Cartoonists were outside their usual comfort zone at the Private Eye Golden Jubilee party on Wednesday -- the culmination of the magazine's 50th celebrations -- not because of the splendour of the venue, but rather the "smart dress" instruction on the invite.
The grandeur of the Guildhall, in the City of London, was punctured by the placing of cutouts of famous Private Eye "victims" (Robert Maxwell, Andrew Neil etc) on the balconies, giant Private Eye crusader logos flanking the stage, and a few well-chosen speech bubbles, right.
There was champagne, canapes, speeches from all three Eye editors, some minor-celeb spotting -- mostly of the "meeja" variety ("Look, it's Mark Lawson off of that Late Review!") -- and a little dancing. The evening is well summed up by a great reportage cartoon by longtime Eye cartoonist Martin Honeysett, along with a short article, over at the Bloghorn