IF YOU START PADDLING YOU MIGHT CROSS THE ATLANTIC AND MAKE THE SHREWSBURY CARTOON FESTIVAL!

iTS THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN...THE SHREWSBURY CARTOON FESTIVAL is about to explode into inky action when cartoonists are either mad bad n inky or mad bad n boozed up. Where the main squares are full of cartoonists drawing cartoons on boards or bored drawing cartoons and caricatures in all temperatures and weathers. Being as well as a stupid breed a hardy bunch of breeders or bleeders, i'm still not too sure which. I never imagined that the nice town of Shrewsbury and the not so nice deranged scribblings of the countries cartoonists would be tied up with an erupting volcano over in Iceland ,but it is. There was meant to be a bunch of scribblers from 'Darn under! coming along, but thats looking extreemly dodgy .And a very talented caricaturist and friend ROBERT LAFONTAINE from Canada was going to come over. We had cleared the lawnmower and various bits of stuff so he could sleep in the shed at 'chez Leatherbarrows' for a few days and then we would hit Shrewsbury together. But likewise i cant see that coming to pass!

Last night i spoke to him on the phone and over in Canada nobody seemed to know what was occurring. At that time no plane at all was flying in British airspace from anywhere to anywhere for another couple of days. So i advised Robert to get the kids dinghy and start paddling if he wanted to get to Shrewsbury. Then a mere few hours later on ,when the multi million pound losing air authorities arm wrestled the goverment in a drinking lounge in the bowels of Westminster, in to lifting the ban on aircraft flying over British airspace. In a matter of hours the skies were safe and theres nothing to worry about. We know that cos the minister for safety said so.

If anyone out there is flying over the Atlantic just keep a look out for a lean tall guy with an art portfolio in a dinghy

NEWS FLASH......Our hero has made Blighty. And as i type he's having a wander around the fair city of Liverpool. I dont know how Quebec compares to the 'pool', but he's got to face Warrington later on!.......Bon chance ,mon ami.....

CARTOONISTS AND POP STARS ARE SEX SYMBOLS,MARK OWEN FROM TAKE THAT,TOOK LOTS OF 'THAT',I'D LIKE TO TAKE SOME OF 'THAT' TO,BUT THE MISSUS WONT LET ME!

Aaah after years of gallavanting around the world posturing and performing in front of thousands of screaming adoring gurls....It has come as an astounding shock to one n' all that the saintly Mark Owen, the 'nice guy' from 'Take That' has been a little too nice a little too often and took that what the adoring hormone riddled screaming gurls had to offer. Funnily enough his missus wasn't as understanding as myself and other such 'men(ok and gurls,chiz chiz) of the world'. This is possibly due to the fact being a cartoonist and caricaturist ,once of great renown, i would travel around weilding my brushpen to the adoring public. Admittedly i didnt have quite the response that maybe 'Take That' hitting town or a Boyzown, or whatever ,but a few kids seemed quite taken with me. Nah, i could've had my pick,gurls would gaze adoringly, i think, at the top of my head as i peered intently at the fine precise ink lines on the paper, then occassionally glancing up to see if her eyelids were the same size, if her ears were level, if she had a full set of teeth and how far down her top chin did her bottom lip droop. Important things for a caricaturist.Romance could've bloomed n' blossomed many many times but for the queues of people i had to bloody draw before i could lay the irresistable Leatherbarrow charm on anyone. By the time i'd got the chance there was only me and a curled up ham sandwich on a crumb riddled plate on one of the empty tables, if i was lucky, before my long lonely five hour drive through the night. But i'm having a quiet time of it these days. So i thought i'd ask the Lovely Lynne if it was ok for me to have ten affairs, as she's out a lot of the time and it'd be nice to have an outside interest. Much to my suprise she seemed quite keen, until i realised she thought i'd said something about me buying her some 'Furs'. She thought they'd look quite smart when she has to go to these banking 'do's', or if she's playing with her band at various 'gigs'. But when she realised her mistake she wasn't so accomodating. Why would i want to have torrid affairs when we've had SKY+ fitted? So my cartoonist sex appeal is laying unused, gathering dust. The last time it was put to good use, just to show you how uncontrollable i was, it was with the Lovely Lynne. I was working at her bank and she fell madly in love with me and married me...It's a dangerous thing this sex appeal.

THE THREE MOST HORRIBLE WORDS FOR ANY CARICATURIST !!

Being a fine upstanding pillock of the community, i find myself being at the behest of the said community , esspecially since the little 'un's old school, with the help of the 'Little 'un' and the Lovely Lynne found out what a wonderfully gifted and talented cartoonist and caricaturist i am. This combined with, apparently me being a wonderful human being who would do anything for anyone???????????..........Well, this got me volunteered by my beloved family to draw hundreds and hundreds of kids at various summer fairs and so such 'do's'. This spread to the scouts functions and general charity functions. Jeez! its hard work being wonderful.

It always started with a telephone call to the lovely Lynne and i would hear the words WORK, CHARITY and FREE...It didn't matter where i was in the house ,or even if i was a mile away walking the dog, i would still hear THOSE words!!!. It meant i was being volunteered again!

The ironical thing is that everybody goes to the lovely Lynne to see if i'll 'do it!'.... Even if i answer the phone they'll ask to speak to the Lovely Lynne. She'll volunteer me ("Of course he'll do it, we're doing nothing that day" ).... After the day is over and the school or scout newsletter, or whatever comes out, there'll be a nice "Thank you"......For the Lovely Lynne for her help.

The other week , the lovely Lynne's sister , the exotic Elaine called and those words that chill any caricaturist to the bone...WORK...CHARITY...FREE...(My ink tinted blood is curdling even as my trembling hands type at this)..... came out as the Lovely Lynne spoke on the phone, i couldn't finish my X-MEN comic ,even. So, a week or so later i was away in the Cheshire countryside freezing me cobblers off drawing at a special needs school......Aaaah maybe i am wonderful..... The words will always have the same affect on me ,but i'll keep on letting the Lovely Lynne volunteer me. I'm still not talking to the exotic Elaine tho', much to her amusement.

PEOPLE RECOGNISE ME FROM MY SELF CARICATURES, DOES THAT MEAN I'M TWISTED ,DISTORTED N' UGLY, OR I'M A GOOD CARICATURIST?

Only a week or so ago, if you've been paying attention you will have known about my adventure at a comic fare down in 'Brum', with that fine physical wreck Hunt Emerson . On the night i arrived for the musical opening in a boozer in the city, i was waiting for Hunts lovely lady Jane, as she being the fine Irish girl she is doesn't like to see a travelling cartoonist without a drink. But as i sat there, a very attractive young lady came over to me and said those words that all us egotistical bastard who draw(hopefully) funny piccies for a living want to hear..."Excuse me, but are you Tim Leatherbarrow?"
In response to this welcome inquiry, a small tsunami of smugness swept over me, and i raised a nonchalent eyebrow, that Roger Moore would've been in awe of ,in any opening of an episode of the saint. I could almost hear the music, and took it for granted there was a halo over my head. She told me she read my blog and enjoyed it,( going well, so far!) Then...." I recognised your face from the caricatures you've done of yourself. The eyebrow dropped dragging the other one with it ,to a point midway down my nose, yes ,i know thats a long way for an eyebrow to drop. This movement caused a suave smug Simon Templar to become Urko, the bad tempered gorilla general off Planet of the apes. And the halo dropped over my head and tightened around my neck.
But i managed ,by sheer force of will to haul my deep frowning eyebrows back over my eyeballs and once again those sparkling blue Leatherbarrow eyes beamed out on the world again. So, this lady had recognised my twisted, distorted, ugly, monsterous caricatures i did of myself . So the question must be asked am i twisted, distorted and monsterously ugly, or am i an excellent caricaturist? I'll let you decide.(loud bang, as Tim shoots himself in foot!) I know, joking aside ,what you all think ,,Yesss! ...Thats it i'm a wonderful caricaturist.
Every silver lining has a cloud, or something like that ,but this has been an excuse to put some of those excellent caricatures on display again, "You lucky people!"