The Jazzman Cometh

Writer and jazz singer Melly pays tribute to the artist and clarinetist, creator of the Flook strip cartoon and, now, prizewinning political cartoonist of The Sunday Telegraph. Melly, who for 14 years wrote the scripts for Flook, recalls: "What was true, and all the other scriptwriters both before and after me will confirm it, is that working for Wally is no picnic. He is a perfectionist. We'd meet once a week in the art editor's office and I'd hand Wally what I'd written. He'd read it slowly, giving no clue as to his reaction, and then pass judgement. Praise, being rare, was lapped up, acceptance was a relief, but rejection was intensely dispiriting. "Good two days there," he'd tell me when I'd written eight. He would also reproach me for writing too much, claiming I'd only left him enough space for drawing in the tips of Flook's ears."