The strip was drawn by Cliff Brown, and I suspect he may have scripted it too as he was the writer of Scream Inn for Shiver and Shake. Brown's distinctive style made a refreshing change to the Reg Parlett / Leo Baxendale style that many artists were using at the time. I have to confess that his style was one that influenced me in some ways. Not that I ever copied any figures but I can see now that I'd subconsciously added it to the mix when I was developing my own style years later.
Does anyone know if Cliff Brown is still around? I think the last time I saw his work was in a puzzle magazine we both contributed to in the 1990s.
Anyway, without further ado, here are three marvellous Timothy Tester strips from Whizzer and Chips in the summer of 1972. A good, lively strip, and perhaps it has potential for a future collection by Rebellion?
I'm fairly sure that the strip ended around 1976 and came back about 1978 in reprint form. Tim’s last appearance was 6/10/79 - a week too soon for a slice of Whizzer & Chips' 10th birthday cake! The last story featured PC Flatfoot having a nightmare about being the frequent recipient of Tim’s testing, such as in the third strip you’ve printed here. We hear Flatfoot howl he can take no more; an appropriate if uncomfortable way to take our leave of Tim and co.
ReplyDeleteHe was around late 90s.. a quick look shows there is someone with that name who is a cartoonist in sommerset but short of sending him a letter, i'm not sure if it's the same Cliff Brown who is a cartoonist ^_^
ReplyDeleteThanks, Stephen. I was going by sources online as I'd given up on Whizzer and Chips by 1975. (I was 16 so too old for it by then.) I'll amend my posting.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Manic. I saw that listing but I'm not sure if it's him.
Hi Lew,
ReplyDeleteLast year I bought a large run (nearly a complete year) of Whizzer & Chips for the 'Trip to Terror' adventure strip which I remembered fondly from my youth. However I found that the vast majority of the other humour strips in the comic weren't too great, but the clear exception was 'Timothy Tester', which had genuine laugh out loud moments for me. The detailed art was a welcome change from the other strips and included many ingenious layouts & designs, sometimes incorporating puzzles for the reader to solve. Cliff Brown was clearly a very talented writer & artist and appeared to put in a great deal of effort to produce such a memorable 2 page strip each week for many years. Thanks for highlighting the strip on your blog.
Cheers,
Duncan
My Dad is retired now as he’s 90 now, he was living in Wookey, Somerset but now he lives in Burham-on-Sea, as far as I know he doesn’t do any cartooning any more
ReplyDeleteYour dad is Cliff Brown? His work was absolutely brilliant. Wishing him well.
ReplyDeleteI first met Cliff Brown in 1961, an absolute brilliant man and excellent Jazz musician (Professor Brown and the Alligator Jug Thumpers).
ReplyDeleteI was 11 years old at the time and was making 8mm cartoon films. Cliff kindly help me with good advice. Advice that helped me when I was lucky enough to start work on BBC's "Vision On" with Tony Hart.
Great anecdote, Laurie! Thanks for that. (And 'Vision On' was enjoyed by everyone I knew.)
ReplyDeleteIt's really lovely to read that you
ReplyDeleteall have such wonderful things to say about my grandad. He is still very well!!
That's good to hear. Please convey my best wishes to him and my thanks for producing such wonderful strips!
ReplyDelete