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Anthony John "Tony" Harding (9 January 1942 – 12 January 2014) was a British illustrator of boys' action comics specialising in football stories. He worked for D. C. Thomson & Co. and IPC Magazines in a career that spanned over 30 years, on comics such as ''Bullet'', ''Scorcher'', ''Hornet'', ''Action'', ''Roy of the Rovers'', ''Victor'' and ''Scoop'', amongst others. ==Biography== Born in West Ham, London,〔(Obituary: Mr Anthony (Tony) John Harding ), ''Isle of Wight County Press'', 7 February 2014〕 Harding joined Link Studios in London as a trainee,〔(Comment by Tony Harding at 26Pigs.com )〕 and began work as a comic artist for DC Thomson and IPC Magazines as a comic artist in 1962, while studying at Saint Martin's School of Art in the evenings〔 and playing football for Gartan Sports FC in East London. A talented footballer, he helped them to win a host of trophies in the mid sixties to early seventies.〔(In Memoriam: "Look Out for Lefty" artist Anthony John “Tony” Harding ), Down the Tubes, 17 February 2014〕 He went freelance aged 20 and, with the encouragement of his agent, went to live in Guernsey aged 21 in 1963. There he played for St Martin's FC and between 1963 and 1965 won several more titles and trophies. It was there he met his future wife,〔Shaun Shackleton, "A Comic Genius – Tony Harding Obituary", ''Guernsey Press'' p. 15, 12 February 2014〕 Ann, who he married in 1967.〔 However the distractions of life in Guernsey proved too much and Tony started missing his deadlines, so he returned to London.〔 In 1972 he moved to Shanklin on the Isle of Wight, continuing to work freelance from home. On Saturdays he continued to play football, this time for Rookley FC, playing over 300 games in total and winning many more trophies. He was voted Life President of Rookley Football Club for his many years of service as player and captain.〔 Originally a Catholic, he became a born-again Christian in 1980, joining the Isle of Wight Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship, of which he became Vice-President, and the Sacred Heart of Jesus Music Group.〔 Work in comics began to dry up in the early 1990s after ''Roy of the Rovers'' and ''The Victor'' ceased publication, so Harding became an Independent Arts teacher, using art to help people recovering from strokes, and worked with people with disabilities at Meadowbrook Day Care Center,〔 where he founded the Isle of Wight Re-Cycle project, collecting over 1000 bicycles for Africa.〔Richard Wright, (Bikes for Africa hit 1,000 mark ), ''Isle of Wight County Press'', 28 June 2013〕 He continued to work part-time on comics in the late 1990s for the ''Football Picture Story Monthly'' comic books for DC Thomson and ''Soccer Junior Magazine'' in the USA, and eventually left comics altogether in 2003.〔Antony Harding, (Does Your Dad Draw For Roy of the Rovers? ), Down the Tubes, 22 February 2014〕 He suffered from an irregular heartbeat, and died suddenly on 12 January 2014, aged 72, while returning from work as a carer at Afton Ward at the Sevenacres mental health unit.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Tony Harding」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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