Bill Tidy
Encyclopedia
William Edward "Bill" Tidy, MBE
(born 9 October 1933), is a British cartoonist
, writer and television personality, known chiefly for his comic strip
s. Bill was awarded an MBE
in 2000 for "Services to Journalism". He is noted for his charitable work, particularly for the Lord's Taverners
, which he has supported for over 30 years. Deeply proud of his working-class roots in the north of England, his most abiding cartoon strips, such as The Cloggies and the Fosdyke Saga, have been set in an exaggerated version of that environment. He now lives in Boylestone
, Derbyshire
.
, a suburb of Birkenhead
, Cheshire
, on the 9 October 1933 and brought up in Liverpool
, where he was educated to the age of 15 at St Margaret's School, Anfield
. His first published cartoon appeared in the school magazine.
After working in a shipping office he joined the Royal Engineers
. He sold his first cartoon to a Japanese newspaper in 1955 and in the same year left the army. He found work in a Liverpool advertising agency the following year, where he drew illustrations for advertisements in magazines. Despite having no formal artistic training, he began to sell cartoons on a freelance basis and soon left the agency to work full-time as a professional cartoonist.
and Daily Mirror, he moved to London
where, together with a number of his contemporaries in Fleet Street
, he formed the Cartoonist's Association. Tidy is most famed for his cartoon strips - The Cloggies
ran from 1967 to 1981 in the weekly satirical magazine Private Eye
, and The Fosdyke Saga
was published daily in the Daily Mirror from 1971 to 1984; the latter was a parody
of The Forsyte Saga
, set in the industrial north instead of a genteel upper-class environment. This was broadcast as a radio series in 42 parts by the BBC
from 1983, with additional scripting by John Junkin
. It also became a stage play with Tidy working in co-operation with playwright Alan Plater
. Bill recently re-started producing the Fosdyke Saga cartoon strip on his own website where he also offers a variety of his works for sale.
Other cartoon strip series and individual cartoons have been published in many other newspapers and magazines, including New Scientist
, What's Brewing? (CAMRA's monthly magazine), and Punch
. When Punch ceased publication, Tidy attempted to buy the title. He has also written 20 books and illustrated 70.
Tidy's many TV appearances have included Countdown
, Watercolour Challenge
, Through the Keyhole
and Countryfile
; his radio appearances include I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue
. He wrote and presented Draw Me, a children's television series in 13 parts. He was the subject of This Is Your Life
in 1975.
Tidy's artistic style is similar to that of his late friend and fellow cartoonist, Larry
. However, where Larry's cartoons are usually the graphic equivalent of one-liner jokes, Tidy tends to work in longer forms with verbal as well as visual humour.
Bill's career has now taken him into the world of corporate speaking and hosting. Bill has found himself in great demand by numerous companies, large and small, who are entertained at events by his wit and live drawing.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(born 9 October 1933), is a British cartoonist
Cartoonist
A cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. This work is usually humorous, mainly created for entertainment, political commentary or advertising...
, writer and television personality, known chiefly for his comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
s. Bill was awarded an MBE
MBE
MBE can stand for:* Mail Boxes Etc.* Management by exception* Master of Bioethics* Master of Bioscience Enterprise* Master of Business Engineering* Master of Business Economics* Mean Biased Error...
in 2000 for "Services to Journalism". He is noted for his charitable work, particularly for the Lord's Taverners
Lord's Taverners
The Lord’s Taverners is a thriving club, the official charity for recreational cricket and the UK’s leading youth cricket and disability sports charity whose objective is to 'give young people, particularly those with special needs, a sporting chance'.The Lord’s Taverners was founded in 1950 by a...
, which he has supported for over 30 years. Deeply proud of his working-class roots in the north of England, his most abiding cartoon strips, such as The Cloggies and the Fosdyke Saga, have been set in an exaggerated version of that environment. He now lives in Boylestone
Boylestone
Boylestone is a village and civil parish in the Derbyshire Dales district of Derbyshire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 165. The village is situated about eight miles east of Uttoxeter....
, Derbyshire
Derbyshire
Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...
.
Early life
He was born in TranmereTranmere, Merseyside
Tranmere is a suburb of Birkenhead, on the Wirral Peninsula, England. Administratively, it is also a ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral. Before local government reorganisation on 1 April 1974, it was part of the County Borough of Birkenhead, within the geographical county of Cheshire...
, a suburb of Birkenhead
Birkenhead
Birkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite the city of Liverpool...
, Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
, on the 9 October 1933 and brought up in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, where he was educated to the age of 15 at St Margaret's School, Anfield
Anfield, Liverpool
Anfield is a district of Liverpool, Merseyside, England and a Liverpool City Council Ward.-Toponymy:Originally common pasture land, the area had the name of Hanging-fields or Hangfield - the name originating from the deeply sloping nature of the terrain. The name was also frequently written as...
. His first published cartoon appeared in the school magazine.
After working in a shipping office he joined the Royal Engineers
Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers , and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army....
. He sold his first cartoon to a Japanese newspaper in 1955 and in the same year left the army. He found work in a Liverpool advertising agency the following year, where he drew illustrations for advertisements in magazines. Despite having no formal artistic training, he began to sell cartoons on a freelance basis and soon left the agency to work full-time as a professional cartoonist.
Career
As his work became better known and began to be published in the Daily SketchDaily Sketch
The Daily Sketch was a British national tabloid newspaper, founded in Manchester in 1909 by Sir Edward Hulton.It was bought in 1920 by Lord Rothermere's Daily Mirror Newspapers but in 1925 Rothermere offloaded it to William and Gomer Berry The Daily Sketch was a British national tabloid newspaper,...
and Daily Mirror, he moved to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
where, together with a number of his contemporaries in Fleet Street
Fleet Street
Fleet Street is a street in central London, United Kingdom, named after the River Fleet, a stream that now flows underground. It was the home of the British press until the 1980s...
, he formed the Cartoonist's Association. Tidy is most famed for his cartoon strips - The Cloggies
The Cloggies
The Cloggies, an Everyday Saga in the Life of Clog Dancing Folk, was a long-running cartoon by Bill Tidy that ran in the satirical magazine Private Eye from 1967 to 1981, and later in The Listener from 1985 to 1986. It gently satirised northern British male culture, and introduced a shocked nation...
ran from 1967 to 1981 in the weekly satirical magazine Private Eye
Private Eye
Private Eye is a fortnightly British satirical and current affairs magazine, edited by Ian Hislop.Since its first publication in 1961, Private Eye has been a prominent critic and lampooner of public figures and entities that it deemed guilty of any of the sins of incompetence, inefficiency,...
, and The Fosdyke Saga
The Fosdyke Saga
The Fosdyke Saga was a British comic strip by cartoonist Bill Tidy, published in the Daily Mirror newspaper from March 1971 - February 1985...
was published daily in the Daily Mirror from 1971 to 1984; the latter was a parody
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
of The Forsyte Saga
The Forsyte Saga
The Forsyte Saga is a series of three novels and two interludes published between 1906 and 1921 by John Galsworthy. They chronicle the vicissitudes of the leading members of an upper-middle-class British family, similar to Galsworthy's own...
, set in the industrial north instead of a genteel upper-class environment. This was broadcast as a radio series in 42 parts by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
from 1983, with additional scripting by John Junkin
John Junkin
John Francis Junkin was an English radio, television and film performer and scriptwriter.In 1960 Junkin joined Joan Littlewood's Stratford East Theatre Workshop, and played the lead in the original production of Sparrows Can't Sing...
. It also became a stage play with Tidy working in co-operation with playwright Alan Plater
Alan Plater
Alan Frederick Plater, CBE, FRSL was an English playwright and screenwriter, who worked extensively in British television from the 1960s to the 2000s.-Career:...
. Bill recently re-started producing the Fosdyke Saga cartoon strip on his own website where he also offers a variety of his works for sale.
Other cartoon strip series and individual cartoons have been published in many other newspapers and magazines, including New Scientist
New Scientist
New Scientist is a weekly non-peer-reviewed English-language international science magazine, which since 1996 has also run a website, covering recent developments in science and technology for a general audience. Founded in 1956, it is published by Reed Business Information Ltd, a subsidiary of...
, What's Brewing? (CAMRA's monthly magazine), and Punch
Punch (magazine)
Punch, or the London Charivari was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire established in 1841 by Henry Mayhew and engraver Ebenezer Landells. Historically, it was most influential in the 1840s and 50s, when it helped to coin the term "cartoon" in its modern sense as a humorous illustration...
. When Punch ceased publication, Tidy attempted to buy the title. He has also written 20 books and illustrated 70.
Tidy's many TV appearances have included Countdown
Countdown (game show)
Countdown is a British game show involving word and number puzzles. It is produced by ITV Studios and broadcast on Channel 4. It is presented by Jeff Stelling, assisted by Rachel Riley, with regular lexicographer Susie Dent. It was the first programme to be aired on Channel 4, and over sixty-five...
, Watercolour Challenge
Watercolour Challenge
Watercolour Challenge was a daytime television programme broadcast in the United Kingdom.It was presented by Hannah Gordon and directed by Tim Conrad and was shown on Channel 4 from 1998 until 2001....
, Through the Keyhole
Through the Keyhole
Through the Keyhole was a British panel game, hosted by Sir David Frost where panellists are given a video tour of a mystery famous guest's property and attempt to identify them. As of 1996, it is produced by David Frost's own production company, Paradine Productions at The Leeds Studios , and has...
and Countryfile
Countryfile
Countryfile is a British magazine-style television programme produced by BBC Birmingham, first aired on 24th July 1988, which reports on rural and environmental issues within the United Kingdom. For its first 20 years it was fronted by broadcaster John Craven, until he stepped back from the role of...
; his radio appearances include I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue
I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue
I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, sometimes abbreviated to ISIHAC or Clue, is a BBC radio comedy panel game broadcast since 11 April 1972 at the rate of one or two series each year , transmitted on BBC Radio 4, with occasional repeats on BBC Radio 4 Extra and the BBC's World Service...
. He wrote and presented Draw Me, a children's television series in 13 parts. He was the subject of This Is Your Life
This Is Your Life
This Is Your Life is an American television documentary series broadcast on NBC, originally hosted by its producer, Ralph Edwards from 1952 to 1961. In the show, the host surprises a guest, and proceeds to take them through their life in front of an audience including friends and family.Edwards...
in 1975.
Tidy's artistic style is similar to that of his late friend and fellow cartoonist, Larry
Larry (cartoonist)
Terence "Larry" Parkes was a popular cartoonist from the United Kingdom. His work, consisting largely of single drawings featuring an absurdist view of normal life, was published in many magazines and newspapers, particularly Punch and Private Eye...
. However, where Larry's cartoons are usually the graphic equivalent of one-liner jokes, Tidy tends to work in longer forms with verbal as well as visual humour.
Bill's career has now taken him into the world of corporate speaking and hosting. Bill has found himself in great demand by numerous companies, large and small, who are entertained at events by his wit and live drawing.
Further reading
- "Is There Any News of the Iceberg?" - Bill Tidy's autobiography (published 1995 by Smith Gryphon) - the title alluding to a cartoon of Tidy's showing a characters concerned question to a newspaper vendor on seeing a board announcing the sinking of the RMS Titanic