St Trinian's cartoonist Ronald Searle has died aged 91 A family statement said: "Ronald William Fordham Searle, born 3 March 1920, passed away peacefully in his sleep with his children, Kate and John, and his grandson, Daniel, beside him on 30 December 2011 in Draguignan, France, after a short illness. Searle was serving in the Royal Engineers when he sold his first St Trinian's cartoon in 1941. That same year he was captured during the fall of Singapore and spent the rest of the war as a prisoner of the Japanese, surviving malaria and vicious beatings by the guards. His graphic drawings of the horrors of camp life were later published, but it was the exploits of the girls of St Trinian's that made him a household name. They inspired a series of books and films and survived his attempt to kill them off by blowing up the fictitious school with a bomb. The latest St Trinian's film was released two years ago and starred Rupert Everett, Colin Firth and Girls Aloud star Sarah Harding. Searle, who moved to France in 1961, was prolific and continued to draw as well as paint, design medals and work as an animator.