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
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