Strip cultivation
Sir: Nick Garland (`The birth of Bazza', 29 October) isn't sure if he invented Barry McKenzie, or not.
He did — mostly. Nick and I lived near each other in 1963/4. I saw a tiny picture of Nick's in his tiny study — he had been to the Slade — and suggested he might turn his talents to cartooning rather than paint- ing. I don't think he'd thought of it before — his thoughts were more towards theatre direction. So, we thought up ideas for a strip cartoon. We came up with about ten characters — mostly duff — but one was a clean-limbed strong-jawed character called Alan Merryweather, who came down from the North to London, and made a fool of himself. Private Eye thought this character would make a good strip. At the time, I played cricket regularly for Aldworth, the village where the Eye's then editor, Richard Ingrams, lived. Aldworth had a fixture in Reading one weekend. It was in the public park. As Ingrams put on his wicket-keeping pads,
and I laced up my boots, under the tree which served as a pavilion, Ingrams told me how he didn't want Meffyweather — he'd got a better idea about an Australian who comes to London. He was sorry about this, but he asked me if I'd like to write the stories, and send them to Barry Humphries to fill in the dialogue. I told Ingrams not to be so nice, and that he should leave it all to Humphries and Garland. We then took the field.
Nick Garland did not christen Barry McKenzie: I did. While travelling in Nick's Morris Minor, later, Nick asked me what the character should be called. 'Why not Barry — after Barry Humphries, and McKenzie after Graham McKenzie, the Aussie fast bowler?', I replied.
I can recall the occasion even more closely than I can remember where I was when Kennedy was shot. No hard feelings, though. The reverse! It is only for the sake of historical accuracy that I write to you. I would not like the 12-volume Annotated Barry McKenzie to appear without this essential footnote on page one.
Jack Duncan
36 Fossgate, York
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