Gemini's glorious part in Post history draws to a close
For more than 40 years he’s chronicled events big and small, pricking more than a few egos along the way with the caustic wit of his devilishly sharp pen.
But now Bert Hackett – The Birmingham Post cartoonist known as Gemini – has left the building.
Today’s Gemini sketch on our front page will be the last to grace this paper from one of the country’s greatest and most prolific pictorial satirists.
For four decades now the 75 year-old has been a familiar fixture in the newsroom, more often than not seen pacing the office floor with a far-off look of concentration on his face as he contemplated his next victim.
Most – if not all – of the major events locally, nationally and internationally have been illustrated by Bert, his genius very often treading the line between humour and offence, as only the best satire should.
Take, for example, his cartoon of the Apollo 13 disaster that threatened to see America suffer its first three fatalities in space.
While the world watched with horror at the unfolding events, Bert drew a picture of a length of fraying rope reaching out into space, with the caption: “Houston, we have a problem.”
Reflecting on the cartoon two years ago while celebrating his 40th anniversary with The Post, Bert said: “There were people in the office who thought it was in bad taste. I didn’t think so. It was done in a serious way, not a jokey way.”
Other times, his pen has been used to illuminate the darkest times with humour serving to ease the tension of the moment.
At the start of the Falklands War he drew a cartoon featuring two pairs of eyes peering out of the night as battleships gathered by moonlight on the horizon.
One says: “When you tink dey come, amigo?” The other replies: “Call me sergeant, laddie!”
Bert said: “The reaction from the readers was the biggest I have ever known.”
Gemini made its first appearance in October 1966. Bert was then working with business partner Graham Gavin in a Birmingham graphic design practice when they won several contracts with The Birmingham Post & Mail, working on everything from letterheads to van insignia.
Two years later the editor at the time, David Hopkinson, approached Bert about contributing a daily cartoon. Initially reluctant to commit to the responsibility, Bert eventually agreed to give it a go.
Forty-two years later he has seen off more than a dozen editors (Bert says he’s lost count) and contributed more than 10,000 cartoons. The name Gemini came from the fact that initially Bert shared the work with Graham, taking it in turns to submit their work.
In 1974 Graham left, Bert took over five days a week – and the rest, as they say, is history. Thanks for the memories, Bert!
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