Viz was something of a cult comic when I was at Newcastle Poly in the 1980s. Anyone who was vaguely cool had a copy lying around their student digs. So, when I spotted Viz co-founder and former editor, Simon Donald, at a preview of Jim Moir’s art exhibition at the Biscuit Factory earlier this year, I jumped at the chance to speak to the man behind the infamous ‘Sid the Sexist.’
After I’d thrust a copy of our magazine into his hands and established that Jesmond born and bred Simon had more than a passing connection to North Shields, he generously agreed to meet up for a chat.
Over a cuppa at The Exchange, I soon realised that Simon Donald is far more than just “Him off the Viz” – the title of his autobiography. The youngest of three brothers, Simon described a childhood in a household where being creative and enterprising was the norm. His dad was the co-founder of Newcastle City Guides, and his mam was a display artist in Fenwicks. When she gave up work to look after her young family, she set up a successful business from home making toys and then became a disabled rights campaigner following a diagnosis of MS aged thirty.
Simon recalled his first taste of comedy came from listening to his parents’ favourite radio shows like the Goons and that a love of childhood comics generated his interest in drawing cartoons. He reflected that he probably found the short sentences in cartoons appealing as he discovered later in life that he was dyslexic.
It was from a bedroom within this creative and bustling home that 15-year-old Simon and older brother Chris, set up the Viz magazine in 1979. The initial 12-page magazine cost 20p and had a print run of 150 copies. Fast forward a decade and Viz was selling over a million copies per issue. A parody of children’s comics aimed at an adult audience, it featured cartoon strips built around exaggerated working-class stereotypes. Recurring characters like Fat Slags and Sid the Sexist were hugely popular. With its mix of puerile, surreal and wonderfully absurd humour, Viz was a hit with readers and it became one of the best-selling magazines in the country.
Simon stepped away from Viz in 2003 to pursue other ventures. He has since managed a rock band, been a TV presenter and in September this year celebrated his twentieth year as a stand-up comic. One thing he hasn’t done, as I discovered during our conversation, is create the hit Sky Atlantic series ‘Fortitude.’ That was a different Simon Donald, from Scotland. Damn that Google!
Recently married to a North Shields’ lass, Denise Morgan Donald, I was treated to an unexpected anecdote when I asked Simon about any other connection he had to the town. “Well, I delivered Sam Fender’s bed,” he quipped and proceeded to recall an impromptu telephone call from friend Sarah Mitchell (part of Sam’s management team) who needed help transporting a bed from Ikea to his house. He described getting the bed all the way to Sam’s front door only to find he wasn’t in. Simon tells a good anecdote and has a particularly good one about Sting’s downstairs loo but that one will have to wait.
Anecdotes aside, Simon described his connections to North Shields as strong and a place where he spends a lot of time. Many of his best friends live and work in the town and his wife is from the Meadow Well. Together the couple run a holiday home in one of the remaining old fisherman’s cottages in Cullercoats. “Strangely some people aren’t aware Cullercoats is part of Shields,” he mused. He recalled his good friend and founding member of Duran Duran, Andy Taylor, had a grandad who used to live in one of the cottages. Though Andy moved away years ago, Simon met up with him when he returned home in recent years to help him celebrate his 60th birthday.
On the subject of big birthdays, Simon announced that he and brother Chris are to produce a special Viz type comic to commemorate the North Shields 800. The issue is going to be based around the ‘things you didn’t know about…’ theme. This was an old magazine space-filler that was done by all the tabloid-type magazines, teen comics and pop annuals and something Simon said that the Viz team would enjoy making fun of. The North Shields’ comic is also going to feature the cartoons and spoof ads Viz was famous for. Some of the cartoons have been inspired by famous Shields’ faces such as Willy Telford, ‘the armchair dwelling street philosopher’ and Betty Baddoo who ran the Mariners and the Ballarat. They are hoping to launch the magazine in December at the Globe Gallery on Howard Street where Chris currently has his ‘Jolly Days’ re-imagined transport posters exhibited.
Regarding future plans, Simon stated that he had just started doing stand-up gigs again after a brief hiatus, during which he realised he missed being on the comedy circuit. He also alluded to doing further gigs with Chris. Before lockdown, the pair had a show called ‘Donald Trumps’ which was a game in which the brothers had to trump each other. It was based on a number of gameshow ideas in which they each wrote each other’s questions which were kept secret until the host, Alfie Joey, asked them live on stage. Simon said it was loads of fun and definitely something they’d consider doing again. Having seen the duo on stage together at a recent event at The Globe, where they had the audience in stitches from start to finish, it would be great to see Simon revive this act. Their quick wit, sibling banter and effortless chemistry makes brilliant entertainment.
Talking to Simon, it was clear that, despite everything he’s achieved, his roots remain firmly in the North East. With upcoming shows, new projects, and the North Shields 800 comic taking shape, he still has that cheeky humour and the creativity that began in a Jesmond bedroom all those years ago.
