and sweat lodges. Biff’s 20 year tenure in “The Guardian” effectively charted the Rise and Fall of the not-so-angry young things as they shambled from Grosvenor Square to Hay-on-Wye, from the Ugly Rumours to Iraq, into the present wilderness of collective paranoia. They are still working and contribute to BBC History magazines with ‘A Biff History of Exploration’ and ‘A Biff History of The Media’, People Management with ‘Human Resources’, Latest Art with ‘Biff Art’ and Rough News with ‘The 6 Ages of Travel’. Quote Biff quotes have a way of sticking in the mind. Is it ironical cultural commentary which pioneered a unique style of visual ‘sampling’ before the word had even been invented? Or is it Chris Garratt and Mick Kidd, two mad old farts from Leicestershire, locked in a long-distance comedy partnership since childhood? In 1985 they got their big break, standing in for Posy Simmonds on the women's page of the Guardian. They stayed on after Posy’s return for a further twenty years. Then, as foretold by the sudden appearance of the Hale-Bopp comet in the western sky, Blairism began to bite. They were downsized, monochromed, shrunk and eventually berlinered out of the paper altogether. But fear not for their work continues in other magazines - so as their homepage advises ‘Relax and float downstream’. Steve Bell, 2007 Books The Essential Biff by Chris Garratt and Mick Kidd, Pavement Press, 1982 The Rainy Day Biff by Chris Garratt and Mick Kidd, Pavement Press, 1983 Desert Island Biff by Chris Garratt and Mick Kidd, Corgi, 1985 Sincerely Yours, Biff by Chris Garratt and Mick Kidd, Corgi, 1986 File Under Biff by Chris Garratt and Mick Kidd, Mandarin, 1988 Faxes From Biff by Chris Garratt and Mick Kidd, Mandarin, 1990 Best of Biff by Chris Garratt and Mick Kidd, Impact Books, 1990 Life on the Floor and Other Mattresses by Chris Garratt and Mick Kidd, Impact Books, 1993 How to be a Genius by Chris Garratt, Mick Kidd and David Stafford, Methuen Books, 1994 Biff: The Missing Years by Chris Garratt and Mick Kidd, Icon Books, 1996 See also Tufnell Park References External links The official website British comic strips 1982 comics debuts Gag cartoon comics Gag-a-day comics Satirical comics Parody comics