Harry's brilliant cartoons put him top of the Heap

In recent weeks so many people, when told of the Green ’Un’s forthcoming centenary, mentioned the Heap cartoons.

Heap was a popular cartoonist with The Star and Green ’Un whose scope ranged from the political scene to the sporting one.

For the Green ’Un, this usually meant carrying on its front page the Heap ‘take’ on the afternoon’s football, an example shown here.

He had his own inimitable style and they were a quite brilliant feature which adorned the Green ’Un’s front page most Saturday nights for almost 20 years up to his retirement in 1964.

On Friday nights, Heap would be in The Star previewing the weekend’s action and doing so notably through the character he invented, the flat-cap wearing Alf who would be offering his views. He was Harry’s mouthpiece.

Come the Green ’Un and Heap – either at the ground or working from the office – would sketch as the game proceeded, thus compiling the afternoon happenings.

A few goals always helped and would offer up the familiar sight of the net bulging with balls and Heap capturing the joy or anguish whichever suited best for the locals. His skill and wit were legendary.

Heap was especially proud that he created history one Saturday by being the first to send a sporting cartoon by wire for a paper the same evening.

This was in 1949 when he attended the Lincoln City v Sheffield Wednesday game.

He had to have the cartoon completed two minutes before the end of the game. But in those final minutes there was a goal and a missed penalty.

However, Harry still got all those details into his piece and met a 5pm deadline, the work being sent via a portable transmitter installed at the paper’s branch office in Lincoln about a quarter of a mile from the ground. He dashed and made it.

A native of Burnley, Harry came to Sheffield as The Star and Green ’Un cartoonist in 1928. After retirement in 1965 – and an estimated 10,000 cartoons across 37 years with the paper – he lectured at Sheffield College of Art on drawing. He died, aged 67, in 1968.