Interior Gallery

Modest, mischievous, easy-going, gregarious, sharp-eyed, intelligent, quirky, irrepressible, and gentle. Over and over, people have used these words to describe Merle Randolph Tingley (1921-2017). Better known as “Ting,” he was, for over forty years, the much-loved London Free Press political cartoonist.

This biographical exhibition will introduce you to the Ting you knew and the Ting you didn’t. Far from being an exposé, The Life and Work of Merle Tingley will confirm that he was a kind and gifted man whom Londoners were fortunate to claim as their own.

Using photographs, artifacts, and, of course, many of Ting’s original cartoons, this exhibition takes you from his birth in Montreal in 1921 through to his death in 2017 at the age of 95. Stops along this journey will include his childhood accomplishments, his service in the Second World War, his career at the London Free Press, his family life, and his rich post-work life.

No exhibition about Ting could be complete without Luke Worm! Sometimes dismissed as a gimmick and other times recognized as a mascot, Luke Worm was a key part of Ting’s work from 1948 through to 1996. People of all ages could not rest until they had located the little worm in a Ting cartoon. To honour Luke Worm, the exhibition features a “Worm-ography” to explore the ins and outs of his life.

This exhibition would not have been possible without the kind support of the Tingley family, Western Archives, and the people who sat down to share memories of Ting and his life and work. Curator Amber Lloydlangston extends her sincere thanks to all for their assistance.

Image: Self-Caricature, Courtesy Western Archives, Western University, London, Canada