David Gwilym John
David Gwilym John (1884–1958?), sometimes known as D. Gwilym John or D. G. John, was a Welsh cartoonist, best known as the creator of the cartoon character Dai Lossin.
Life[edit]
John was born to Catherine and William John at Pancross in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales in the early months of 1884. He was the cartoonist for the Football Echo, a Saturday sports paper and was noted for the character he created, Dai Lossin. The character of Dai Lossin became "something of a folk-hero" and his name became commonly used as a way to refer to any "likeable rogue" character.[1]
British political cartoonist Leslie Gilbert Illingworth called John "a comic genius" and said his cartoon character, Dai Lossin "epitomised the deadpan ironical understatement of Vale wit".[2] D. G. John, as he was known to friends, was the father of Godfrey John.[3]
There is a plaque on the house in Rhoose, where he lived and worked for a number of years.[2][4]
References[edit]
- ^ Stephens, Meic (1998). The New Companion to the Literature of Wales. University of Wales Press. p. 150. ISBN 978-0-7083-1383-1.
- ^ a b David Gwilym John: Comic Genius Behind ʻDai Lossinʼ Llancarfan Society Newsletter, No. 164 (December 2015). Retrieved 26 September 2016
- ^ Godfrey John, "Dai Lossin—Caricature and Fact" Five Seasons (1977) pp. 110-113
- ^ Looking Back:1986 Wales Online (2 August 2011). Retrieved 26 September 2016