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A bronze statue of Andy was unveiled in June 2007 in Hartlepool – Reg Smyth's hometown.^[1]

Andy Capp is a British comic strip created by cartoonist Reg Smythe (1917–1998), seen in The Daily Mirror and The Sunday Mirror newspapers since 5 August 1957. Originally a single-panel cartoon, Smyth later expanded it to four panels.

The strip is syndicated internationally by Creators Syndicate. The character is also licensed as the mascot for a line of snack foods (Andy Capp's fries) and a defunct chain of miniature golf courses in Brevard County, Florida.

Characters and story [link]

• Andy Capp
• Florrie "Flo" Capp
• Chalkie White
• Ruby "Rube" White
• Percy the rent collector
• Jackie the barman
• The Vicar
• Flo's Mum

Also various constables, barmaids, barmen, referees, footballers, pub locals and door-to-door salesmen.

Andy is a working class figure who never actually works, living in Hartlepool, a harbour town in northeast England. The title of the strip is a pun, a perfect phonetic rendition of that region's pronunciation of the word "handicap", as well as a reference^{[citation needed]} to the main character's trademark flat cloth cap.

His hobbies include pigeon racing, darts, snooker (his cue's name is "Delilah" ^[2]), football (which always involves fights with the other players, and frequently ends with Andy being sent off), occasionally cricket and rugby, betting on horses, getting drunk in the local pub (often falling into the canal and being fished out by a constable, and always, seven nights a week, arriving home late as a result), fishing (and not catching anything bigger than a goldfish), womanising, loafing on the sofa, and fighting with his long-suffering wife, Florrie (also known as "Flo").

Andy's iconic plaid cap is always pulled down over his eyes, even when he is seen napping or bathing. He is often unshaven, frequently intoxicated (indicated by a prominent red nose and dishevelled clothing), lazy, freeloading, belligerent and confrontational—but just as frequently lovable (he always refers to Flo as "pet", and will instantly "bop" anyone who dares to be rude to her). He was often seen with a cigarette dangling from his lip until the 1980s. Similarly, Andy no longer beats his wife,^[3] because of concerns about the depiction of domestic violence (which was usually portrayed in a highly stylised manner, as an iconic cartoon smoke cloud with fists and feet protruding). Instead, they now attend marriage counselling.

Andy and Florrie are always on the verge of poverty. Although Flo works regularly as a charwoman, Andy is unemployed and lacks motivation. Rent on their flat and its contents is constantly in arrears, and Percy Ritson the rent collector despairs of ever being paid. Their furniture has been repossessed on several occasions. Somehow, they always manage to recover it, and Andy is always able to afford beer and gambling money, usually by borrowing from Florrie. Jackie the pub barman is regularly seen as well. Almost all the characters occasionally "break the fourth wall" by delivering asides directly to the reader, usually in reference to Andy's low character. One 1976 strip revealed that Andy once worked as a sign painter, but had not worked at that trade (or any other for that matter) for many years.).

Early on, the Andy Capp strip was accused of perpetuating stereotypes about Britain's Northerners, who are seen in other parts of England as chronically unemployed, dividing their time between the living room couch and the neighbourhood pub, with a few hours set aside for fistfights at football games... But Smythe, himself a native of that region, had nothing but affection for his good-for-nothing protagonist, a fact which showed in his work. Since the very beginning, Andy has been immensely popular among the people he supposedly skewers.^[4]

The strip almost exclusively takes place in one of three locations: the pub, the street, or inside the Capps' residence at No. 37 Durham Street (generally with Andy on the couch and Florrie yelling from the next room). Less frequently visited places include the race track (although Andy frequently bets by listening to the radio, thus saving him the trip), the marriage counsellor (in one memorable cartoon, a panoramic shot is given of the counselling office, with several file cabinets dedicated entirely to the Capps), and the football pitch (where Andy is either being sent off, or carried off on a stretcher).

Andy's and Flo's best friends are their neighbours Chalkie and Rube (short for Ruby) White. Chalkie is like Andy, a hard-drinking, hardscrabble, working-class type who can often be seen sharing a pint with Andy at the corner pub. However, Chalkie seems to be mellower than Andy, and more tolerant of his wife. Also unlike Andy, Chalkie was known to be employed, if intermittently, during much of the strip's run.^{[citation needed]} Rube is Flo's confidante, and the two often trade gossip over the clothesline about their husbands' latest escapades. The local vicar is also often seen. Andy despairs of his holier-than-thou attitude, as he is constantly criticising Andy for his many bad habits and vice-ridden lifestyle. He often lets his opinion be known to Flo, who agrees with his low assessment of Andy's character.

Flo's mother, an unseen character only indicated by offstage speech balloons, often chimes into the conversation, mostly with sarcastic criticism of her son-in-law. Flo's "mum", whom Andy addresses only as "Missus", is often the subject of Andy's pointed barbs about her weight and less-than-sunny disposition, but she has been known to give as good as she gets. Andy's mother was similarly mentioned and also delivered dialogue unseen, but her "appearances" were cut back significantly as the years went on. Andy's father has also been mentioned. Flo has an older sister named Polly, who is also never seen. Andy had a pet whippet named Nancy.

Syndication [link]

Despite its local milieu, the comic strip is syndicated in 50 countries throughout the world.^{[citation needed]}

Continuation [link]

Reg Smyth died on 13 June 1998, and the original strip has been continued. For some time, the writer and artist were uncredited, but in November 2004 the strip began to carry a credit for Roger Mahoney (artist) and Roger Kettle (writer).

In May 2012, Andy Capp (as well as Flo, Chalkie White, the Vicar and Jackie the Barman) were animated for the first time in promotional material for The Trinity Mirror-owned MirrorBingo.com website. The animation was created by Teesside born Chris Hunneysett, who drew from his own background to place Andy Capp in Middlesbrough. Seen within the industrial-styled background are MIMA, the Captain Cook Bottle sculpture and what was the Masham Public House.^{[citation needed]}

Awards [link]

Smythe received the National Cartoonist Society's Humor Comic Strip Award for the strip in 1974.^[5]

Book collections and reprints [link]

United Kingdom [link]

(All titles by Reg Smyth. Published by Daily Mirror Books/Mirror Group Publishers unless otherwise noted)

USA [link]

(Published by Fawcett/Gold Medal unless otherwise noted)

Australia [link]

Adaptations [link]

Stage [link]

In 1981 a stage musical based on the strip had a short run at London's Aldwych Theatre, with songs by Alan Price and Trevor Peacock, starring Tom Courtenay as Andy and Val McLane as Florrie. The stage show also produced an original West End cast recording, released on LP record by Key Records in 1982.

Television [link]

An attempt to transfer Andy Capp to television in 1988 met with little success. The well-known British character actor James Bolam played Andy on ITV. The Thames Television series consisted of six episodes that were shown once and have never been repeated. The series was poorly received and attracted some criticism for the way it played up to supposed stereotypes of Northern working class men.

Computer game [link]

In 1987, a computer game based on the Andy Capp comic strips was released to the Commodore 64 entitled Andy Capp: The Game. It was released to a North American and European audience. Players had to borrow money in order to replenish the Andy's alcohol supply while avoiding fights with either his wife Flo or with the police.

Related works [link]

• The Gospel According to Andy Capp, written by Daniel Patrick McGeachy, was published by John Knox Press in 1973.
• When the children's comic Buster was launched in 1960, its masthead character was entitled Buster: Son of Andy Capp. Buster wore a cloth cap similar to Andy's until 1992, but the connection was not recognised in the parent strip and had limited development in the children's comic. Buster did often refer to his father, and he was seen in the comic itself attempting to find a gas leak in three frames of the 18 June 1960 issue. He was also shown in two drawn photographs in the 2 July 1960 issue, the first of which was displayed by Buster's mum with the pronouncement "It's a photo of Buster taken with Andy! You can see he's got his dad's fine straight nose". Buster's mum was often referred to by name and was consistently drawn to resemble Andy's wife Flo.
• The Mirror also runs a cartoon strip called Mandy, which started life as Mandy Capp. It is the tale of a sassy single mother and her travails with work, dating and her home and social life. Her relationship to Andy is unclear, but the two strips have never had a crossover.

References [link]

External links [link]

• Andy Capp, British Cartoon Archive, University of Kent
• Daily Andy Capp comics at Creators Syndicate
• Daily Andy Capp comics at GoComics
• Andy's Facebook Page
• "A comic-hero on his way through Europe" in Nürnberger Nachrichten (newspaper), about Ultras Nürnberg‘s mascot "Jacky" (=Andy) (German)