Reginald Smyth (10 July 1917 – 13 June 1998) was a British cartoonist who created the popular, long-running Andy Capp comic strip. Early life and military service He was born in Hartlepool, County Durham, England, the son of Richard Oliver Smyth, a shipyard worker, and his wife, Florence, née Pearce, the oldest of five children (his siblings being Lily, Harry, Laura and Jimmy). With his father chronically unemployed, he grew up in poverty, and often referred to himself as a "canvas shoes kid." He attended Galley's Field School on the Hartlepool Headland but left at fourteen to take a job as a butcher's errand boy. In 1936, after a period of unemployment, he joined the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers and was posted to Egypt. His father died during his service. He served during the Second World War in the North African Campaign, and was assigned to a tank demolition team. Promoted to sergeant, he was demoted to corporal for a minor disciplinary offence, and was ultimately medically discharged for a stomach ulcer after a stint in an Edinburgh hospital in 1945. He was awarded the 1939-1945 Star, the Africa Star, the Defence Medal and the War Medal 1939-1945, for his service. During this time he developed his talent for drawing, designing posters for amateur dramatic productions and selling cartoons to Cairo magazines. Early cartooning career After the army, he took a job as a telephone clerk for the General Post Office in London. He married Vera Toyne in 1949; they had no children. He continued to design theatrical posters in his spare time, and was advised to become a professional cartoonist. He sent thirty cartoons to an agent, who sold two to Everybody's magazine for more than his weekly wage at the GPO. While retaining his day job, he was soon drawing sixty cartoons a week, using "Reg Smythe" as his professional name. The cartoonist Leslie Harding (alias "Styx") worked for the same agent, and became his mentor. He contributed to publications like the Fishtrader's Gazette and the Draper's Record, and drew sketches of council meetings for local newspapers. In 1950 he went freelance, and drew cartoon features like "Smythe's Speedway World" for Speedway World and "Skid Sprocket" for Monthly Speedway World, as well as cartoons for the London Evening Standard, Reveille, Punch, and the Daily Mirror, where he contributed to the paper's "Laughter Column". The Daily Mirror and Andy Capp