough to put his book down. He is married to Vera. The butt of most of Grandma's jokes, she is an inveterate consumer of aspirin. George Junior is the only son of George and Vera. He usually takes the can back for the twins.

Ann, Carol and the twins (Ann's illegitimate children by an absent GI father). Carol is always bringing home dishevelled, hairy youths who shock Mother and Father with the likelihood that they may become part of the family. (Beware the confusion of early cartoons when the name of Carol and Brigit were transposed.) The twins are named after their mother’s favourite actors. So far neither Sir Lawrence nor Sir Ralph have taken legal action.

Ernie, so called as a change from George, is the younger son and the most dangerous element of the family. Nine times out of ten he is the brain behind the more unpleasant happenings. The other time he is asleep.

Bridget is the youngest daughter and has more cunning than the whole lot put together. Nobody has ever been able to pin anything on Bridget. A very dangerous ally when working with Ernie.

Outside of the family, but equally well known, is Chalkie the schoolmaster. Modelled on one of Giles's own masters this is Giles's revenge for what he felt was unfair treatment at school. Larry [sometimes known as Stinker] is always near to the centre of all trouble recording the event with his camera.

In the family there was a lot of crossover between fact and fiction. In Giles' own household there was a series of dogs named Butch, the family go off to America at the same time as Giles or travel around Scotland in the caravan that Giles himself built. Gilesland and fact are often intertwined.

All cartoons on this page are copyright Express Newspapers.

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Last updated: 4 October 2000