Page "Willie Rushton" Paragraph 17

Rushton had not been involved in Private Eye since the latter part of the 60s, other than a brief stint illustrating " Mrs Wilson's Diary " when the Labour Party came back into power in the mid-70s.

Rushton returned to Private Eye in 1978 to take over the task of illustrating " Auberon Waugh's Diary ".

The cartoons perfectly complemented Auberon Waugh's scabrous and surreal flights of invective, and when Waugh moved his column to The Daily Telegraph as the " Way of the World " in the mid-80s, Rushton followed.

The Victoria and Albert Museum, recognising his accomplishments, commissioned 24 large colour illustrations that were collected as Willie Rushton's Great Moments of History.

( Rushton had previous experience with the V & A when he had pulled a prank on the institution by labelling an electric plug socket in one of the galleries: " Plug hole designed by Hans Plug ( b. 1908 )" which remained for a full year – to the great annoyance of a cleaner who had to use a hefty extension lead for 12 months so as not to damage the exhibit.

) This large scale excursion into the use of colour was good practice for the monthly colour covers he created for the Literary Review when Auberon Waugh became its editor in the late 80s.

Rushton drew these covers along with the fortnightly caricatures for Private Eyes literary review page, until his untimely death.