Valentine’s Day lessons in modern love from the Ancient Greeks: Aphrodite and Adonis find a match on Tinder
The Remarkable Career of Raymond Briggs
Raymond Briggs, author of Fungus the Bogeyman, The Snowman and my favourite Ethel and Ernest, draws his own cover
The Empire Strikes Back
Sometimes (ok, most of the time), the quickest way to visualise an idea is to Google search the images you need, then source the licenced images later. Sometimes (ok, most of the time), the licenced images just aren’t as good. A less domineering Darth, though still dressed with Mickey Mouse features, was used on the final cover.
Up ‘Til Dawn
We wanted a neon sunrise for our Up ‘Til Dawn travel special, so we asked Martin ‘Cut-It-Out’ O’Neill to scalpel this illuminating illo. And here he shows how it was done: http://dogsanddice.co.uk/2015/01/up-until-dawn/
Poor Marius!
With no suitable mate, Marius the giraffe was deemed surplus to requirements at Copenhagen Zoo. Despite a 27,000-strong petition for clemency and offers from around the world to re-home him, he was shot in the head, dissected in public and fed to the lions. Poor Marius. And poor Bayliss – the final cover was published without the saucy thought bubble.
Great White Lie
Fish are friends! Only about a dozen of the 500 or so species of Shark like to eat humans. The killer pictures in this story are by Jean-Marie Ghislain
The School Issue
This started out as the top of an old toy box. I drew the magazine masthead on to the wood and the cover lines were enthusiastically graffitied by members of our staff. Some steak pie from Kensington Wholefoods was added before the thing was photographed. The pencil recess and shadows were magicked on afterwards by Hit and Run Media.
Lost Portraits of the Somme
In the heart of the First World War’s battlefields, British and Australian soldiers visited a local amateur photographer to sit for souvenir portraits to be sent home as postcards. Nearly 100 years later, after some of the photographer’s glass plates were unearthed in northern France, The Independent published around 600 of them on its website. They were viewed online more than 1,700,000 times, but only four or five soldiers were identified.
Heathrow Takes Off
Has Britain’s biggest airport finally landed in the 21st century? And what about my luggage?
Family Origins: What’s it like being a Darwin, or a Dickens, or a Pankhurst?
On the left is Charles Darwin, on the right his great-great-great granddaughter Laura Keynes. Despite being many generations apart, their faces seemed very alike. We searched for closely matching portraits and amazingly they slotted perfectly together. No stretching or manipulation was necessary, except to tint Laura with the same colour palette as Darwin.
Kevin Bayliss 