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| "In the Pink" - Artwork based on that by Frank Bellamy |
Mum starts clearing the table,
Stacking the plates in the sink.
Would Dad think it funny
If I borrow some money
To buy the Sporting Pink?
My wife pointed out Gareth Owen's poem "Sports Report" from which the verse above comes. It certainly reminds me of Saturday afternoons in England when my Dad did the football pools! Ian Addis (author of "A Passing Game" volumes 1+2, and co-author of "A Kettering Kaleidoscope") has published his latest book and it features a few Frank Bellamy cartoons. I gave Ian some help on this and the end result is a fascinating background to a football and sports newspaper that was produced every Saturday - within a couple of hours after the whistle blew on football matches! "At its peak it sold 50,000 copies" from Leicester to Hunstanton! It was very well read!
Included are various cartoons drawn by Frank Bellamy and besides the wonderful discovery of the certificate - on which Ian has based his front cover - he also shares the following artwork - never seen by myself before.
Anyway here's how this all came about....
Frank Bellamy and "In the Pink" - The Legend of the Pink 'Un
Ian Addis wrote to me to let me know he was writing another book - this time on the Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph (hereafter NET) publication the Football Telegraph or as it was nicknamed the Pink 'Un. We exchanged notes (mine all about Bellamy's time plus some background to the newspaper) and some images.
Ian reckons the first football cartoon in the Pink' Un was 1903ish and Bernard Hugh started the characterisations of football teams in 1914, and Hugh also designed the masthead that ran until 1961, the last being published in October of that year. Our interest here is Frank Bellamy but it's worth recording who preceded and succeeded Bellamy in providing witty cartoons of each week's matches and how long they drew for the Pink 'Un. As Ian said at one point "All nationally recognised and working for a provincial newspaper"
- Bernhard Hugh fl.1913 - 1930s
- Frank Bellamy 1946 - 1949
- Gus Fidler 1950 - 1961
Bernard Thomas Hugh was born in March 1881 in Llanelly [Llanelli] in Carmarthenshire, Wales and appears in the 1911 Census as a "Painter artist", living in Kensington. He died aged 55 on the 12 August 1936 in Surrey and is buried in All Saints Churchyard, Sanderstead. The cartoonist Bernhard Hugh actually supplied artwork to the Pink 'Un before WW1 and continued into the Thirties. He was originally employed by the Croydon Advertiser to supply illustrations for Croydon Common Football Club, a Southern League side from 1908-1915. Hugh designed the covers of the 1921 and 1922 FA Cup final programmes.
All Frank Bellamy's work - that we have discovered - and here I must thank Paul Holder (who managed to see the NET's archive before it was handed over to the Kettering Library - where we hope one day it will re-surface after their building works are complete!) is listed on the NET page of this website. By the time the announcement was made that football supporters old friend was returning - after the war - Bellamy must have been back at Blamire Studio.
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| Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph 28 August 1946 |
attendances at football matches during the late forties reflected the enormous popularity of the game and ground records were established which have never been seriously challenged since. During 1948-49 a total of 41,271,414 watched the Football League programme. Kettering’s highest ever attendance,11,526, had been recorded on November 1st 1947 when Peterborough United visited Rockingham Road for an FA Cup 3rd Qualifying Road tie. Peterborough’s victory is graphically illustrated in Frank Bellamy’s cover cartoon captioned, ‘This is the match that set him alight’.
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| Football Telegraph 1 November 1947 Taken fron Ian's "Passing Game Part 1 1945-70" |
Again thanks to Ian for permission to quote his amazing research:
The Pink ‘Un’s famous biscuit had first appeared back in 1921 and in September 1949, a Junior version recognising the day’s outstanding performance by one of the area’s minor clubs was introduced. Winners received a certificate designed by Frank Bellamy.
And thanks again to Ian, here's the actual certificate, probably drawn in the 1940s, going by the style. Note how Bellamy shows footballs in all four corners but makes sure to show the 'T' shape - perhaps to remind readers of the [NE]Telegraph? The Football Telegraph header is, as Ian found, by Bernhard Hugh.
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| The Pink 'Un biscuit award certificate |
After Bellamy went off to London to seek employment where his talents could be seen nationally (and internationally) he was succeeded at the Pink 'Un by a cartoonist who signed his work GUS. 'Gus' worked for the Pink 'Un until the last published copy in October 1961. Due to Ian's tenacity he discovered GUS was Cuthbert S. Fidler, born 20 March 1907. The 1939 Register, ironically, tells us he was an Assistant School Master (Elementary School) and lived at 24 Love Lane, Spalding, and was married in 1931 to Elsie Walker in Spalding. He died 7 March 1982 in Spalding.
I am not a fan of football, as such, but having now read Ian's fascinating account of a provincial - but widely circulated paper - I can highly recommend it. It's a historic document that I'm pleased to have contributed to.
- TITLE: In the Pink: The Legend of the Pink 'Un
- PUBLISHER: Bowden Publications
- DATE: December 2025
- ISBN: 9780992755928
- PRICE: £12.00
TO ORDER:
Email: [email protected] or Phone: 01858 467713
