Cricket in Tiger - Part Two

Barrie Tomlinson is among the greats of UK comic history, dating back to when he first joined Fleetway Publications in 1961. Barrie became Tiger editor in 1969 before taking on the same role from the launch of Roy of the Rovers in 1976 (but retaining involvement in Tiger). Those two comics represent the tip of the iceberg for Barrie’s work in publishing but as this blog is titled Cricket Attic we’ll be focusing on Tiger’s hugely significant contribution to the summer game – especially during the ‘70s and early ‘80s.

Part two of this exclusive interview covers the post-1977 era once Tony Greig’s time as Tiger’s first cricket columnist was up:    

Cricket Attic: Tony Greig’s departure from the England side meant you were looking for a new cricket columnist and you settled on Geoff Boycott. Except negotiations were tough and they went right up to the time he was due to leave for the 77/78 tour of Pakistan as vice-captain. But you got your man in the end! Geoff became quite the signing for Tiger as he was pictured with the comic around the world and promoting competitions such as for ‘Test Match’ games. You also did a cricket quiz book and annual with him as well as becoming Melchester Rovers chairman in 1984. Not to mention his illustrated ‘Play the Geoff Boycott Way’ coaching series. That must be one of the best player relationships you ever had?

Barrie: The negotiations were tough but we got on well. After all these years I am still in touch with him. I am so pleased his time working with my comics was a happy experience for him. I mentioned in my book ‘Comic Book Hero’ that I once went to Lord’s Cricket Ground to meet Geoffrey Boycott. It was a non-match day and at that time the ground had lots of rules and regulations. They wouldn’t let me into the ground, despite me saying that I had an appointment with Geoffrey and I was from IPC Magazines, a very large publishing house. No entry. I was stuck outside. Then I said “I’m from Tiger!” Immediately, attitudes changed. “From Tiger? Of course you can come in!”

That’s what Tiger meant in those days. Everyone loved the title.

We still keep in touch – here’s a recent photo!

 

 

Geoff even played Trevor Francis at Subbuteo with Dickie Bird at the 25^th anniversary event in 1979 – quite a trio!

I was pleased to invite so many stars to our Tiger birthday celebrations. The Subbuteo match between Geoffrey and Trevor was something special. As was having Dickie Bird as referee. Dickie was a great fan of Tiger and I always enjoyed listening to his cricketing stories. After the 25th party, I remember we all went out to dinner afterwards. It was a great evening.

 

Once Geoff Boycott joined the SA rebel tour in 1982 you were looking for another cricket columnist…who better than Ian Botham. I understand some of those negotiations took place in the pub?   

It wasn’t because of the rebel tour that we changed writers. It was just time for a change and Geoffrey had already made sure that Ian knew all about Tiger. Yes, I did first meet Ian in a Fleet Street pub!

 

David Gower was also a big friend of Tiger – writing an exclusive article for the 1979 'World Cup Superstars' poster magazine and putting his name to the ‘Stumped’ cricket quiz from 1982. You also took a famous photo of him in a swimming pool, with a copy of Tiger in hand. What do you remember about working with David?

It was a pleasant experience!  At that time, all the England cricket team seemed to know about Tiger.

 

There weren’t many cricket cartoon strips in Tiger but one was around at the time you started as editor ('The Slogger from Down Under') and there was also one at the end of the magazine's life in 84-85 ('Paceman'). Other characters would also turn their hand to cricket in the summer (especially Billy Dane and Nipper). Why do you think there was never a truly memorable, long-running cricket cartoon strip in Tiger?

We had so many very good, established stories that it was difficult for a cricket story to compete against them. I was always keen for established football stories to feature cricket in the summer.  I’m proud of coming up with the idea of Billy Dane having a pair of Dead-Shot’s old cricket boots!

 

Besides the regular contributors you also had numerous other famous cricketing names involved with Tiger such as Denis Compton, Ted Dexter, Jim Laker, Bob Willis, Phil Edmonds and Brian Johnston. Do any stories particularly stick out from them?       

The players whose names you mentioned all came to our Tiger presentation lunches. It was thrilling to meet my boyhood heroes Denis Compton and Jim Laker.

I edited a magazine for Phil Edmonds for his benefit year and that was great fun to do.  All the famous people I met during my career were really nice people. Tiger had a good reputation and that made it so much easier!

Thank you to Barrie for speaking to Cricket Attic.

If you want to know more about Barrie’s life in comics here are his two books to date…with a third on the way! 

 

Real Roy of the Rovers Stuff - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Real-Roy-Rovers-Stuff-Story/dp/178531212X/ref=sr_1_2?qid=1655462986&refinements=p_27%3ABarrie+Tomlinson&s=books&sr=1-2

Comic Book Hero - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Comic-Book-Hero-Working-Britains-ebook/dp/B075WTT9KR/ref=sr_1_8?qid=1655462986&refinements=p_27%3ABarrie+Tomlinson&s=books&sr=1-8

Cricket In Tiger – Part One

Barrie Tomlinson is among the greats of UK comic history, dating back to when he first joined Fleetway Publications in 1961. Barrie became Tiger editor in 1969 before taking on the same role from the launch of Roy of the Rovers in 1976 (but retaining involvement in Tiger). Those two comics represent the tip of the iceberg for Barrie’s work in publishing but as this blog is titled The Cricket Attic we’ll be focusing on Tiger’s hugely significant contribution to the summer game – especially during the ‘70s and early ‘80s.

Part one of this exclusive interview goes up to 1977 and the end of Tony Greig’s time as Tiger’s first cricket columnist:    

Cricket Attic: Having joined Fleetway in 1961, you became Tiger editor in 1969 and transformed it into the publication it became during its heyday in the 1970s. Among your innovations was to make it purely a sports publication, introduce the Tiger Sports Star of the Year and to focus more on ‘real life’ sport besides the fictitious characters (including an increasing amount of photography). Some of the front covers with celebrities during the 1970s and early ‘80s are iconic – did you make a conscious effort to feature more ‘real life’ sport alongside the popular fictitious characters?

Barrie Tomlinson: I'd been a reader of the original Eagle and I’d been impressed with how the editor featured real life sport alongside the stories and had articles by top sports personalities. I thought Tiger should be the same. A bit of a gamble but it worked! The Tiger Sports Star of the Year competition was very popular with readers and with me. We had some great winners, including Ann Jones, Gordon Banks, Jackie Stewart, Mary Peters, David Steele, James Hunt, Geoffrey Boycott, Peter Shilton, Sebastian Coe and Daley Thompson.

CA: The first cricketer to win Tiger Sports Star of the Year was David Steele in 75/76 and you spent a day at the County Ground, Northampton to award him with the trophy. What do you remember about that day?

Barrie: It was a good day! David was a nice man to meet and to chat to. He later visited the Tiger offices and I was pleased to show him how we produced the title. At that time, our presentations were quite low key. They later became star-studded presentation lunches!

 

CA: In the early ‘70s you had photos of cricket team groups and some individual player pics in ‘Your Choice’ but the cricket coverage really cranked up a notch in 1975 when you had a World Cup booklet series and signed Tony Greig as a columnist. Had did you manage to sign up the player who became England skipper that summer?

 

Barrie: I can’t remember how I first made contact with him but I can remember going down to see him at Hove and being impressed with his enthusiasm for writing his Tiger columns.

CA: You had a coaching session with Tony, batting and wicketkeeping, so what was that experience like?

Barrie: It was a bit magical. I picked up more tips in ten minutes than in a lifetime of coaching!

CA: During the 1975 summer you also did a photoshoot with the Australian touring side and even got Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson to dress up as Santa for a future Christmas edition. How did you manage to pull that off?

 

Barrie: I spoke to their British agent and arranged a photo session at London’s Waldorf Hotel.  They were great guys and seemed to enjoy posing for the Christmas photos.

CA: Tony Greig continued to write for Tiger during the summer of 1977, when he had been recruiting players for World Series Cricket. That must have been quite a coup?

Barrie: Yes. Tony and myself had long discussions about how the articles would continue and continue they did!

 

CA: You mention in 'Comic Book Hero' that there were plans to launch a cricket magazine and you went to Australia to see Tony Greig and Kerry Packer to build contacts. Can you please give me a bit more background on this?

Barrie: Yes, I put the idea forward for a modern Shoot! style cricket mag. I needed to make lots of contacts so I went out to Australia and got to know England and Australian players and journalists.  I thought we could make it a magazine reflecting the changes Kerry Packer was making with his World Series Cricket. Tony Greig was very keen but Kerry Packer wasn’t so much. It was during an Ashes series and Geoffrey Boycott was certainly there so I guess it was the 78-79 Australian season. Anyway, when I got back, I was told to produce a football magazine, rather than a cricket one! Top Soccer was the title, eventually launched for a short-lived run from September 1979 (David Hunt was ultimately asked to edit with Barrie focusing on his existing publications).

Next week – Part Two…the Geoff Boycott era!

If you want to know more about Barrie’s life in comics here are his two books to date…with a third on the way!

Real Roy of the Rovers Stuff - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Real-Roy-Rovers-Stuff-Story/dp/178531212X/ref=sr_1_2?qid=1655462986&refinements=p_27%3ABarrie+Tomlinson&s=books&sr=1-2

Comic Book Hero - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Comic-Book-Hero-Working-Britains-ebook/dp/B075WTT9KR/ref=sr_1_8?qid=1655462986&refinements=p_27%3ABarrie+Tomlinson&s=books&sr=1-8