William Makepeace Thackeray immortalizes the memory of his lifelong friend in the novel "John Leech's Pictures of Life and Character". John Leech was a British caricaturist and illustrator. He was best known for his work for 'Punch', a humorous magazine for a broad middle-class audience, combining verbal and graphic political satire with light social comedy. Leech's critical yet humorous cartoons on the Crimean War (1853) helped shape public attitudes toward heroism, warfare, and Britons' role in the world. Leech also enjoyed fame as the first illustrator of Charles Dickens' 1843 novella 'A Christmas Carol'.
