A new project celebrating one of Liverpool’s most beloved cartoonists has launched this week, as the family of the late Bill Tidy MBE unveil the first in a series of premium posters based on his original artwork.
Tidy Posters, run by his children, Sylvia Tidy-Harris and Robert Tidy, marks the first time
the legendary cartoonist’s archive has been made available in this format. The inaugural release pays tribute to Tidy’s lifelong love of Everton Football Club. It is based on artwork which was discovered by his daughter in Tidy’s house years after his death in 2023.
The piece features illustrations taken from a three-foot-high, 30-foot-long scroll created for the club’s centenary celebration of 100 years in top-flight football at St George’s Hall in 2003. “When I was clearing out, I found it at the back of the wardrobe,” Sylvia said.
Sylvia said her father, who was “born and bred in Liverpool and was always very proud of his city,” would have been delighted to see the work revived. Describing the Everton scroll as “like Bill Tidy’s own Bayou tapestry,” she explained that her dad’s humour “had elements of truth and observations that are happening, but obviously they were also quite spoofy as well.”
The survival of the piece it’s unusual in itself, as Tidy “never really kept any of his scrolls… he burnt most of them because they were for companies. But this one was Everton, so he kept it.”
Sylvia hopes the poster will give fans something genuinely unique. “It’s something that nobody else had seen unless they were at that event. And they’ll have a bit of truth and spoof Liverpool history of Everton.”
She describes her father as “absolutely prolific,” estimating that “he did in his lifetime literally hundreds of thousands of cartoons.” Known for classics such as The Fosdyke Saga and The Cloggies, Tidy was admired for his lightning-fast drawing skills. “He was the only cartoonist who could draw as fast as he spoke.”
The Everton poster is printed in A2 format and approved by the Tidy estate, offering what Sylvia calls “a very funny” piece of both sporting and artistic heritage.
Posters are available now at tidyposters.com, with original artwork sold separately at billtidy.com.
