In 1952, Bill Tidy joined the Royal Engineers, serving in Germany, Korea and Japan, where in 1955 he sold his first cartoon to Mainichi, an English-language newspaper. On leaving the army he began freelancing as a cartoonist. In 1957, he became a professional cartoonist and began contributing to Punch. Tidy became well known for his strip cartoons, particularly "The Cloggies", which ran in Private Eye from 1967 to 1981 and in the Listener from 1985 to 1986, and "The Fosdyke Saga", which began in the Daily Mirror on 2 March 1971. Tidy has also produced work for the Oldie, New Scientist, Today, Mail on Sunday, Sunday Dispatch, Yorkshire Post, Picturegoer, Daily Sketch, Everybody's, John Bull, General Practitioner and Tit-Bits. Bill Tidy's style has been influenced by Eric Burgin and by the early work of Ronald Searle, but as comic influences he also cites Bruce Bairnsfather and The Goon Show.
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