We’re sorry to report the passing of British cartoonist Andrew Christine, co-creator of the newspaper comic strips Beau Peep and A Man Called Horace with writer Roger Kettle. He had been ill for some time.
Over a long career that included work for both DC Thomson and IPC, he also drew strips such as “Dopey Joe” and “Top of the Flops” for The Topper, “Tom Thumbscrew” in Monster Fun and “Wonder Wellies” in Cracker (1975-76), and also drew the “Benny Hill” page for Look-In.
Andrew started at DC Thomson in 1965, after being turned down for art school because he didn’t have a Higher English to match his Higher Art qualifications, and was a letterer/illustrator in the art department, as well as producing cartoons and artwork for The Topper letters page. As noted on Beau Peep web site, it was here that he first crossed paths with Roger Kettle.
“As a new member of The Topper staff, I was given the readers’ page to look after,” Roger recalls, “and Andrew did the layout and illustrated it.”
Roger and Andrew cut their cartooning teeth together at DC Thomson in the 1970s. While Andrew was drawing for The Topper (then selling some 300,000 copies a week), Roger intended to be a journalist but was instead asked to script some of the company’s comics, including “Beryl the Peril”.
They went freelance in 1975 and concluded that the best way to generate some regular income was to get into the comic strip market.
A 1990 feature in the Scottish Herald notes there then followed almost two years of rejection, hard times, hard work, perseverance, and much discussion, over games of pool, as to whether they would ever make the breakthrough. Then came Beau Peep, which quickly established an audience in the Daily Star where it first appeared, followed by A Man Called Horace.
Very loosely based on the French Foreign Legion and originally created as a parody of the adventure novel Beau Geste by P. C. Wren, Beau Peep chronicles the misadventures of Bert ‘Beau’ Peep, a cowardly British man in the French Foreign Legion to escape his terrifying wife, Doris, his fellow Legionnaires, and a host of supporting characters.
The strip first appeared in The Daily Star on 2nd November 1978, and continued until 2016. Roger Kettle announced the sad news the Daily Sta had made dropped its longest-running comic strip, reported here by downthetubes at the time. The strip lives on through its official web site at cameldung.co.uk.
Recognising the success Christine and Kettle’s work for their rival, the pair were commissioned for the western comedy strip A Man Called Horace, which ran in the Daily Mirror and Daily Record from 1989 until August 2015, when the strip was cancelled to the dismay of fans.
Writing on the official Horace Facebook page, Roger Kettle described the cancellation of the strip as the “End of an Era” – and the paper’s decision, prompted anger from the strip’s fans on Twitter, (there was even a growing #bringbackhorace campaign Facebook and the official Horace forum, which, sadly, failed to save the strip).
Paying tribute to Andrew, Rob Baker, keep of the Beau Peep Tribute Site, noted on Twitter that “Andrew was a fantastically talented artist,” sentiments echoed in comments responding to a post from the Cartoonists’ Club of Great Britain. noting him as “a great newspaper cartoonist.”
Fellow cartoonist Steve Bright noted on the Beau Peep forum that, sadly, that the cartoon world has lost too many giants of late, in this past year alone.
“I can’t say I knew Andrew, having only met him a couple of times several decades ago,” he commented, his message sympathising with Roger Kettle at the loss. “But of course, like everyone here, I knew his artwork extremely well, and have long loved the work you both did together, not only on Beau Peep and Horace, but those truly splendid works you did for that gentlemen’s magazine that graced the bar in Dundee [Foreigners]… which arguably gave Andrew even more scope to demonstrate his full range than even Beau and Horace did. Masterpieces, all!
“We here have all lost a friend we never actually knew in person, but who, in tandem with you, was a daily visitor to our lives for many years, and a visit that always guaranteed a smile.
“… Andrew was truly remarkable in so many ways, not least in the consistency and quality of your work together, which never failed in its aim. That’s very rare, but very evident in every strip you both created. It worked, as well, if not better than any other cartoon strips any of us have known.”
Our sympathies to Andrew’s family, Roger Kettle and Andrew’s many friends and fans at this time.
CREDITS
Comics Work included
• Dopey Joe (1969-70) – The Topper
• Top of the Flops (1973) – The Topper
• Lumbering Jack (1970) – The Topper
• Ghastly Manor (1974 – 1977) – The Topper
• Blubba and the Bear – Nutty
• Wonder Wellies – Cracker (1975-76)
• Ad Lad – Whoopee (mid 1970s)
• Benny Hill (1975 to 1981) – Look-In
Andrew was the first artist to draw Look-In‘s “Benny Hill” strip, starting in early 1975, and was replaced (after a few tries by a few other artists) by Bill Titcombe in 1976. There are annotations by the editor or art editor on Andrew’s art that survives, and both have ‘alternate’ mastheads that Andrew himself appeared to try, before a photo masthead was decided on and dropped in.
• Tom Thumbscrew – Monster Fun (1975 – 76)
• Grizzly Bearhug…Giant – Monster Fun (1975)
Andrew also worked on Sparky, work that included covers and feature pages
Newspaper Strips
• Beau Peep – with writer Roger Kettle – for the Daily Star
• A Man Called Horace – with writer Roger Kettle – for the Daily Mirror and Daily Record
• The Devils (1985 – 1987) – with writer Roger Kettle – for the for the Daily Star
• Titus the Newt – News of the World (1980s)
• Mildew – with writer Roger Kettle – for the News of the World
When Roger and Andrew left DC Thomson to go freelance in 1975, they contributed cartoons to various men’s magazines under the “Randy” signature, including Club International, Men Only, Knave and Penthouse
WEB LINKS
• A Tribute to Beau Peep – www.archive.cameldung.co.uk
• Official Site: www.beaupeep.com
• The Official Beau Peep and Horace Noticeboard
• Horace on Twitter @mancalledhorace
• Behind the scenes with Roger Kettle and Roger Christine
• Daily Mirror Horace archive • Yesterday’s Papers: Daily Mirror Strip Index
• Read the 1990 feature/ interview with Roger Kettle and Andrew Christine on the Herald web site
• downthetubes: Daily Mirror’s “Horace” strip heads off into the sunset – 4th August 2015
With thanks to Rob Baker for permission to utilise material from the “Cameldung” site, and Shaqui le Vesconte
- About the Author
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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: British Comics, British Comics - Newspaper Strips, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Features, Obituaries
Sorry to hear about Andrew’s passing, I was a fan of his work especially his work on Beau Peep. I used to cut out the strips from the Daily Star newspaper and stick them into a big book, and this was before the strips were collected from the early 1980’s, and I have most of those. Even had a letter printed in the newspaper praising the work of Andrew and Roger. I think there was talk one time of a Beau Peep movie or TV show, but alas nothing came of it. Roger and Andrew always gave me a chuckle each day I read the strips. Fun times.
Terrible news. I loved Beau Peep and have all the collections. Interesting to find out he drew Ghastly Manor, one of my favourites as a kid.
Yes, Andrew was the ‘quiet man’ of the team, and I agree that his art was consistent in both Beau and Horace. Andrew seemed able to encapsulate just what his scriptwriter had intended in the script: Roger once said he could foresee exactly how a specific character would look when drawn by his partner in a given situation. I believe Andrew’s time as a letterer fed into the cleanliness and economy of his drawing style (that, plus D C Thomson’s tremendous pedigree, epitomised by artists like the late George Martin, and showcased in The Topper and its DCT stablemates).
The current editorial team at the Mirror said that, when the cartoon editorship changed, they deemed that Horace had ‘run its course’. Ironically, though, Horace stood on the strength of its humour and art – it was never reliant on being ‘on-trend’ (as evidenced by the fact that both the Lone Ranger setting and the ‘Man Called Horse’ pun were already long-in-the-tooth when Horace began).
Roger and I (as an enthusiast) once discussed by phone the idea of Beau Peep being a cartoon on Channel 4, say, but I’m not sure this ever got to drawing-board stage; there are impromptu Peep animations online.
RIP, Andrew, and condolences all round…
I am stunned by this terrible sad news that Andrew has passed away. Andrew lived round the cornet from us and although I hadn’t seen him to talk to for a few years we used to enjoy a pint or two in the local pubs.