Reg Smythe’s Followers (6)

Reg Smythe

Born

in Hartlepool, The United Kingdom

July 10, 1917

Died

June 13, 1998

Genre

Humor, Comics & Graphic Novels

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Reginald "Reg" Smythe was a British cartoonist who created the Andy Capp comic strip.

Born Reginald Smyth (without the "e"), the son of Richard Oliver Smyth, a shipyard worker, and his wife, Florence (Florrie) née Pearce, he left school at 14. After some years unemployed he joined the Northumberland Fusiliers, serving ten years and rising to the rank of sergeant.

During World War II, Smyth saw active service in North Africa, where he developed a talent for cartoon drawing through creating posters for amateur dramatic productions.

After being released from active duty, he settled in London and worked as a clerk for the GPO. He continued to draw poster art but in the 1950s moved to cartoon work, operating through an agent and using the pseudonym Reginald "Reg" Smythe was a British cartoonist who created the Andy Capp comic strip.

Born Reginald Smyth (without the "e"), the son of Richard Oliver Smyth, a shipyard worker, and his wife, Florence (Florrie) née Pearce, he left school at 14. After some years unemployed he joined the Northumberland Fusiliers, serving ten years and rising to the rank of sergeant.

During World War II, Smyth saw active service in North Africa, where he developed a talent for cartoon drawing through creating posters for amateur dramatic productions.

After being released from active duty, he settled in London and worked as a clerk for the GPO. He continued to draw poster art but in the 1950s moved to cartoon work, operating through an agent and using the pseudonym Reg Smythe.

By the mid-1950s, he was working for the Daily Mirror, where his "Andy Capp" cartoon strip had its debut in 1957. It made its way to the United States in 1963. Smyth described Andy Capp as having been born "on the A1 road at 60 mph" after he had received, during a visit to West Hartlepool, a request from the Mirror Group chairman Hugh Cudlipp to create a cartoon to boost northern readership. The characters Andy and Flo were based on Smyth's own parents.

Apart from its rapid success in the UK, the Andy Capp strip became popular internationally in at least 34 countries and 700 newspapers Andy became Tuffa Viktor in Sweden, Willi Wacker in Germany, Charlie Kappl in Austria, André Chapeau in France, and Kasket Karl in Denmark, though he remained "Andy Capp" in the US. Smyth received numerous awards, including Best British cartoon strip every year from 1961-1965; major awards in Italy in 1969, 1973 and 1978; and in the US, the National Cartoonists Society Best Strip award in 1974.

"Andy Capp" was adapted as a West End musical and a 1988 television series by Keith Waterhouse, without notable success.

In the mid-1970s, Smythe returned to Hartlepool, where he died of lung cancer in 1998, aged 80.

In 2007, after years of local speculation and fundraising, a bronze statue commemorating Andy Capp was erected near to the Harbour of Refuge Pub in Smyth's home town of Hartlepool. Measuring 5 ft 8 in, the Statue cost £20,000 and was designed by Shrewsbury sculptor Jane Robbins ...more

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Average rating: 3.68 · 988 ratings · 110 reviews · 328 distinct works • Similar authors

	Meet Andy Capp 3.85 avg rating — 47 ratings — published 1964 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Andy Capp Sounds Off 3.73 avg rating — 44 ratings — published 1966 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Undisputed Andy Capp 3.82 avg rating — 39 ratings — published 1972 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Andy Capp - Man of the Hour 3.81 avg rating — 27 ratings — published 1966 — 10 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	New Andy Capp Collection: Number 1 3.96 avg rating — 24 ratings — published 2004 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Andy Capp Strikes Back 3.96 avg rating — 24 ratings — published 1967 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	In Your Eye, Andy Capp 4.14 avg rating — 21 ratings — published 1967 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Hard at Work, Andy Capp? 4.10 avg rating — 21 ratings — published 1973 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	You Tell 'em, Andy Capp 3.86 avg rating — 21 ratings — published 1979 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Take a Bow, Andy Capp 3.85 avg rating — 20 ratings — published 1968 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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