TV Times magazine enjoys its 70th anniversary in 2025, and writer Glenn Reuben is exploring the long-running weekly TV listing magazine’s history… and trying to identify the real identity of one of its cartoonists, the elusive “Scherzo“.
In its early years in the 1950s and 1960s, drawing on a pool of a staggering 200 cartoonists, TV Times included a section called “Natural Break“, which featured many the pocket cartoons of creators such as “Clew” (Clifford Lewis), “Larry” (Terence Parkes), and Canadian-born cartoonist “Zeke” (Arthur Penhale), and many more.
While Glenn has successfully tracked down information on those cartoonists, he’s not had much success identifying “Scherzo“, who also contributed to other magazines like Punch and Meccano magazine.
Although TV Times ran a feature on its popular cartoonists in a January 1959 edition, “Scherzo”, then “thirtyish” did not offer his real name – only that he had married a northerner and had chosen his pseudonym, the German for “joke”, or “jest” when he took up cartooning after World War Two.
“Scherzo” and “Zeke” also created the covers of the TV Times Christmas Extra magazines.
“Scherzo” continued to cartoon through the 1960s and into the 1970s, so perhaps a downthetubes reader has come across him at some point. It would seem he was represented at one time by the Fleet Street-based Charles E. Gilbert Artists’ Agency. His published work included contributions to Daily Sketch in the 1960s, as one of his drawings was found in the second British Cartoonists Album of 1964/5.
Charles Gilbert represented a number of cartoonists, including “Andy Capp” creator, Reg Smythe, Leslie Harding and Playboy and Tit-Bits cartoonist, Roy Raymonde.
Given the musical allusion, we have considered “Scherzo” might be a pen name for Humphrey Lyttleton, who also worked for a time as a cartoonist before going on to be a brilliant jazz musician, well beyond his known cartooning years, but the styles don’t totally match.
Len Ward, the first art editor of TV Times
Glenn is also hoping some may have information on Leonard/Len Ward, who was the very first art editor of TV Times and who also created some of its covers.
”I did discover a cartoon strip by Len Ward called “Sonny Silhouette”, which was part of the first few issues of “Raich Carter’s Soccer Star” magazine in early 1953. Just trying to find out if the signatures match.”
Was this Len Ward also TV Times elusive first art editor?
If you can help, or offer some suggestions, please do comment below (we approve comments, so don’t be alarmed if your response doesn’t publish immediately) – or contact us direct
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The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: Art and Illustration, Comics, Creating Comics, downthetubes News, Magazines, Other Worlds
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