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43-524: Andy Capp is a British comic strip created by cartoonist Reg Smythe , seen in the Daily Mirror and the Sunday Mirror newspapers since 5 August 1957. Originally a single-panel cartoon , it was later expanded to four panels. The strip is syndicated internationally by Creators Syndicate . The character is also licensed as the mascot for a line of snack foods ( Andy Capp's fries). Andy

86-559: A sign painter , but had not worked at that trade (or any other) for many years. Should anyone suggest he get a job, his response is often very terse and along the lines of 'Don't be so ridiculous!' and sometimes leads to fisticuffs. He occasionally visits the Job Centre (Labour Exchange) and is sometimes shown finding excuses why he cannot take a job that seems suitable for him, preferring instead to collect his "dole money" (government unemployment assistance). On more than one occasion, it

129-426: A bar and, when an angry Flo appears, she and Andy have a comic-strip style fight, into which Quagmire is unwittingly drawn. The second appearance is when he performs a version of a pap smear , referred to as a "Capp" smear, on Lois. On both occasions he speaks with a Cockney accent. When the children's comic Buster was launched in 1960, its masthead character was entitled "Buster: Son of Andy Capp". Buster wore

172-416: A cloth cap similar to Andy's until 1992, but the connection was not recognised in the parent strip and had limited development in the children's comic. Buster often referred to his father, and Andy was seen in the comic attempting to find a gas leak in three frames of the 18 June 1960 strip. He was also shown in two drawn photographs in the 2 July 1960 issue, the first of which was displayed by Buster's mum with

215-420: A constable, and usually arriving home late as a result), ending up in the local gaol , fishing (and not catching anything bigger than a goldfish ), unsuccessfully mooching money from everyone for beer, unsuccessfully flirting with barmaids (also yelling at them when he is not served), attempting to pick up bargirls (and usually being rejected, although sometimes he is actually successful), loafing and napping on

258-426: A favourite activity of Andy Capp. Andy's hobbies and activities include pigeon racing , darts , snooker (his cue's name is Delilah), playing football (which always involves fights with the other players, and frequently ends with Andy being sent off ), occasional cricket and rugby , betting on horses (and usually losing badly), getting drunk in the local pub (often falling into the canal and being fished out by

301-530: A fellow spectator at a football match Smythe had attended when young, who took off his cap when it started to rain, because he didn't want to wear a wet cap at home that evening. Originally commissioned for the Mirror 's northern edition, Andy Capp was soon appearing in all editions nationwide. The first collection of Andy Capp cartoons was published in 1958. The strip became internationally popular, appearing in at least 700 newspapers in 34 countries, including

344-653: A job as a butcher's errand boy. In 1936, after a period of unemployment, he joined the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers and was posted to Egypt. His father died during his service. He served during the Second World War in the North African Campaign , and was assigned to a tank demolition team. Promoted to sergeant, he was demoted to corporal for a minor disciplinary offence, and was ultimately medically discharged for

387-462: A job, which is usually met with him clobbering them. Percy is also always confronting Andy on the way he treats Flo. It's obvious Percy has a crush on Flo and believes he would treat her far better than Andy does. This has led the two men to fight. Their furniture has been repossessed on several occasions. Somehow they always manage to retrieve it, and Andy is always able to afford beer and gambling money, usually by borrowing from Florrie. Almost all

430-477: A lettering brush can take years to develop. In the 1980s, with the advent of computer printing on vinyl, traditional hand-lettering faced stiff competition. Interest in the craft waned during the 1980s and 90s, but hand-lettering and traditional sign painting have experienced a resurgence in popularity in recent years. The 2012 book and documentary, Sign Painters by Faythe Levine and Sam Macon, chronicle

473-478: A pet whippet , Nancy, and has always kept pigeons. Two of the constables who observe Andy's drunken behaviour are named Alan and Trevor. Reg Smythe died on 13 June 1998, but the original strip has continued . For some time, the writer and artist were uncredited, but in November 2004 the strip began to carry a credit for Roger Mahoney (artist) and Roger Kettle (writer). Circa 2011, Kettle discontinued his work on

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516-570: A rage and off to the nearest café for a meal. Flo was Smythe's favourite character and shares the name with his real-life mother. "She should have been included in the title, but I wanted a single name and the pun on "handicap" was irresistible." Flo's mother, an unseen character whose dialogue appears from out of frame, often chimes into the conversation, mostly with sarcastic criticism of her son-in-law (her feet and legs appear in one panel where she has passed out after Andy offers her too much to drink). Flo's "mam", whom Andy addresses only as "Missus",

559-529: A reclusive life on a large estate. His first wife, Vera, died in 1997, and in 1998 he married Jean Marie Glynn Barry, but later the same year he died of lung cancer. He had left a stockpile of more than a year's worth of Andy Capp cartoons. His contract with the Daily Mirror had required him to train a replacement, but he had not done so. After the stockpile had been published, the strip was continued by writer Roger Kettle and artist Roger Mahoney. Smythe

602-778: A short run at London's Aldwych Theatre , with songs by Alan Price and Trevor Peacock , starring Tom Courtenay as Andy and Val McLane as Florrie. The stage show also produced an original West End cast recording, released on LP record by Key Records in 1982. The musical was reprised in 2016 at the Finborough Theatre in London, with Roger Alborough portraying Andy. An attempt to transfer Andy Capp to television in 1988 met with little success. The well-known British character actor James Bolam played Andy on ITV . The Thames Television series consisted of six episodes that were shown once and have never been repeated. The series

645-790: A stomach ulcer after a stint in an Edinburgh hospital in 1945. He was awarded the 1939-1945 Star, the Africa Star, the Defence Medal and the War Medal 1939-1945, for his service. During this time he developed his talent for drawing, designing posters for amateur dramatic productions and selling cartoons to Cairo magazines. After the army, he took a job as a telephone clerk for the General Post Office in London. He married Vera Toyne in 1949; they had no children. He continued to design theatrical posters in his spare time, and

688-416: A stretcher). Andy's and Flo's best friends are their neighbours Chalkie and Rube White. Chalkie is a hard-drinking working-class type like Andy, who can often be seen sharing a pint with him at the corner pub, but Chalkie seems mellower than Andy, and more tolerant of his wife. Rube is Flo's confidante, and the two often trade gossip over the clothesline about their husbands' latest escapades. The local vicar

731-601: Is a working-class figure who never actually works, living in Hartlepool , a harbour town in County Durham , in North East England . The title of the strip is a pun on the local pronunciation of "handicap"; and the surname Capp signifies how Andy's cap always covered his eyes along with, metaphorically, his vision in life. Handicap racing and handicapping , in sport and games , is part of betting ,

774-432: Is also often seen. Andy despairs of his holier-than-thou attitude, as he is constantly criticising Andy for his many bad habits and vice-ridden lifestyle. He often lets his opinion be known to Flo, who agrees with his low assessment of Andy's character. At times, Flo will forcibly remove Andy from the pub when she feels he has been there for far too long (even at times, missing his tea meal). When he comes home, especially in

817-519: Is mentioned that Andy had been in the army (with the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers , Reg Smythe's regiment) and was a World War II veteran of the North African campaign . According to Don Markstein , Early on, the Andy Capp strip was accused of perpetuating stereotypes about Britain's Northerners, who are seen in other parts of England as chronically unemployed, dividing their time between

860-426: Is often the subject of Andy's pointed barbs about her weight and less-than-sunny disposition, but she has been known to give as good as she gets. Andy's mother was similarly mentioned and also delivered dialogue from offstage, but her "appearances" were cut back significantly as the years passed. Andy's father has also been mentioned. Flo has an older sister named Polly who is seen once, and a never-seen brother. Andy had

903-1117: The Chicago Sun-Times in the USA. While in America the title became "Andy Capp - Our English Cousin," the punning resisted translation: in Sweden it was titled "Tuffa Viktor", in Germany "Willi Wacker", in Austria "Charlie Kappl", in Italy "Carlo e Alice" (instead of Andy and Flo), in The Netherlands "Jan met de Pet", in France "André Chapeau", in Turkey "Güngörmez Dursun", in Iceland "Siggi sixpensari" and in Denmark "Kasket Karl". Later he

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946-586: The Fishtrader's Gazette and the Draper's Record , and drew sketches of council meetings for local newspapers. In 1950 he went freelance, and drew cartoon features like "Smythe's Speedway World" for Speedway World and "Skid Sprocket" for Monthly Speedway World , as well as cartoons for the London Evening Standard , Reveille , Punch , and the Daily Mirror , where he contributed to

989-552: The Post Office (1986) and Kit Kat (1993). Smythe received the National Cartoonists Society 's Humor Comic Strip Award for the strip in 1974. A statue of Andy Capp was erected in Hartlepool on 28 June 2007. It was sculpted by Jane Robbins. (All titles by Reg Smythe. Published by Daily Mirror Books/Mirror Group Publishers unless otherwise noted) In 1981, a stage musical based on the strip had

1032-412: The 1980s he was often seen with a cigarette dangling from his lip. When Andy gave up smoking in 1983 some readers blamed political correctness . However, Fergus McKenna, head of syndication at Trinity Mirror which publishes the Daily Mirror , denied that the newspaper had put pressure on Smythe to change Andy's habits, saying: "The truth is that Reg himself gave up smoking and he said there was no way Andy

1075-418: The characters occasionally " break the fourth wall " by delivering asides directly to the reader, or even as a very terse 'thought bubble', usually referring to Andy's low character, but more regularly by a character simply cutting their eyes to the reader in the final panel whenever something is said or done by Andy that the character finds unbelievable. The 24 October 1972 strip revealed that Andy once worked as

1118-419: The earlier strips, Flo often confronted him about his doings, sometimes striking him with either her fist or anything she could grab, for example a rolling pin, cricket bat or something similar with the intent to clobber him. However, Flo is not without her own vices. She (along with Rube) will go to bingo with the same frequency as Andy goes to the pub. Whenever this happened (also mainly in the earlier strips),

1161-419: The living room couch and the neighbourhood pub, with a few hours set aside for fistfights at football games ... But Smythe, himself a native of that region, had nothing but affection for his good-for-nothing protagonist, which showed in his work. Since the very beginning, Andy has been immensely popular among the people he supposedly skewers. The strip takes place almost exclusively in one of three locations:

1204-423: The paper's "Laughter Column". In 1954 the Daily Mirror ' s art editor, Philip Zec , gave Smythe a regular daily cartoon, "Laughter at Work". Then, in 1957, he was asked by Mirror editor Hugh Cudlipp to create a cartoon character for the paper's Manchester edition. He thought up Andy Capp , a stereotypically lazy, selfish working-class northerner in a flat cap, and his long-suffering wife Flo, during

1247-587: The police. In 1971, the American company Goodmark Foods licensed the character in the form of “ Andy Capp's ”, a fried snack food made to resemble french fries. A Konkani language adaptation of the comic strip, known as Anton Chepekar (आंंतोन चेपेंकार) used to feature in the Konkani daily Sunaparant . Andy Capp appeared twice in Family Guy . In the first appearance, he and Peter are playing darts at

1290-510: The pronouncement: "It's a photo of Buster taken with Andy! You can see he's got his dad's fine straight nose". Buster's mum was often referred to by name and was consistently drawn to resemble Andy's wife Flo. The connection with Andy Capp was soon dropped from the comic. Reg Smythe Reginald Smyth (10 July 1917 – 13 June 1998) was a British cartoonist who created the popular, long-running Andy Capp comic strip . He

1333-463: The pub, the street, or inside the Capps' residence at 37 Durham Street (generally with Andy on the couch and Florrie yelling from the next room). Less-frequently visited places include the racetrack (although Andy frequently bets by listening to the radio, thus saving him the trip), the marriage counsellor, and the football pitch (where Andy is either fighting, quarrelling, being sent off, or carried off on

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1376-435: The roles are then reversed, with Andy usually confronting Flo for being late from going to bingo and sometimes striking her with either his fist or chasing her out the door with a push broom or a chair with the intent to clobber her with said object. She had also lost cleaning jobs due to her love of bingo. Flo is also not a very good cook, regularly burning the meals with her lack of cooking skills. This often sends Andy into

1419-515: The seven-hour drive from his mother's house in Hartlepool to London. Capp is thought to have been based on Smythe's father, although Smythe never confirmed that, perhaps because in one early cartoon he depicted Andy as a wife-beater, something he later regretted. Smythe's mother recognised her late husband in Andy, although she insisted Richard was not a violent man. Capp's headgear was inspired by

1462-621: The sofa, playing poker (and usually cheating with hidden cards, although plainly seen by the readers), and fighting with his long-suffering wife Florrie (also known as "Flo"), as well as being served burnt food by her. Andy's iconic checked flat cap is always pulled down over his eyes, even when he is napping or bathing. He is often unshaven, frequently intoxicated (indicated by a prominent red nose and dishevelled clothing), lazy, freeloading, belligerent, and confrontational, but just as frequently lovable (he always refers to Flo as "pet", and will instantly "bop" anyone who dares to be rude to her). Until

1505-555: The statue cost £20,000 and was designed by Shrewsbury sculptor Jane Robbins. Sign painting Signwriters often learned the craft through apprenticeship or trade school, although many early sign painters were self-taught. The Sign Graphics program at the Los Angeles Trade Technical College is the last remaining sign painting program in the United States. Skillful manipulation of

1548-566: The strip and was replaced by Lawrence Goldsmith and Sean Garnett, while Mahoney continued to draw. The appearance of the characters did not change perceptibly. Towards the end of 2020, Mahoney's credit began to be left off strips with a subtle but noticeably different style in both lettering and art. This led to at least one industry source inferring that Mahoney, at 87 years of age, and 65 years of cartooning, had retired. Mahoney died at 89, on 29 November 2022. Strips into 2021 and beyond only show credits for writers Goldsmith and Garnett and continue

1591-622: The subtly different style. In May 2012, Andy Capp (as well as Flo, Chalkie White, the Vicar, and Jackie the Barman) appeared as an animated series for the first time in promotional material for The Trinity Mirror-owned MirrorBingo.com website. The animation was created by Teesside-born Chris Hunneysett, who drew from his own background to place Andy Capp in Middlesbrough. Andy Capp had previously appeared in animated form in television adverts for

1634-470: Was advised to become a professional cartoonist. He sent thirty cartoons to an agent, who sold two to Everybody's Weekly for more than his weekly wage at the GPO. While retaining his day job, he was soon drawing sixty cartoons a week, using "Reg Smythe" as his professional name. The cartoonist Leslie Harding ( alias "Styx") worked for the same agent, and became his mentor. He contributed to publications like

1677-497: Was born in Hartlepool , County Durham, England, the son of Richard Oliver Smyth, a shipyard worker, and his wife, Florence, née Pearce, the oldest of five children (his siblings being Lily, Harry, Laura and Jimmy). With his father chronically unemployed, he grew up in poverty, and often referred to himself as a "canvas shoes kid." He attended Galley's Field School on the Hartlepool Headland but left at fourteen to take

1720-578: Was called "Linke Loetje" when published in the "Volkskrant" newspaper. In 1982 an Andy Capp musical was produced, starring Tom Courtenay with music by Alan Price , first in Manchester, later in London, and then to great success in Finland. A TV series aired on ITV in 1988, written by Keith Waterhouse and starring James Bolam , but ratings were poor and a second series was cancelled. Smythe returned to his hometown of Hartlepool in 1976, living

1763-461: Was going to carry on enjoying cigarettes when Reg couldn't". Andy and Florrie now attend marriage counselling . Andy and Florrie are always on the verge of poverty. Although Flo works regularly as a charwoman , Andy is unemployed and lacks motivation. Rent on their terraced house and its contents is constantly in arrears, and the rent collector, Percy Ritson, despairs of ever being paid. He, as well as several others, always nag Andy to get himself

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1806-653: Was honored with numerous awards, including Best British Cartoon Strip every year from 1961 to 1965 and major awards in Italy (1969, 1973, 1978). In the US he received the National Cartoonists Society 's Best Strip award in 1974. In 2007, after years of local speculation and fundraising, a bronze statue commemorating Andy Capp was erected near the Harbour of Refuge pub in Smythe’s home town of Hartlepool. Measuring five feet eight inches,

1849-793: Was poorly received and attracted some criticism for the way it played up to supposed stereotypes of Northern working-class men. In 2012 the series was released on DVD (Region 2) in the UK, licensed by Fremantle Media Ltd to the Network Label (VFD64669 / Network 7953656). In 1987, a computer game based on Andy Capp , entitled Andy Capp: The Game , was released for the Commodore 64 , ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC in Europe and North America. Players had to borrow money in order to replenish Andy's alcohol supply while avoiding fights with his wife Flo and

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