Reg Smythe
Reginald Smyth (10 July 1917 – 13 June 1998), known by his professional name Reg Smythe, was a British cartoonist who created the popular, long-running Andy Capp comic strip.
Early life and military service
He was born in Hartlepool, County Durham, England, the son of Richard Oliver Smyth, a shipyard worker, and his wife Florence, née Pearce. With his father long-term unemployed, he grew up in poverty. He attended Galley's Field School in West Hartlepool, but left at fourteen to take 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 through the Second World War as a machine gunner in the North African Campaign, and by 1945 had been promoted to sergeant. During this time he developed his talent for drawing, designing posters for amateur dramatic productions and selling cartoons to Cairo magazines.
Early cartooning career
He was demobilised in 1946 and took a job as a telephone clerk for the General Post Office in London. He married Vera Whittaker in 1949; they had no children. He continued to design theatrical posters in his spare time, and was advised to become a professional cartoonist. He sent thirty cartoons to an agent, who sold two to Everybody's magazine 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 (aka "Styx") worked for the same agent, and became his mentor.
