Famous cartoonist Bill Tidy passed dead at the age of 89. His most well-known works include the comics Cloggies and Fosdyke Saga as well as his failed attempt to save Punch magazine from bankruptcy.
The primary source of Tidy’s revenue was Punch magazine. To attend the renowned Punch lunch, where writers and cartoonists convened to discuss the upcoming issue, including the main political cartoon, he used to routinely make the trip from his studio in northern England to London.
In spite of Tidy’s three years of fundraising for Punch, the magazine shut down in 1992. Although he lacked professional training, he drew inspiration from artists like Eric Burgin and Ronald Searle’s early works to create his own unique style.
The Cloggies, a parody of the BBC radio soap opera The Archers that poked fun at northern and urban British male society, lasted from 1967 until 1981.
The Fosdyke Saga, which lasted from 1971 to 1985, was a parody of Galsworthy’s epic tale of an aristocratic family and focused on a line of northern tripe magnates.
Tidy was born on October 9, 1933, in Tranmere, Birkenhead. His mother worked as a bartender, and his father was a merchant marine who left when Tidy was a young boy.
Tidy enlisted in the Royal Engineers in 1952, and in 1955 he was demobbed after selling his first cartoon to Mainichi, an English-language publication.
He resumed his career as a cartoonist after moving back to Liverpool, and two years later, while traveling from Liverpool to London, he met Rosa, the woman who would become his wife.