Bristow (cartoon)
Encyclopedia
Bristow was a comic strip
character whose everyday office life was recorded in over 10,000 Bristow strips created and drawn by Frank Dickens
. According to Guinness World Records
it was "The longest running daily cartoon strip by a single author" since first published in the Aberdeen Press & Journal in September 1961.
The cartoons follow the daily life of a buying clerk who works in the monolithic Chester-Perry building. He is a fantasist and has delusions of grandeur, wishing he were a brain surgeon and a writer. His epic tome Living Death in the Buying Department has yet to find a publisher, but he is not discouraged. He lives in a small bedsit in East Winchley and commutes to work by train, invariably arriving late. Bristow is surrounded by co-workers, Fudge (his overbearing manager), Jones, Hewitt, Dimkins, hapless typist Miss Sunman, master chef Gordon Blue, the Postboy and the ever-gossiping Mrs. Purdy the Tealady. Bristow has a crush on routine visitor Miss Pretty of 'Kleenaphone'. Another regular visitor is the pigeon who sits on a window ledge. During the winter, the bird travels to a warmer climate where she visits Bristow's counterpart, a black man in a white suit. Bristow invariably holidays at a beach resort known as Funboys Sur La Plage.
The strip was widely syndicated in Great Britain and in Australia. It appeared in the Birmingham Evening Mail
and, between 1962 and 2001, appeared in the London Evening Standard
newspaper. The Melbourne Age and Sydney Morning Herald published the strip from the late 1960s. A number of collections were published in Italy with the captions translated.
Frank Dickens is often credited for "inventing" a cartoon device whereby he wrote the words of the action next to the character, such as "flinch flinch", as he was unable to draw expressions well enough to fit in the comic strip boxes.
series starring Michael Williams. There were 14 half-hour episodes made from April 1999 to July 2000. with frequent repeats on BBC 7
.
The series was written by Frank Dickens
, the creator of the cartoon strip, and starred Michael Williams as Bristow and Rodney Bewes
as his colleague Jones.
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
character whose everyday office life was recorded in over 10,000 Bristow strips created and drawn by Frank Dickens
Frank Dickens
Frank William Huline Dickens is a British cartoonist. His strip Bristow ran for 41 years in the Evening Standard....
. According to Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...
it was "The longest running daily cartoon strip by a single author" since first published in the Aberdeen Press & Journal in September 1961.
The cartoons follow the daily life of a buying clerk who works in the monolithic Chester-Perry building. He is a fantasist and has delusions of grandeur, wishing he were a brain surgeon and a writer. His epic tome Living Death in the Buying Department has yet to find a publisher, but he is not discouraged. He lives in a small bedsit in East Winchley and commutes to work by train, invariably arriving late. Bristow is surrounded by co-workers, Fudge (his overbearing manager), Jones, Hewitt, Dimkins, hapless typist Miss Sunman, master chef Gordon Blue, the Postboy and the ever-gossiping Mrs. Purdy the Tealady. Bristow has a crush on routine visitor Miss Pretty of 'Kleenaphone'. Another regular visitor is the pigeon who sits on a window ledge. During the winter, the bird travels to a warmer climate where she visits Bristow's counterpart, a black man in a white suit. Bristow invariably holidays at a beach resort known as Funboys Sur La Plage.
The strip was widely syndicated in Great Britain and in Australia. It appeared in the Birmingham Evening Mail
Birmingham Mail
The Birmingham Mail is a tabloid newspaper based in Birmingham, UK but distributed around Birmingham, The Black Country, Solihull, Warwickshire and parts of Worcestershire and Staffordshire. The newspaper, which was re-branded from the Birmingham Evening Mail in October 2005, is one of the biggest...
and, between 1962 and 2001, appeared in the London Evening Standard
Evening Standard
The Evening Standard, now styled the London Evening Standard, is a free local daily newspaper, published Monday–Friday in tabloid format in London. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the surrounding area, with coverage of national and international news and City of London...
newspaper. The Melbourne Age and Sydney Morning Herald published the strip from the late 1960s. A number of collections were published in Italy with the captions translated.
Frank Dickens is often credited for "inventing" a cartoon device whereby he wrote the words of the action next to the character, such as "flinch flinch", as he was unable to draw expressions well enough to fit in the comic strip boxes.
Radio adaptation
Bristow was made into a BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
series starring Michael Williams. There were 14 half-hour episodes made from April 1999 to July 2000. with frequent repeats on BBC 7
BBC 7
BBC Radio 4 Extra, formerly known as BBC 7 and BBC Radio 7, is a British digital radio station broadcasting comedy, drama, and children's programming nationally 24 hours a day. It is the principal broadcasting outlet for the BBC's archive of spoken-word entertainment...
.
The series was written by Frank Dickens
Frank Dickens
Frank William Huline Dickens is a British cartoonist. His strip Bristow ran for 41 years in the Evening Standard....
, the creator of the cartoon strip, and starred Michael Williams as Bristow and Rodney Bewes
Rodney Bewes
Rodney Bewes is an English television actor and writer who is best known for playing Bob Ferris in the BBC television sitcom The Likely Lads and its colour sequel Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? , and in the various radio series based on them , and in the big screen film The Likely Lads...
as his colleague Jones.