Catalogue for the auction of
Cricket, Football, Golf & Sporting Memorabilia
To be held on Friday, Saturday & Sunday
29th, 30th November & 1st December 2024
Lot 1122
Estimate: £70/100
‘London Laughs. Derby Day. It bolted from the roundabouts’. Excellent and original pen and ink drawing artwork by artist Joseph Lee, showing the finishing line at the Derby at Epsom. A fairground horse appears to be winning the race much to the consternation of the jockeys on the horses and the packed crowd, the fairground horse with a big smile on its face. The artwork, signed by Lee, was published in the London Evening News and is dated 1st June 1938. Overall 15”x21” Some wear to the odd corner otherwise in good condition. A wonderfully evocative scene beautifully illustrated by the artist
Joseph Lee (1901-1975) worked for the Strand Magazine and Pall Mall Gazette in the 1920’s before joining the Sunday Express in 1924, followed by the Daily Mail. From 1934 to 1966 Lee worked for the London Evening News. ‘In 1934 Lee sent four trial cartoons to the London Evening News, one of which was published on 14 May 1934 as the first of a series entitled “London Laughs.” In these cartoons Lee proved particularly adept at depicting sporting-loving colonels, chubby and slightly vulgar ladies with sparkling jewellery, and dapper City gents’. [British Cartoon Archive]. This being one of the ‘London Laughs’. Lee died in March 1975