Tom Scott

                Tom Scott

Tom was born in London in 1947. When he and his twin sister were one and a half the family came out to New Zealand to live. When Tom led onto learning, he went to Fielding High School and then to Massey University in Palmerston North.

At Massey he worked on the capping magazine and impressed people with his drawings. Tom was interested in current events, journalism and drawing cartoons. As a successful cartoonist he has needed to be creative, to have a sense of humour, to be skilled at drawing, to be able to work and think quickly and meet deadlines, and to understand the current issues of society.

Tom was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services as a writer, journalist and illustrator. Tom is passionate about New Zealand and is well-known as a fine after-dinner speaker. He is spoken of as New Zealand's leading satirical cartoonist. The word satirical comes from satire which means using exaggerated or mocking humour to show up faults. His cartoons can show a complex social issue in one drawing. One New Zealand Prime Minister, Robert Muldoon, did not like something Tom had written and banned him from the Press Gallery. Tom later drew a cartoon about a fire during refurbishing of Parliament Buildings in 1992. It features one firefighter telling another the situation is worse than they thought because there are no politicians or journalist trapped inside.