Osbert Lancaster

Osbert Lancaster; self portrait, in bushy eyebrows and silk dressing gown, 1948. He would work on his cartoons at home like this in the morning before squaring up for lunch Photograph: Courtesy of the John R Murray Charitable Trust

Belvedere Avenue from Progress at Pelvis Bay, 1936: 'Here the greatest care has been taken to avoid all suspicion of urban monotony and the utmost variety of architecture has therefore been encouraged' Photograph: Courtesy of the John R Murray Charitable Trust

Wimbledon Transitional, from Pillar to Post, 1938: 'Its giddy treatment of gables and its general air of self-conscious cosiness is plainly revealed as an unattractive offspring of art nouveau' Photograph: Courtesy of the John R Murray Charitable Trust

Stockbroker Tudor: 'A glorified version of Anne Hathaway's cottage with such modifications as were necessary to conform to transatlantic standards of plumbing' Photograph: Courtesy of the John R Murray Charitable Trust

Here is how, in Lancaster's eyes, one romantic, and fictional, corner of an English town - Drayneflete - changed over the years. This is Poets' Corner, from Drayneflete Revealed (1949) in 1800 Photograph: Courtesy of the John R Murray Charitable Trust

Here it is again in 1830, with just a little bit of mild Regency development Photograph: Courtesy of the John R Murray Charitable Trust

By 1860, the railway has arrived as have horse-drawn omnibuses, cabs and terraced workers' housing Photograph: Courtesy of the John R Murray Charitable Trust

In 1890, Poets' Corner is served by a brash new gin palace, but the scene, complete with bobby on the beat and organ grinder's monkey, is as lively as any found in Dickens Photograph: Courtesy of the John R Murray Charitable Trust

1925: cars, motorcycles and charabancs tear through Drayneflete; Poets' Corner is beginning to look decidedly prosaic Photograph: Courtesy of the John R Murray Charitable Trust

By 1949, Poets' Corner, and Drayneflete as a whole, might be anywhere in Britain. Chain stores, supermarkets, McDonalds, Starbucks and leisurewear were still a long way off, though ... Photograph: Courtesy of the John R Murray Charitable Trust

Twentieth Century Functional, exterior from Homes Sweet Home (1939). A delicious satire lampooning the new white villas of Le Corbusier (there he is with glasses and pipe sunning himself on the roof terrace) and how such housing might work, or not, in Britain with its famously wet climate Photograph: Courtesy of the John R Murray Charitable Trust

Lancaster was not exactly a fan of modern office towers: 'That's St Paul's, that was'. Pocket cartoon, Daily Express 24/7/69) ... Photograph: Courtesy of the John R Murray Charitable Trust

Nor of pre-fabricated tower blocks. This is 'High Rise' from a revised edition of Homes Sweet Home. The lady falling from her flat reminds us of the truly disturbing case of the collapse of Ronan Point Tower, east London, in 1968 Photograph: Courtesy of the John R Murray Charitable Trust

Inspired portrait of the artist, and Lancaster's close friend, John Piper, from Strand Magazine, 1947 Photograph: Courtesy of the John R Murray Charitable Trust