William Papas

William "Bill" Papas (15 July 1927 – 19 June 2000) was a political cartoonist and caricaturist, book author and illustrator, and watercolourist. In the 1960s and 1970s he worked for The Guardian, The Sunday Times and Punch. His work has won international acclaim and is included in many private and corporate collections around the world.

Papas was born in Ermelo, Union of South Africa, and was educated at Pretoria Boys High School. His father, Kostas Papas, was a successful Greek immigrant, one of the town's leading citizens.

At the age of 15, he ran away from home to join the South African Air Force, and flew coastal missions as a tail gunner during the war. He later studied art at Johannesburg Art School, then at Beckenham School of Art in Kent, and at St Martin's in London.

His first published cartoon appeared in the Cape Times in 1951, and his first illustrated book, Under the Table Cloth, was published in 1952. He later freelanced in Johannesburg as artist-cum-reporter, notably covering Nelson Mandela's treason trial in 1958.

In 1959 he returned to Britain with his family, his wife Aroon McConnell and daughter Peta, their two sons Warren & Vollmer, settling in Kent and joining the staff of The Guardian. In 1963 he took over from David Low as political cartoonist. He also drew comic strips and produced pictorial reports, covering, for example, Cyprus in 1965 and the Six-Day War in 1967. Between 1964 and 1972 he also produced cartoons for the Sunday Times and Punch.

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