The Line of a Legend: The Life and Legacy of Phil May In the bustling, soot-stained streets of Victorian London, where the fog clung to the Thames and social hierarchies were as rigid as iron, one man possessed the singular ability to distill the chaos of urban life into a few masterful strokes. Philip William May, known more affectionately to the public as Phil May, was not merely an illustrator; he was a visual chronicler of an era in transition. Born in 1864 in Wortley, near Leeds, May’s journey from the industrial heart of Yorkshire to the pinnacle of British satire is a testament to the…