EXTRACTS: illustrators issue 3 © 2013 The Book Palace (96 PAGES in Full edition)

72 number of telephone calls to the Daily Express , with angry readers asking what had happened to their favourite Four D. Jones strip? I was called upstairs to the executive offices, and was offered the job as cartoon editor of Express Newspapers, which I suppose was an attempt to compensate me for the loss of producing the strip. However, the telephone calls increased in volume with angry readers saying ‘Where the hell’s Four D. Jones? ’ The calls continued, followed by letters, and even telegrams, so Pickering reluctantly had to reinstate Four D. Jones in its rightful place. I then had two jobs to do at the Daily Express, and a substantial increase in my fees. “ Pickering obviously disliked me even more after he had to climb down, and sometime later, when he was Vice Chairman of the Press Council, one reader complained that I had drawn a black bus driver. I was summoned to appear before the Council on a charge of racial discrimination, and had to justify myself to Pickering. It was long before we had President Obama, of course, but my answer was ‘There are black doctors and lawyers; train drivers, teachers and nurses. How do I drawmy No. 10 strip if we have a black PrimeMinister?’ The case against me was dismissed, but I never did get an apology from Pickering for wasting my time! “I still have a great affection for Four D. Jones, and loved every minute of it, but after doing it every day for ten years, it had run its course. I had survived four editors, but the fifth saw me off. Express Newspapers was owned by Lord Beaverbrook, and I thought of drowning Jones in Beaver’s Brook, but in the end I had him struck by a bolt of lightning from above while he was crossing a rope bridge over a canyon. End of story!” I first met Peter in 1965, just after he stopped producing Four D. Jones. We shared a healthy disregard for politicians, newspaper barons, and those in authority, and we became good friends. I introduced him to the editor of Argosy; the short story magazine who, over a period of time, commissioned him to create three colourful covers. In the mid 1970s, I worked as a features sub-editor on the London Evening News, and one of my responsibilities was to design and sub-edit the business and financial pages. They looked very dull, so I suggested to Louis Kirby, the paper’s editor, that we should ask Maddocks to make a drawing to illustrate the lead story on the page. He agreed, and it became a popular feature in the paper. Peter came to the paper to read the copy and make his drawing, and if I was away frommy desk when he finished his drawings, he always left themwith a note, ABOVE: Peter Maddocks photographed in his beloved Fleet Street in the mid 1970s. BELOW: Chastened by the author of this feature’s critique of felt tip pens, Four D. Jones makes a dip pen comeback.