Drawn to Soho
by Richard Ingrams
According to his (not always reliable) memoir A Whole Scene Going On, the young pop artist Barry Fantoni came to Private Eye in 1963 along with a collection of satirical portraits of celebs he had painted for an exhibition. It was at a time when the Eye was struggling and I was especially grateful to welcome an artist, as Willie Rushton, who did all the drawings in the early issues, was devoting more and more of his time to TV. But Barry turned out to be more than just a talented cartoonist and was soon collaborating as a writer.