Roger Law (born 6 September 1941, in

Littleport, Cambridgeshire Littleport is a large village in East Cambridgeshire, in the Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England. It lies about north-east of Ely and south-east of Welney, on the Bedford Level South section of the River Great Ouse, close to Burnt Fen a ...

), is a British

caricaturist A caricaturist is an artist who specializes in drawing caricatures. List of caricaturists * Abed Abdi (born 1942) * Al Hirschfeld (1903–2003) * Alex Gard (1900–1948) * Alexander Saroukhan (1898–1977) * Alfred Grévin (1827–1892) * Alf ...

, ceramist and one half of ''Luck and Flaw'' (with

Peter Fluck Peter Nigel Fluck (born 7 April 1941) is a British caricaturist and one half of the partnership known as ''Luck and Flaw'' (with Roger Law), creators of the popular satirical TV puppet show ''Spitting Image''. He attended Cambridgeshire High ...

), creators of the popular satirical TV

puppet show Puppetry is a form of theatre or performance that involves the manipulation of puppets – inanimate objects, often resembling some type of human or animal figure, that are animated or manipulated by a human called a puppeteer. Such a performan ...

Spitting Image ''Spitting Image'' is a British satirical television puppet show, created by Peter Fluck, Roger Law and Martin Lambie-Nairn. First broadcast in 1984, the series was produced by 'Spitting Image Productions' for Central Independent Television ...

''. Roger Law was a pioneer in bringing political caricatures from newspapers and magazines to television. In 2020 Roger Law was executive producer on the new series of Spitting Image made with Avalon Productions and streamed on Britbox.

Early life and education

Law went to Littleport Secondary Modern School in

, and attended Cambridge School of Art (now part of

Anglia Ruskin University Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) is a public university in East Anglia, United Kingdom. Its origins are in the Cambridge School of Art, founded by William John Beamont in 1858. It became a university in 1992, and was renamed after John Ruskin in ...

). He met Peter Fluck during his time there.

Career

Early work

In 1960 whilst Roger was at Cambridge School of Art he was made art director of the university magazine, ''Granta''. That same year, Roger was also published by ''East Anglian Magazine''. After graduating from ''Cambridge School of Art'', Law started his career working in print, namely magazines. By 1963, Law was creating a weekly cartoon with

Peter Cook Peter Edward Cook (17 November 1937 – 9 January 1995) was an English actor, comedian, satirist, playwright and screenwriter. He was the leading figure of the British satire boom of the 1960s, and he was associated with the anti-establishme ...

for ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...

'', a short-lived venture aptly named ''‘Almost the end’''. At the same time, Law was also doing a 14 ft long weekly cartoon strip for '' The Establishment Club'', a nightclub opened by Peter Cook in

Soho Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was develo ...

. ''The Establishment Club'' has since been named as a pivotal meeting spot for the British satirical movement in the 1960s. In 1966 Law worked as a freelance caricaturist and illustrator for ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, w ...

''. During this time he made his first 3D caricature model for ''Nova Magazine'' which won a

D&AD Design and Art Direction (D&AD), formerly known as British Design and Art Direction, is a British educational organisation that was created in 1962 to promote excellence in design and advertising. Its main offices are in Spitalfields in London. I ...

silver award. That same year Law also worked on album covers for The Who, ''The Who Sell Out'' and Jimi Hendrix's ''Axis Bold as Love''. Law is also said to have made a brief appearance in The Who's music video for "Happy Jack". In 1967 Law moved to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and took up residence at

Reed College Reed College is a private liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus in the Eastmoreland neighborhood, with Tudor-Gothic style architecture, and a forested canyon nature preserve at ...

, Portland. Whilst in the US Law worked on his first film featuring puppets, called ''The Milkman. The Milkman'' dystopian-satirical look at American capitalism and the technology that surrounded it. The film was awarded Rockefeller grant. Law also freelanced for Esquire and Newsweek. After a brief stint working in New York at '' Push Pin Studios'' with

Milton Glaser Milton Glaser (June 26, 1929June 26, 2020) was an American graphic designer. His most notable designs include the I Love New York logo, a 1966 poster for Bob Dylan, and the logos for DC Comics, Stony Brook University and Brooklyn Brewery. In 195 ...

and Seymour Chwast, Law returned to the UK in 1969 to be a features editor at ''

The Sunday Times Magazine ''The Sunday Times Magazine'' is a magazine included with ''The Sunday Times''. In 1962 it became the first colour supplement to be published as a supplement to a UK newspaper, and its arrival "broke the mould of weekend newspaper publishing". ...

''. When

Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American business magnate. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including ...

bought ''The Times'' and ''The Sunday Times'' in 1975, Law left the magazine and formed a partnership with Peter Fluck, a group which became ''Luck & Flaw''. Together they made 3D caricature models for magazine covers worldwide, including ''The'' ''New York Times'' ''Magazine'', '' Der Spiegel'', '' Stern'' and ''The Economist'' & ''Radio Times''. The pair also did visual satire over several pages for the ''National Lampoon''. The piece on the common market was sold to every European country. In 1979 ''Luck & Flaw'' illustrated Charles Dickens's '' A Christmas Carol,'' published by ''

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

.'' Law and Fluck also created caricature

ceramics A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...

, featuring British politicians including

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...

and members of the British royal family. In 1980 the BBC's ''Arena'' made an arts documentary on Luck and Flaw called ''The Luck and Flaw Show.''

Spitting Image

In 1981 Law and Fluck made a plan to transfer political caricatures to television, which was funded by

Martin Lambie-Nairn Martin John Lambie-Nairn (5 August 1945 – 25 December 2020) was an English designer. He was the founder of his branding agency Lambie-Nairn and was the creative director of branding agency ML-N. He is recognised for having redefined television ...

. Two years later the pilot for ''Spitting Image'' was shot. On 26 February 1984, the first episode of ''Spitting Image'' was transmitted on ''ITV'' for ''Central Independent Television.'' This was the first series of 18. In 1985 ''Spitting Image'' created puppets for two shows called ‘Michael Nesmith’s Television Parts’ for ''NBC Network TV'', USA. In 1986, ''Treasure Island'' by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by the pair, was published by ''

Faber & Faber Faber and Faber Limited, usually abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, Margaret Storey, William Golding, Samuel ...

.'' ''Arena'' made another two specials about ''Spitting Image'', ''The Spitting Image Factory'', where Law and Fluck toured the workshop where the show was produced. Also in 1985, they made another documentary with Arena called ''Luck and Flaw's Guide to Caricature''. In 1986 a song by ''Spitting Image, "''

The Chicken Song "The Chicken Song" is a novelty song by the British satirical comedy television programme ''Spitting Image'' (series 3, episode 6). The nonsensical lyrics were written by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor; the music was written by Philip Pope, who als ...

''"'' topped the UK hit parade for three weeks. Under Law's creative eye the ''Spitting Image'' workshop produced merchandise alongside the show, notably rubber dog chews called '''Pet Hates with the slogan ‘''Throw a politician to your dog’.'' ''Spitting Image'' also released many popular books, such as ''The Appallingly Disrespectful Spitting Image Book'' and ''The Spitting Image Giant Komic Book''. The ''Spitting Image'' workshop also created the puppets for the music video "

Land of Confusion "Land of Confusion" is a song by the English rock band Genesis from their 1986 album ''Invisible Touch''. The song was the third track on the album and was the third track released as a single, reaching No. 4 in the U.S. and No. 14 in the UK in ...

" by Genesis. The same year, Spitting Image published a book titled ''Tooth and Claw: Inside Story of "Spitting Image"''. This book gave an insight into working at the Spitting Image workshop and was mainly visual. In 1990 ''Spitting Image'' brought out ''‘The Real Maggie Memoirs’'' and Law published his first book, ''‘A Nasty Piece of Work’,'' written in collaboration with Lewis Chester. ''The Alliance Graphic International'' (''AGI'') elected Law as a member in 1993. By 1994 ''Spitting Image'' had been franchised in countries such as Japan,

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

. That same year Law worked on a new puppet TV film ''Peter and the Wolf: A Prokofiev Fantasy.'' It was the musical tale of Peter and the Wolf brought to life by puppets and human characters in a fairy tale world. The film was narrated by Sting and

conducted Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance, such as an orchestral or choral concert. It has been defined as "the art of directing the simultaneous performance of several players or singers by the use of gesture." The primary duti ...

Claudio Abbado Claudio Abbado (; 26 June 1933 – 20 January 2014) was an Italian conductor who was one of the leading conductors of his generation. He served as music director of the La Scala opera house in Milan, principal conductor of the London Symphony ...

. ''Peter and the Wolf'' was the first-ever international co-production. In 1995 Law and ''Spitting Image'' funded a short animated film called ''The Big Story'' made by David Stoten and Timothy Watts, which was then nominated for an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

(Oscar) and a BAFTA award. The last series of ''Spitting Image'' was aired in 1996. The first online sale of the ''Spitting Image'' puppets was organised in 2000 by Kerry Taylor of Sotheby’s. The second sale was just a year later and hosted at Olympia. In 2018

Cambridge University Library Cambridge University Library is the main research library of the University of Cambridge. It is the largest of the over 100 libraries within the university. The Library is a major scholarly resource for the members of the University of Cambri ...

accepted the ''Spitting Image'' Archive. In September 2019 ''Spitting Image'' was confirmed to be returning twenty-three years after it was last aired. ''Avalon Productions'' produced the ten shows with Roger's as Exec Producer alongside Jeff Westbrook, Richard Allen-Turner, Joanna Beresford, and Jon Thoday. The first show was premiered on Britbox in the UK in the Autumn of 2020. The shows were also aired globally on separate platforms. Avalon has confirmed another ten shows to be aired in 2021. The second series of ''Spitting Image'' aired in 2021, with Law being credited as executive producer.

Later career

From 1996 to 1997 ''

Crapston Villas ''Crapston Villas'' was a British animated television series, written, created and directed by Sarah Ann Kennedy, in which the characters were made from plasticine and filmed with stop motion clay animation. It was a comedy satire on inner-city ...

'', which was produced in the Spitting Image workshop and studio, was aired. It was a stop-motion animation featuring a set of characters, living in a grim apartment building in the fictional London postcode of SE69, who were plagued by various dilemmas. Roger then moved to Australia as an artist in residence at the

National Art School The National Art School (NAS) is a tertiary level art school, located in , an inner-city suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The school is an independent accredited higher education provider offering specialised study in studio arts p ...

in Sydney. That same year he was made a fellow of the ''International Specialised Skills Foundation in Australia''. In 1999 Roger was made a member of ''The Faculty of Royal Designers for Industry'' (''RDI''). In 2000 Roger was an artist in residence at Dartington pottery in Devon, UK. Roger also had three exhibitions ''Risk Takers and Pioneers, Aussie Stuff-Way Beyond the Black Stump and The Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition 2000''. In that same year Roger was also presented an award from the University of Leicester's Political Studies Association on their 50th Anniversary 1950 – 2000 In 2005 Roger's second book, a semi-autobiography, ''Still Spitting at Sixty'' was published by

Harper Collins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Corp ...

with chapters on his Australian travels. Law also worked in

Jingdezhen Jingdezhen is a prefecture-level city, in northeastern Jiangxi province, with a total population of 1,669,057 (2018), bordering Anhui to the north. It is known as the " Porcelain Capital" because it has been producing Chinese ceramics for at le ...

, China producing large carved ceramics. The Sladmore Gallery in London now sells Law's ceramics. Law then moved back to the UK in 2012.

Inspiration

Whilst Roger was at Art school Paul Hogarth, one of his tutors, showed him the French magazine, ''L’Assiette au Buerre''. Roger has stated many times that the drawings and attitudes of the magazine were a great inspiration. ''L’assiette au Buerre'' was illustrated front to back with cartoons or caricatures with only a short satirical caption written at the bottom of each page. The magazine challenged social norms and commented on problems of the period but had no clear political alliance. During Roger's early career whilst working closely with Peter Cook at ''The Observer'' and ''The Establishment Club'' he met many satirists including Lenny Bruce, such meetings gave him his first steps to use his drawing skills for satire. He quotes ''“Only those who attempt the absurd are capable of achieving the impossible.”'' Roger has always cited that the ‘family friendly’ puppet show ''Punch and Judy'' was a great inspiration when working on ''Spitting Image,'' they both pushed boundaries. The idea that you can have extreme violence, murder, and infanticide yet is still funny and even enjoyed by children was, retrospectively, his first step in creating the grotesque Spitting Image style. Roger has stated that his mentor was Paul Hogarth was a huge inspiration. Hogarth was an English artist and illustrator. Best known for his travel drawings that he made for Graham Greene's books, Robert Graves books and the Irish playwright Brendan Bingham. The Fen's where Roger Law was born was outlaw territory until comparatively recently and anti-establishment attitudes still linger on. Roger feels growing up around people who had less of a desire to follow the rules gave him licence to break them throughout his career.

Personal life

He married Deidre Amsden (a quilt designer) in 1960 in Cambridge. They have a son (born 1962) and daughter (born 1965).

Television

Spitting Image Spitting Image Specials

Film

Radio

Books

Exhibitions

Awards and nominations

Music awards

Film

Design awards

References

External links

threehumansinc.com/RogerLaw.html

www.rogerlawceramics.com

Biography

''The Times'' March 2005

Whatever happened to the teapots?
*https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01wdwz6 *https://www.sladmorecontemporary.com/roger-law-biography *https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/aug/03/roger-law-spitting-image-potter *https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/10/roger-laws-odyssey-from-satire-on-tv-to-chinas-porcelain-city/246176/ *https://www.fendittongallery.com/roger-law *https://scottish-gallery.co.uk/artist/roger-law *https://www.discogs.com/artist/1669813-Roger-Law *https://www.sainsburycentre.ac.uk/stories/roger-law-spitting-image/ *https://www.theoldie.co.uk/article/john-lloyd-oldie-puppeteer-of-the-year-roger-law *https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p029yrf3/p029yz20 *https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06v5xhx/episodes/guide *https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b091tv95 *https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06v5xhx/episodes/guide *https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b012r99b *https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b049pcvt/episodes/guide *https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04nql09 *https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b049pcvt/episodes/guide *https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009mlw9 *https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04nv6lv *https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01s1y7j *https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b016k6xl *https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01sn8c7 *https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00pg5pn *https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01rkxht *https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b008tx8m *https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06rqtjc *https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00knwyq *https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00nt9c5 *https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01sg4d4 *https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0383j0r *https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b008wf02/episodes/guide *https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00s7vs4 *https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wldd9 *https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00c9n3p *https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00rd967/episodes/guide *https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01pj1l7 *https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00sdrtm *https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03vzwfn *https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00k718c {{DEFAULTSORT:Law, Roger 1941 births Living people Alumni of Anglia Ruskin University British caricaturists British comics artists British illustrators British satirists British ceramicists Album-cover and concert-poster artists Courtroom sketch artists People from Ely, Cambridgeshire Spitting Image English expatriates in Australia