Michael Heath

Michael John Heath is a British strip cartoonist and illustrator. He has been cartoon editor of The Spectator since 1991.

Biography

Heath was born on 13 October 1935, in Bloomsbury, London. His father, George Heath, was also a cartoonist of boy's adventure comics, a job he detested. Heath's relationship with both his parents was distant and neither birthdays nor Christmas were celebrated. During the war Heath was evacuated to his grandmother's house in Torcross, in Devon. In 1947 the family moved to Brighton. While studying at art college, which he loathed, Heath sold his first cartoons to Melody Maker for two guineas. He later got work illustrating album covers for Decca Records and drew a strip called "Nelly Know-all" for the Women's Sunday Mirror. By the 1960s he was part of the Soho social crowd that included Jeffrey Bernard, Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon.

His work has appeared in numerous British publications including Punch, Lilliput, the Evening Standard, The Evening News, The Guardian, The Spectator, The Independent, The Sunday Times, The Mail on Sunday, and Private Eye; all his work is signed simply as "HEATH".

He has been cartoon editor of The Spectator since 1991, Heath's 90s. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1997.

Partial list of works illustrated by Heath

Back with Parren, E. W. Hildick, London: Macmillan, 1968. The Computer People, Anne Denny Angus, London: Faber & Faber, 1970. Robert Morley's Book of Bricks, Robert Morley, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1978. (Illustrated by Heath and Geoffrey Dickinson.) The Job of Acting: A guide to working in the theatre, Clive Swift, London: Harrap, 1979. Robert Morley's Book of Worries, Robert Morley, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1979. (Illustrations by Heath and Geoffrey Dickinson.) Loose Talk: Adventures on the streets of shame, Tina Brown, London: Michael Joseph, 1979. The Anti-Booklist, Brian Redhead and Kenneth McLeish (eds), London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1981. Fanny Peculiar, Keith Waterhouse, London: Michael Joseph, 1983. Second Best Bed, Fenton Bresler, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. 1983. Merde! The real French you were never taught at school, Genevieve, London: Angus & Robertson, 1984. No Laughing Matter: A collection of political jokes, Steven Lukes and Itzhak Galnoor, London: Routledge, 1985. How's Your Glass? A quizzical look at drinks and drinking, Kingsley Amis, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1985. Waterhouse at Large, Keith Waterhouse, London: Michael Joseph, 1985. Merde encore! More of the real French you were never taught at school, Genevieve, London: Angus, 1986. Talking Horses, Jeffrey Bernard, London: Fourth Estate, 1987. Beyond Fear, Dorothy Rowe, London: Fontana, 1987. Winewise; or, How to be streetwise about wine, Alice King, London: Methuen, 1987. All Gourmets Great and Small, Clive and Angela Russell-Taylor, Southampton: Ashford Press, 1988. High Life, Taki, London: Viking, 1989. Generation Games, Laurie Graham, London: Chatto & Windus, 1990. A Parent's Survival Guide, Laurie Graham, London: Chatto & Windus, 1991. Countryblast, Clive Aslet, London: John Murray, 1991. British Teeth: An excruciating journey from the dentist's chair to the rotten heart of a nation, William R. Leith, London: Faber & Faber, 2002. The English at Table, Digby Anderson, London: Social Affairs Unit, 2006