Me and Andy Capp.

[Roger Kettle]

This weekend, I will send off my last Andy Capp scripts. After the death of its creator in 1998, the brilliant Reg Smythe, I was asked to write the strip and it was too great an honour to turn down. For a couple of years, my periodical scripts were slotted in with the material that Reg had left behind but, from around the middle of 2000, all the strips that appeared were written by me. This meant that, with my Beau and Horace commitments, I was writing a thousand comic strips a year. A decade on and it was time to call it a day. I had been working six days a week with one week's annual holiday. After my break in Portugal last October, I realised that, if things didn't change, I would be working every weekend till my next holiday in a year's time. I contacted the Daily Mirror and asked them to get something in place. It's taken a few months but I have now officially given up the writing of Andy Capp. My work will continue to appear until some time in May or June but, after that, it will be done by someone else. I was extremely proud to be asked to write Andy Capp and even more proud to write it for over ten years. As there have been four books published of my Andy Capp scripts, I'd like to think I did a decent job. Although I'm extremely sad to give up this wonderful job, I still have Beau and Horace to keep me going. AND I get weekends off!

[Max]

Roger, believe it or not I'm happy you have given the Andy Capp writing up, or at least been able to.
I'm in a similar position since 2006, although I just took on work to fill the gap that Kate left, not as honoured as filling Reg Smyth's boots.
Now I have cast off many of the extra roles and contracts I took on and I'm left with a very busy but comfortable schedule.
I'll be able to spend more time looking after my family which is what Kate would have wanted.

If I had to use a hackneyed term it would be to stop and smell the roses once in awhile.

Go have the odd sniff Mr Kettle. 

[Diane CBPFC]

Roger,

I can't believe that 10 years has passed - it seems like just yesterday you were announcing that you were taking on the job of Andy Capp.

But it was a good decision - life is short -  that sounded a lot like a cartoon sweatshop.

[The Peepmaster]

Definitely right to start taking things easy at your age, Roger. I've really enjoyed your Andy Capp strips, and I think it's been a good vehicle for your humour. Smythe would have loved them I'm sure.

[Mince]

You should have asked me to chip in with some ideas. We'd have had daleks in no time.

[Roger Kettle]

Thanks, guys. I originally reckoned I'd write Andy Capp for a couple of years but, before I knew it, a decade had passed. To put it simply, I got tired. I was so used to working every weekend that I found it freaky to suddenly realise that I didn't have to sit at my desk on a Saturday and Sunday morning. Please don't get me wrong---I'm not complaining for a second about this wonderful experience and I was well rewarded for my efforts. It was, well, just time to have more than a week off once a year. Also, I now have a book to write.....

[Roger Kettle]

Roger, believe it or not I'm happy you have given the Andy Capp writing up, or at least been able to.
I'm in a similar position since 2006, although I just took on work to fill the gap that Kate left, not as honoured as filling Reg Smyth's boots.
Now I have cast off many of the extra roles and contracts I took on and I'm left with a very busy but comfortable schedule.
I'll be able to spend more time looking after my family which is what Kate would have wanted.

If I had to use a hackneyed term it would be to stop and smell the roses once in awhile.

Go have the odd sniff Mr Kettle. 

Max, consider the roses sniffed!

[Max]

By both of us mate, by us both.

[Joan]

What Max said ... Relax and enjoy, Roger. You deserve a rest!  I'm sure you can write BP and Horace in your sleep. xo

[Malc]

I'm glad you're not writing Andy Capp for your sake, but I could send off a couple of samples to the Mirror if I'd known you are packing it in, or is there someone in place?

I went to see the editor at the Sunday Mail here in Brisbane who is interested in publishing my stuff, and mentioned that I did a strip. He said "why didn't you send it in after we stopped Gerard's strip?"

the "Gerard" to which he referred was Gerard Piper, a cartoonist who passed away suddenly. I didn't feel at the time that I should use the occasion to get in there, but maybe I'm too sensitive.

[Roger Kettle]

Not everyone in this business is as sensitive as you, Malc. The cartoon editor at the Daily Mirror told me that, within a week of Reg Smythe's death, he'd received around two dozen Andy Capp samples from cartoonists everywhere. It would never have entered my head to do anything like that but, there you go---it's a dog-eat-dog business, this cartooning lark.

[Tarquin Thunderthighs lll]

Gutted! 

[Rob Baker]

A pleasant surprise in today's Mirror -- a reprint one of Roger's Andy Capp strips from April 2007 ! 

[Roger Kettle]

I noticed that, Rob, and suffered a wee twinge of nostalgia. I understand that the artist, Roger Mahoney, has been ill recently (thankfully, he has recovered) and needed some time off. Hence the reprinting of old material.
I still miss my involvement with Andy Capp---I'm really proud to have written it for over ten years---but the workload was driving me bonkers.
And I know the way to bonkers without being driven.

[Malc]

I was the same when I worked at Cosgrove Hall and did a daily strip on top of that. I gave up the strip, but almost immediately felt a sense of loss. That race for the deadline every Sunday night (I did six every weekend) had become part of my life.
I used to drive into Manchester and hand them in personally to security (incredible to think - no internet in those days) then all I wanted to do was pop into a pub and have a celebratory Guinness, but they were all shut. Boo.

The difference between Roger and I, was that he was giving up writing for someone else's baby to return to writing full time for his OWN.

For me, it was the other way round. Like an episode of Long Lost Families, I was giving up my baby. At least I didn't have to look at that sanctimonious cow who was waiting for me to cry.