THE old suitcase of one of Scotland's greatest cartoonists has been uncovered in a West Fife loft.
The leather suitcase, which looks well-travelled, a bit worse for wear, and a little too old-fashioned for today’s holidaymakers, was nearly thrown out by Ross and Sam Porter after they discovered it in their Dunfermline home.
“It was heading for the skip,” said Ross. "And then we spotted the name, engraved in the leather. We didn’t know who he was but we searched it up on the internet and we were absolutely amazed to discover who it belonged to.”
The name was Bud Neill, one of Scotland’s greatest cartoonists and creator of famous sheriff Lobey Dosser.
He started at the Glasgow Evening Times in 1944, and Lobey and his two-legged horse, El Fideldo, debuted in the newspaper five years later.
He was also famous for “wee wifie” cartoons, discussing everything from their weans (“it’s his teeth, aye, awfy crabbit – like a bear wi’ nae fags”) to holidays “doon the watter” on Clyde steamers. A famous one featured the ladies irritating a smartly-dressed man in a yachting blazer and officer’s cap by quizzing him: “Yaffayat? Whityatyaffa?”
At the height of his career, Bud was a megastar, earning a massive £1,000 a week in the 1950s and ’60s.
Lobey was the sheriff of Calton Creek, in the wild west of Arizona. Glaswegians loved Bud’s tales of Lobey and his arch enemy, Rank Bajin, and after Bud’s death in 1970, his creations achieved cult status around the world.
Ross and Sam knew none of this when they first found the suitcase, tucked away in a corner of their loft.
"We have lived in this house for 10 years,” says Ross. “I was up in the attic recently because we had a bit of a leak, and I noticed the suitcase – we’d never seen it before.
“There was nothing inside but when we looked it over we noticed the name and wondered if it was worth looking up.
“We were absolutely amazed to find out Bud Neill was a famous Glasgow cartoonist and known throughout the world.”
He adds: “There’s a sticker on it too, with the name William Neill, and details of a journey he’d taken on a ship called the Laurentia – the Donaldson Atlantic line – in August 1951.
“We have no idea how the suitcase ended up in our loft – there is no connection to the house as far as we know.”
After a story in the Press' sister paper, the Glasgow Times, the suitcase has now been reunited with Bud's family.
Adam MacPhee, whose mother, Nora, is Bud’s daughter, read the story about the Porters’ unexpected find.
“My mum and I were amazed to read your story about my grandad’s case,” he said. “It’s incredible that it should turn up after all these years.
“We’d like to thank Sam and Ross very much for finding it and the Glasgow Times for reuniting us with this memento of my grandad.”
Adam explains: “He used the case during a visit to his cousin in Canada. My mum remembers the brightly-coloured clothes he brought back for the family – a big contrast to the drab offerings here at the time.”
Adam says he and his mum were baffled as to how the case ended up in Ross and Sam’s house.
"My grandad and family moved to Dunfermline from Lenzie in the early ’50s," he said. “He thought it would be a nice place to bring up my mum and her three brothers. They lived in Halbeath Road, where, with his typical sense of humour, he changed the name of their house to ‘Dim View’.
“His studio was in the nearby village of Halbeath. He once held an exhibition at the studio. One day, he decided to close early and put a sign in the window that read: ‘Budgies Repaired Saturdays’.”
