THE REAL KIPPER
In our last Cornucopia we had a piece about Norman Thelwell and the Test Valley in which we mentioned Penelope and her pony Kipper, and Paul Dean has written in to tell us more.
“I am currently writing a short piece about Thelwell for a new publication by our local history society about noted and noteworthy former residents of our community in South Staffordshire.
“Norman Thelwell came to live in Codsall, Staffordshire, with his family after he had graduated from the Liverpool College of Art in the 1950s. He was lecturing at Wolverhampton College of Art, now part of Wolverhampton University, and drawing cartoons as a hobby. It so happened that in the field opposite their house, a local resident kept a couple of ponies.
“A local girl, Pam Snell, aged less than ten, noticed that one pony was never exercised or ridden. As she knew the owner, she asked if she could do ‘the honours’ with the pony, called Sorrell. Sorrell was a Welsh pony, stocky, short and strong with an unruly mane and tail and a distinct stubborn streak! The pony was not easy to catch and only moved when she wanted to. Sorrell gave Pam an interesting, not to say bruising, experience in horse-riding. Years later, Pam realised that she had been the inspiration for Norman in creating his iconic cartoon of Penelope and Kipper.
“One day in 1953, Norman drew the scene in the field opposite and sent it off to Punch magazine. After five years at the art college, he realised that he was earning more in a couple of hours doing cartoons than in a week’s teaching.
“He became a cartoonist for the
News Chronicle in 1956 and for the
Sunday Dispatch in 1960. The rest is history. Norman and his family then moved to the Test Valley and his link with Codsall ended.”