Honour for artist of the black stuff

Jan 27 2009 by Tony Henderson, The Journal

MY GOODNESS! The artist who created the famous Guinness adverts and also painted the entire Royal Family is set to be honoured by his home city of Newcastle.

A proposal has been put forward for a city council blue plaque to John Gilroy, who was born in Crawhall Terrace in Newcastle in 1898.

From 1930 he produced more than 100 Press advertisements and nearly 50 poster designs for Guinness over 35 years.

He is best remembered for his ‘My Goodness My Guinness’ and ‘Guinness is Good for You’ posters featuring the girder carrier and the wood cutter and for the Guinness animals, including a lion, toucan, gnu and kangaroo with their long-suffering zoo keeper. But Gilroy was also a leading portrait painter who produced studies of the future Edward VIII, the Queen, the Queen Mother, the Duke of Edinburgh, Princesses Margaret and Anne, and Prince Charles. The Queen last sat for Gilroy when he was 82. He died aged 86 in 1985.

Gilroy also painted Pope John XXIII, Winston Churchill, Edward Heath, Sir John Gielgud, and Arthur Ransome. The bid for a plaque at Kingsley Place in Heaton, Newcastle, where Gilroy lived will go before the city council’s conservation advisory committee tomorrow.

The proposal has come from ward councillor Stephen Psallidas, who was approached by Heaton residents who want to see Gilroy honoured.

“The Guinness adverts are known the world over and a plaque to John Gilroy in what is a modest, unassuming street will create real historical interest,” said Coun Psallidas yesterday.

“John Gilroy’s links with Newcastle have been something of a well-kept secret and we hope a plaque will correct that.”

Gilroy went to Sandyford School and Heaton Park School, and gained a scholarship to Durham University’s Armstrong College. His studies were interrupted by the First World War, during which he served in the Royal Artillery in France and Palestine.

In 1925 he joined the Benson advertising agency where, as well as his Guinness creations, he worked on the Bovril, Colman’s mustard and Rowntree’s Fruit Gums accounts, dreaming up a cartoon character made from fruit. Gilroy also produced more than 800 designs for the Royle greetings card company.