Introduction by Sir Trevor McDonald

I am delighted to have been asked to contribute this foreword to the commemorative Annual of Carl Giles' work. I became a fan when I was relatively young and living in Trinidad in the West Indies. Under the influence of my father who had little time for reading too many books, we were encouraged as a family to join in the fun of looking at Giles cartoons because they brilliantly encapsulated almost every aspect of life and with great wit, verve, bite and humour.

I remember coming to the view that people in England had the wonderful ability to laugh at themselves. I regard that as a great asset and a virtue in an otherwise naughty and sometimes appalling world. For me Giles' cartoons have another special element. They are funny but unfailingly good natured. They make you laugh out loud, but you are never made to feel uneasy about the spite or vindictiveness that inhabit so much of what passes for humour today.

Giles bravely spoke out for those who might never have otherwise had a voice of their own. He held up to delicious ridicule those who in assuming positions of responsibility in our society, confuse that with self-importance. He punctured pomposity and he clearly hated injustices. I have always enjoyed that about his work most of all. His cartoons speak to us in their extraordinary variety as the voice of real genius.