Created the comic strip Andy Capp, which first appeared in the Daily
Mail on 5 August 1957. When Smythe died in June 1998 he left enough
comic strips to last another 18 months.
Served in the British Army from 1936 to 1945. After World War II, he first worked as a clerk before becoming a part-time cartoonist, first publishing his work for The Mirror.
Claimed in 1990, that Andy Capp was syndicated to 1,600 newspapers in 57 countries, including 1,000 in the U.S. alone. He also claimed his readership to number some 200 million daily.