THE ROWNTREE Society has trawled the archives for a new exhibition to mark the 30th anniversary of the iconic York brand’s takeover by Nestle.

The exhibition features 50 cartoons, dating from April to June 1988, which appeared in national newspapers during the takeover period.

It forms part of the University of York’s Festival of Ideas, which runs until June 17.

Sketches from famous cartoonists such as Giles, JAK, Calman, Banx, John Springs, Kipper Williams, Gibbard and an early drawing from Telegraph cartoonist Matt all feature.

Each cartoon offers satirical commentary on the controversial takeover, which received unprecedented levels of coverage in the press, but went ahead uncontested, despite the warnings of Government ministers, huge national debate and public protests in Westminster.

The Milky Bar Kid and famous advertising slogans of the day are used to inject humour into the subject, as well as depictions of politicians, including Margaret Thatcher, Michael Heseltine and Lord Young, and the heads of Rowntree (Ken Dixon), Nestle (Helmut Maucher) and Suchard (Klaus Jacobs).

The display is the culmination of several months of research by curator, Liz Grierson, who is also chair of the Rowntree Society and worked at Rowntree throughout the 1980s.

Liz said: “I worked in the group that was part of the takeover team and saw the press cuttings every day. I thought I would see if I could find them, but nobody had kept them.”

Her search ultimately led her to the British Library where she spent hours trawling through microfilm.

She said: “Both Banx and Kipper Williams have said how wonderful it is that their work still has a life today.

“Kipper even redrew one of his cartoons because the original, which features in the exhibition, wasn’t of a good enough quality to reproduce in our brochure.

“It was a joy to find them all again and a joy to put the exhibition together. It is a nice way to mark this anniversary.”

The cartoons are on display in the Borthwick Institute in the University of York library during normal opening hours and the exhibition launches today at 2pm with a brief introduction from Liz.

This year’s Festival of Ideas will host more than 150 mainly free events, including talks, performances, screenings and exhibitions, based on the theme of Imagining the Impossible.

Other highlights for 2018 include talks by tennis coach (and mother of Andy and Jamie) Judy Murray, TV and radio archaeologist Julian Richards, and presenter and broadcaster June Sarpong.

For full program information and tickets visit http://yorkfestivalofideas.com/2018.