Matt Pritchett
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Matthew Pritchett MBE (born 14 July 1964) is a British cartoonist who has worked on The Daily Telegraph newspaper under the pen name Matt since 1988.
Early life and educationEdit
Pritchett's father Oliver Pritchett, who was a columnist for The Telegraph for all decades,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> is the son of the writer V. S. Pritchett.<ref name=DavidsonOct2008>Template:Cite news</ref> Matt's sister is screenwriter Georgia Pritchett.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
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, and started drawing cartoons in his spare time. His first cartoon was published in the New Statesman, and he soon started drawing more cartoons for The Telegraph diary.<ref name=DavidsonOct2008/> He had considered becoming a film-cameraman, but gave up after realising he had misunderstood the role.<ref name=BurrellNov2005/>
Career and honoursEdit
Following the death of Mark Boxer in 1988, Pritchett was hired by Max Hastings to be The Telegraph's new cartoonist.<ref name=DavidsonOct2008/> His first cartoon in this role came the day after the newspaper was printed with the date error, leading them to make a front-page apology accompanied by a cartoon saying "I hope I have a better Thursday than I did yesterday".<ref name=BurrellNov2005>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>"A newspaper ahead of its time", The Daily Telegraph, 25 February 1988, front page, via Newspapers.com, retrieved 26 November 2024.</ref>
He was appointed an MBE in the 2002 New Year Honours "for services to Journalism",<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
He has won the British Press Awards' "Cartoonist of the Year" multiple times, and has been a nominee many other times.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> His work has also been published in Punch.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Personal lifeEdit
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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> His wife's sister, Benedicte, is married to Martin Newland, a former editor of The Daily Telegraph.<ref name=DavidsonOct2008/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Published worksEdit
- Template:Cite book<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- Template:Cite book<ref name=DavidsonOct2008/>
AwardsEdit
- British Press Awards (The Press Awards after 2010): "Cartoonist of the Year" (2000,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 2008,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 2009,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 2019<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>)
- The Press Awards: "The Journalists' Charity Award" (2014)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>