Bill Tidy

He was born in Tranmere, a suburb of Birkenhead, Cheshire, on 9 October 1933 and brought up in Liverpool, where he was educated to the age of 15 at St Margaret's Church of England Academy (then St Margaret's Technical Commercial School), Anfield. His first published cartoon appeared in the school magazine.[1]

After working in a shipping office Tidy joined the Royal Engineers in 1952.[2] 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.

As his work became better known and began to be published in the Daily Sketch and Daily Mirror, he moved to London where, together with a number of his contemporaries in Fleet Street, he formed the British Cartoonists' Association.[3] Tidy is known for his cartoon strips — The Cloggies ran from 1967 to 1981 in the fortnightly 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. Tidy recently restarted 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 (Grimbledon Down for 24 years[4]), 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, Blankety Blank and Countryfile. His radio appearances include an accomplished performance on a 1988 edition of I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, when he stood in for Barry Cryer. 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 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews.[5]

During the 1980s and early 1990s, Tidy was a frequent celebrity guest in 'Dictionary Corner' on the long running Channel 4 gameshow Countdown.

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.

• Tidy, Bill (autobiography). Is There Any News of the Iceberg?. Smith Gryphon, 1995. ISBN 978-1856851022 — The title alludes to one of Tidy's best-known cartoons, in which a man leading a polar bear on a chain poses this concerned question to a representative of Cunard, who is surrounded by vast crowds reading posted passenger lists after the sinking of RMS Titanic.

• Bill Tidy's home page
• Bill Tidy Exhibition 2005 Archived 5 May 2005 at the Wayback Machine
• British Cartoon Archive, University of Kent biography