Osbert lancaster biography samples

English cartoonist and architectural writer (1908–1986)

Sir Osbert LancasterCBE (4 August 1908 – 27 July 1986) was an English cartoonist, architectural historian, stage designer and author.

He was known for his cartoons in the British press, and for his lifelong work to inform the general public about good buildings and architectural heritage.

The only child of a prosperous family, Lancaster was educated at Charterhouse School and Lincoln College, Oxford; at both he was an undistinguished scholar.

From an early age he was determined to be a professional artist and designer, and studied at leading art colleges in Oxford and London. While working as a contributor to The Architectural Review in the mid-1930s, Lancaster published the first of a series of books on architecture, aiming to simultaneously amuse the general reader and demystify the subject.

Several of the terms he coined as labels for architectural styles have gained common usage, including