Matt Pritchett
British pocket cartoonist
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Matthew Pritchett MBE (born 14 July 1964)[1] is a British cartoonist who has worked on The Daily Telegraph newspaper under the pen name Matt since 1988.
Early life and education
Pritchett's father Oliver Pritchett was a columnist for The Daily Telegraph for several decades;[2] his paternal grandfather was the writer V. S. Pritchett.[3][4] The screenwriter Georgia Pritchett is his sister.[5]
Pritchett attended a grammar school in south-east London before studying graphics at Saint Martin's School of Art. He started working as a waiter in a pizza restaurant, while drawing cartoons in his spare time. His first cartoon was published in the New Statesman, and he then started drawing cartoons for The Daily Telegraph diary.[3] He had considered becoming a film-cameraman, but gave up after realising he had misunderstood the role.[6]
Career
Following the death of Mark Boxer in 1988, Pritchett was hired by Max Hastings to be The Daily Telegraph's new pocket cartoonist.[3] His first cartoon in this role came the day after the newspaper was printed with a date error, leading them to make a front-page apology; the cartoon caption was, "I hope I have a better Thursday than I did yesterday."[6][7] His work has also been published in Punch.[8]
Honours
Pritchett won the British Press Awards' "Cartoonist of the Year" in 2000,[9] 2008,[10] 2009,[11] and 2019,[12] and has been a nominee many other times.[13][14] He won "The Journalists' Charity Award" at the 2014 Press Awards.[15]
He was appointed an MBE in the 2002 New Year Honours "for services to Journalism",[16] and in 2005, Press Gazette inducted him into their Hall of Fame as one of the 40 most influential journalists of the past four decades.[6][17]
Personal life
Pritchett is married to Pascale Smets, a Belgian former fashion designer. They met whilst studying at Saint Martin's, and have three daughters and a son together, including The Guardian cartoonist Edith Pritchett.[18] His wife's sister, Benedicte, is married to Martin Newland, a former editor of The Daily Telegraph.[3][4]