Keith Waite

Keith Roy Waite (19 March 1927, in New Plymouth, New Zealand – 10 April 2014, in Ipswich, United Kingdom) was a New Zealand-born editorial cartoonist. He has been referred to as one of the 'greatest-ever social and political cartoonists' in Britain.

Biography

At the age of nine, Waite won a newspaper cartoon competition. He has been quoted as saying "I just knew from an early age that I wanted to be a cartoonist". His interest in art continued and he attended Elam School of Fine Arts, as well as Auckland Teacher Training College. After teaching for a year, he returned to Elam while working as a free-lance cartoonist for the Taranaki Daily News, the Auckland Weekly News and the New Zealand Herald. He took up a position at the Otago Daily Times as a staff cartoonist in 1949.

In 1951, Waite moved to the United Kingdom contributing to a number of publications including the Sunday Times, the Glasgow Daily Record, The Scottish Daily News, Punch (1952-1964), and Men Only magazine. Between 1957 and 1964 he worked as the chief political cartoonist for the Daily Sketch in London, producing up to three cartoons a day. He continued to work for London-based publications, including the Sun (1964–69), the Daily Mirror (1969–85), the Sunday Mirror (1970–80) and the City Diary of The Times (1987-1997). He was made Cartoonist of the Year in 1963 by the Cartoonists' Club of Great Britain.

Publications

• Just Waite: Cartoons from the Otago Daily Times (1950). Dunedin, Otago Daily Times Print.
• Waite up to date 1959: Cartoons from the Otago Daily Times (1951). Dunedin, Otago Daily Times Print.
• The adventures of Little Mookra, by John Emlyn Edwars, illustrated by Keith Waite (1977). London, Methuen Children's Books.
• Cookign afloat on sail and power boats, by Fiona Grafton, illustrated by Keith Waite (1979). London, Macmillan.
• The worlds of Waite: Cartoons from the Daily Mirror and Sunday Mirror (1989). London, Mirror.
• Sailing past, by Renee M Waite, illustrated by Keith Waite (1992). London, Seafarer

Exhibitions

• Drawn and Quartered: The World of the British Newspaper Cartoon, 1720-1970, National Portrait Gallery, London (1970)
• Not By Appointment, London Press Club (1977)
• Public Lives - New Zealand's Premiers and Prime Ministers 1856-2003, National Library of New Zealand (2003)