Reg Smythe

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). 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 2007, after years of local speculation and fundraising, a bronze statue commemorating Andy Capp was erected near the Harbour of Refuge pub in Smythe’s home town of Hartlepool. Measuring five feet eight inches, the statue cost £20,000 and was designed by Shrewsbury sculptor Jane Robbins.