Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Hornsey Cartoonist
When I was working in a Central London office I used to love Frank Dickens' Bristow cartoons in the Evening Standard. They seemed so true to life.
I once had the pleasure of meeting Dickens in a pub near the BBC. It was only today, by courtesy of Wikipedia, that I learned that he was born in Hornsey.
" Frank Dickens was born in Hornsey, North London, on 2 February 1932, the son of a painter and decorator. He went to Stationer's School, left aged sixteen, and began working for his father. He then worked for three months as a buying clerk in an engineering firm, before in 1946 becoming a racing cyclist. After National Service in the RAF, Dickens moved to Paris in the hope, he later said, of becoming "the greatest racing cyclist the world has ever known".
His cycling career never took off but his cartooning talent made him famous both here and in the States.
I have a treasured souvenir of that meeting ( unsolicited I might add ).
A very nice man.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Alison P on
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Fantastic story, thanks John. I don't remember him at all but my husband knew exactly who he was when i mentioned this and remembers his cartoons as being really charming.
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
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I used to love the Bristow cartoons in the Standard. Lucky you to have an original!
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Permalink Reply by Geraldine on
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I used to love Bristow's gentle humour. How interesting that he came from Hornsey. Thanks for letting us know that.
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Permalink Reply by John D on
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I'm trying to find out where exactly he was born. There's a hint that it might have been Tottenham lane. At one time he had an Austin Chummy car which was " breathed on " by Colin Chapman whose Lotus works were at 8 Tottenham Lane.
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Permalink Reply by Richard Woods on
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Tottenham Lane was where Chapman's first works were but I "think" Dickens was born in a road off Tott Lane. I met him a couple of times when I worked at the Standard in the 60s and he was indeed a lovely man. What I did not know then was that he was at Stationers (where IO went in the 50s) at the same time as my older brothers! And of course so was Colin Chapman, whos dad owned the Railway Hotel, Tottenham Lane.
This site will interest: http://www.frankdickens.com/
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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There's an email address for that site. Perhaps they will ask Frank Dickens himself.
webmaster1@frankdickens.com
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Permalink Reply by Geoff Dent on
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I'm an Old Stationer albeit of a later vintage to the revered Mr Dickens, one of my favourite cartoonists. He used to come to the school and give talks although I was never lucky enough to have been in one of the groups so didn't get to see him. After his visits it was worth keeping a close eye on his strip as, usually, some of the more unusual surnames from the school register would turn up as characters. Some of the older members of the Old Boys' have told me that Frank is now quite ill so I don't think he'll be rushing to deal with any correspondence. Very sad but I have several of his books so I can still enjoy his wonderful sense of humour.
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