Tim Hunkin, Born 1950
Engineer, Cartoonist, and maker of improbable machines
Tim Hunkin (born 1950) is an English engineer, cartoonist, writer, and artist living in Suffolk, England. He graduated in engineering from Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. He is best known for his Rudiments of Wisdom cartoons for the Observer newspaper and for creating the Channel Four television series The Secret Life of Machines, in which he explains the workings and history of various household devices. He has also created museum exhibits for institutions across the UK, and designed numerous public engineering works, chiefly for entertainment. Hunkin's works are distinctive, often recognisable by his unique style of papier-mâché sculpture (made from unpainted newsprint), his pen and ink cartoons, and his offbeat sense of humour. Hunkin's Under the Pier Show at Southwold Pier, England, is a penny arcade featuring a number of humorous, coin-operated machines of his creation. Attractions include the "Autofrisk" (a device that simulates the experience of being frisked by multiple, inflated rubber gloves), and the "Bathyscape" (a device that simulates a brief submarine adventure).
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