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No, you don't know the character in question, Tarqs. He is, shall we say, a "colourful" chap. Another of his tales involves dining out in the famous Langan's Brasserie in London. Along with a friend, an order was placed for half-melon starters. After finishing and enjoying the course, the empty half-melons were then used as hats for the rest of the meal. This was applauded by several fellow diners, including Terry Gilliam and Robert de Niro. The former even dashed off a cartoon for my friend. Yes, a colourful chap.
Lady Kettle is fine, thank you, and delighted to be rid of me for a couple of hours every week.

These days, I go to the pub once a week. Every Thursday, around 5.30, I meet up with some friends for about an hour and a half to share a couple of beers, a few games of pool and an extremely competitive quiz. The numbers involved can range from six to twelve and the ages of those in the group go from the early fifties to the early eighties. It's a hoot. One member of the group, in particular, has some wonderful tales to tell. He will casually mention how he was thrown out of a Stevie Winwood concert for attempting to join the singer on stage. ("It was my favourite song of his and I thought he'd appreciate my vocal backing".) The same guy talked of "slicing a ball off the tee on an Australian golf course and hitting a kangaroo on the arse". This is just a snippet of the surreal conversations that take place. We also sort out all the world's problems which, I think, is commendable given the brief time we get together.
Modestly, I'd like to suggest that I'm still the best pool player in the group. (Actually, I am).
I'm very old now. These nights are great!

Whoops - don’t know how I missed this. Sorry!

I did my sobbing in the shadows of the back row next to an exit in The Shed (a new experience, and not one I cherish) to the left of the goal, Roger. But I was definitely there, with my 10-year-old grandson, who had only had a couple of sobbing years alongside my six decades.

I was pleased for you…and talked about May 17th, 2014 all the way home. 😁

When was that written Tarqs? Good drawings, cute little capped worm but the language seems 1940s?

It's a good question, Diane (and apologies for the delay in trying to answer it). This page was drawn at some point in the mid 80s. I wasn't around much in the 40s. BUT, the scripts were sent to me in the form of photo-copies of an earlier published comic strip about a worm which I had to simply redraw in my own style and put a cap on my worm. The speech bubbles were then added by the publishers directly onto my artwork once it arrived down in London by pigeon post. I never actually read the stories when they were in print, unless they were stories I'd written (to check if they'd changed my words), so they may well have just used the same speech that was used in the original strip that was sent to me... which may or may not have been published in the 40s.

I should add that this was the only time I ever worked like this, and it was relatively 'easy money' while it lasted. Normally, the scripts were either written by professional scriptwriters or I did them myself. I have never really enjoyed writing, but affords me the advantage of never being asked to draw things I hate drawing, or that just aren't funny (and substitute quantity for quality). Of course, it goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway - those are problems I never encountered when I had the all too rare pleasure of working with Roger.

That's how we all speak over here...