Colonel Blimp

This article is about the cartoon character. For the Powell-Pressburger film, see The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp. For other uses, see Colonel Blimp (disambiguation).

"Security by Col. Blimp" (c. 1930s)

Colonel Blimp is a British cartoon character by cartoonist David Low, first drawn for Lord Beaverbrook's London Evening Standard in April 1934.[1] Blimp is pompous, irascible, jingoistic, and stereotypically British, identifiable by his walrus moustache and the interjection "Gad, Sir!"

Low claimed that he developed the character after overhearing two military men in a Victorian-style Turkish bath declare that cavalry officers should be entitled to wear their spurs inside tanks.[2] The character was named after the barrage balloon, which was known as a blimp.

  1. ^ "David Low".
  2. ^ Stone-Lee, Ollie (8 May 2002). "Century's 'best cartoonist' on show". BBC News. Retrieved 28 March 2010.