The Story of Reg Smythe - Creator of Andy Capp: My Dancing Bear

This is the story of Reg Smythe, creator of the world famous Andy Capp cartoon by his niece and former journalist Hélène de Klerk. Reg was the first British cartoonist to break into the American market and the first one to offer what journalist Paul Slade called a brutal kitchen sink realism. The story charts his impoverished childhood and formative relationships through to international recognition and his last years as a semi recluse in the North of England. The memoir gives an insight into the man behind the cartoon, linking childhood and adult experiences to the development of the cartoon s characters, describing how he worked and what fame meant to him often in his own words, and featuring his early work and many never before seen cartoons.