I thought it’s all plain sailing from now on. When I left the army I found a job in a Liverpool advertising agency where I learned the commercial side of art school, such as the use of expensive advertising space which had to accommodate a drawing of a greenhouse, its dimensions, it’s cost and where to find the thing in a space not much bigger that you thumbnail.! Covering the Costa del Sol, Costa Blanca, Almeria, Axarquia, Mallorca and beyond, EWN supports and inspires the individuals, neighbourhoods, and communities we serve, by delivering news with a social conscience. Whether it’s local news in Spain, UK news or international stories, we are proud to be the voice for the expat communities who now call Spain home.

The Cloggies were undisputed champions of their ‘sport’, usually inflicting grave injuries before repairing to the nearest pub. Their capacity for beer was legendary; their home venue, the Clog & Bells, Blagdon, where Doris the barmaid was always in a welcoming mood. There were also unorthodox activities involving the use of ferrets. The strip was sub-titled an Everyday Saga in the Life of Clog Dancing Folk, which Tidy intended as a parody of the long-running BBC radio series, The Archers, which was subtitled an Everyday Story of Country Folk. [4] The strip also lampooned contemporary British sports culture and introduced an entire sub-culture of fictitious dance leagues, a governing body for the sport of clog dancing, and a deeply arcane and complex scoring system. [ citation needed] Similarities with Brass [ edit ] I should have said “No, mum! This is a major turning point in my young life. I must get my pencil and-” but my mum could handle drunken sailors three at a time so I put my career on hold till the end of the war and waited for the next one. Korea. Avis Fawcitt, the Leicestershire music teacher who devoted her life to the Orphean Youth and Concert Orchestra.Even the Red Baron made it, turning up fresh from enjoying his WW1 aerial duels with Josh’s son Tom. Month after month, Kegbuster and his faithful whippet fought the good fight for cask ale against the machinations of big brewers, pin-striped executives and steely-eyed marketing men, all the time finding time for a pint or three of his beloved Crudgington’s 6X. Known as the PEOPLE’S PAPER, Euro Weekly News is the leading English language newspaper in Spain. And it’s FREE! He was generous with his time. At one CAMRA fund-raising event, he leapt around the room unveiling, sequence by sequence, an enormous strip illustrating the history of beer from Ancient Egypt to the present day. It must have taken him weeks to prepare and draw and all free of charge and for the cause. For more than 40 years, Kegbuster proclaimed the joys of “Crudgies”, the cask ale from Crudgington’s brewery. The name was based not on the revered Manchester beer Boddingtons or “Boddies” for short but the name of a player at Crewe Alexandra football club.

Strips from The Cloggies, along with several of Tidy's other works, were displayed at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool during 1986. [15] Other works [ edit ] The stage play. The time is 1902 and the Fosdyke tripe business is failing, so they decide to move to greener pastures in Manchester – the land of meat pies and perhaps fortune? We follow their progress through to the First World War. OTHER WORKS Neville Grundy said: “Bill Tidy was a neighbour in the early 1980s when our family lived in Birkdale. He used to enjoy a pint in the long-gone Berkeley on Queens Road where I occasionally saw him. His one major regret in his long career was his failure to save Punch from closure, despite trying, with other artists and journalists, to buy it. He drew for the magazine from 1959 but in spite of his best efforts it folded in 1992. Critical reception at the time was negative, with journalists criticizing the musical for its humor. [11] A journalist for The Chester Chronicle panned the portrayals of the titular Cloggies while citing Stephen Nallon's impression of Margaret Thatcher as a highlight. [13] The Liverpool Echo's Walter Huntley also reviewed the musical, criticizing it for its poor sound quality and humor. [14] Exhibitions [ edit ]The dancers had a legendary capacity for beer and would repair to the nearest tavern for a gallon or two following every epic contest. Bill also enjoyed beer in moderation and in the 1970s he accepted an offer from the fledgling Campaign for Real Ale ( Camra) to draw a monthly strip called Kegbuster for its newspaper What’s Brewing. For more than 40 years Bill regaled Camra members with the battles between the ale-loving Kegbuster and such giant brewers as Grotnys and Twitbread that attempted to replace cask beer with keg. Other local residents included Reginald ('Reg') Thrumper, the "Blagdon Amateur Rapist" and the unnamed 'Blagdon Groper and Nuisance'. Tidy's many TV appearances have included Countdown, Watercolour Challenge, Through the Keyhole, Blankety Blank and Countryfile. His radio appearances included an accomplished performance on a 1989 edition of I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, when he stood in for Barry Cryer and a 1991 Series where he stood in for Tim Brooke-Taylor. He wrote and presented Draw Me, a children's television series in 13 parts. He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1975 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews. [ citation needed]