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Ken Sprague (1927–2004) was an English socialist political cartoonist, journalist and activist, involved in trade union, civil rights and peace movements. In later life he was also a TV presenter and a psychotherapist. Sprague was concerned with how politics affected the ordinary person. "In essence, the leitmotif of his work is about power and the abuse of power as well as the resilience of ordinary working people to this abuse... It is an art of engagement – engagement for change."〔John Green, from the Introduction to ''Ken Sprague – People's Artist''〕 Martin Rowson said "Ken's art has the power and strength to inspire. He is the true heir, as a socialist artist, of William Morris." ==Early years== Sprague was born in Bournemouth, to a father who was a train driver and a mother who worked in a cardboard box factory. His first work of art, in 1937, in response to the Guernica air raid in the Spanish Civil War, was a linocut made from linoleum torn from the kitchen floor. Printed on his mother's mangle, it was used on collecting sheets for Spain. He was educated at Alma Road Elementary School — until it was bombed during World War II — and Porchester Road Secondary Modern School. There the headmaster, noticing his talent, recommended that he apply to the local art college. He won a scholarship to Bournemouth Municipal College and, from 13 and a half, studied graphics — since in those days students of his background were rarely considered for fine arts courses. One morning in 1944 he volunteered for the Royal Marines, aged 17, — and that same afternoon, in Southampton, he joined the Communist Party. After basic military training he was transferred to Vickers-Supermarine as a technical artist, working on ejector seats for Spitfires. He was also sent to Yugoslavia to bring back an ejector seat from a German plane the partisans had shot down, during which visit he adopted the big handlebar moustache that was to become his trademark for the rest of his life. Postwar, and after a summer stint in a circus, he completed his college diploma course in design and illustration. The Communist Party, he told his biographer, was his university, but after the ''Bournemouth Daily Echo'' had labelled him a college revolutionary, local job prospects dwindled. He briefly worked for a volunteer labour battalion in Yugoslavia, and was employed by the Boy Scouts. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ken Sprague」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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