Something borrowed

 

Where I work

This is what my room where I do most of my work looks like. Photographed quite unexpectedly by Nika in about 2006 I think. It's all the same today.

1.   Big window with a view. This view is of a large restored Georgian city terrace which, from 08.30 till 21.30 blocks out all sunlight, or even a glimpse of sky.
2.   Stuff I've drawn before that I've filed away, thinking it may be of some use to me in the future. it never is.
3.   My desk lamp, bought in 2004 and described by the manufacturer as a once-only lifelong purchase that would never need adjustment or replacing, it now requires adjustment and replacing.
4.   Giles cartoon annuals. These are well used, mainly for inspiration. If Carl Giles ever drew anything without total convinction, I've yet to see it.
5.   Plant
6.   Red settee, where I sit to read the paper.
7.   Big box of old comics. These are 'Beezers' from the 1961-2. I needed them for some reference or other.
8.   Vanilla Dog. Self explanatory.
9.   Scripts.
10. Me.

More information given if requested.

Mum Fans, Fear Not!

Today I drew this, so it seems as though Fans of Cuddles and Dimples' mum may not face quite so bleak a future as they once dreaded.
Sometime in August I predict a book of some kind will present some new, never before seen strips of the Terrible Toddlers. And don't dismay, black and white here, it will be in full glorious Soviet Color in the book!

Harry back to the Future

Way, way back in July, I had drawn half a dozen 2 page Harry Hill stories for the putative new Dandy. Then the editor decided we should have a four page story for the first one, so I redrew it and expanded it to four. Then the editor decided the first FOUR issues should be four page stories. Then the first EIGHT issues! Anyway, this week we have the first of those six month-old two pagers in the Dandy. Just in case anyone's keeping track. (A further four pager was drawn in July but has had to be pulled from the publication schedule because of an unfortunate topical hitch. That's what we get for trying to be up to the minute!) There will be four pagers again in the future - and even more than four pagers...

What I Did On My holidays -Part Two

Near Thessaloniki in Northern Greece is the famous cave of the Petralon finds- the current thinking is that Man first lit fire in these caves, 40,000 years ago. The caves themselves, discovered in 1960 or so, are a spectacular, magnificent relic of a much earlier era, with an astonsihing array of hundreds of thousands of stalactites and stalagmites, and, if you're ever in Macedonia, I recommend a visit! The interior temperature is a standard 18 degrees, whatever the weather outside! The home of the discoverer (he was looking for a water source) is now a museum of fossils and other finds in the cave, fascinating in themselves. For more information visit this site

What I Did On My Holidays- part One

 At Christmas I was invited to Greece. So I went and had a jolly time going out and about in the sizzling up-to-15 degrees sunshine, eating at some lovely places and watching every episode of The Inbetweeners in one massive binge. One afternoon me, Nika and Stamos went to mighty mount Olympus and had a go at getting at least a part of the way up. We came back down once the clouds closed in below us! Anyway, the sky was blue and the company was nice so here is the first of my three updates. Back to work tomorrow!