The Two Types

Discussion in 'Italy' started by Gerry Chester, Aug 30, 2004.

  1. Gerry Chester

    Gerry Chester WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    edit:removed dead link Owen

    The Two Types blasted their way into the affections of all readers of British Army newspapers in North Africa, Italy, Sicily, Southern France and Greece. The Two Types, for all their deceptively fatuous appearance, are characters of violence and action. They do not coax. They do not wheedle. Their attitude to the world and everyone in it is "Hit or miss". Either vou like us or you hate us. We don't worry a damn either way. They came overseas as Army officers, battered into an appreciation of the niceties of dress and deportment by ferocious 0. C.T.U. Commandants and unbending Commanding Officers. It took the Western Desert to transform them into the 'Two Types'.

    Perhaps members of the Forum would care to see more of these characters whose antics helped to raise the morale of those of us who served with 8th Army.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 29, 2017
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  2. BeppoSapone

    BeppoSapone Senior Member

    Originally posted by Gerry Chester@Aug 30 2004, 11:36 AM


    The Two Types blasted their way into the affections of all readers of British Army newspapers in North Africa, Italy, Sicily, Southern France and Greece. The Two Types, for all their deceptively fatuous appearance, are characters of violence and action. They do not coax. They do not wheedle. Their attitude to the world and everyone in it is "Hit or miss". Either vou like us or you hate us. We don't worry a damn either way. They came overseas as Army officers, battered into an appreciation of the niceties of dress and deportment by ferocious 0. C.T.U. Commandants and unbending Commanding Officers. It took the Western Desert to transform them into the 'Two Types'.

    Perhaps members of the Forum would care to see more of these characters whose antics helped to raise the morale of those of us who served with 8th Army.
    [post=27846]Quoted post[/post]

    *****

    Please post some Gerry. I have the book you scanned plus one other and a modern book about "Jon" and "Two Types". Are there any other books about these two officers?

    My favourite cartoons are: the one where a member of the "Irish Brigade" is cutting shamrock formation signs out of their billiard table and the one which has their jeep festooned with the names of assault landings etc made in Italy and North Africa, and one of the "types" is saying something like: "Which D Day do they mean, old man?"

    "Viva Il Demon Vino"!

    I also like the American cartoon answer to "Two Types", "Willie and Joe" drawn by Bill Mauldin (sp?) who died in the past year or two.
     
  3. Kiwiwriter

    Kiwiwriter Very Senior Member

    Yes, Bill Mauldin. Died last year or the year before.

    It's sad that Willie and Joe never met the Two Types.

    Willie and Joe did meet Snoopy, and that's because Charles Schultz, the creator of "Peanuts," served in Italy in WW2, as did Mort Walker of "Beetle Bailey" fame.
     
  4. BeppoSapone

    BeppoSapone Senior Member

    Originally posted by Kiwiwriter@Aug 30 2004, 03:40 PM
    Yes, Bill Mauldin. Died last year or the year before.

    It's sad that Willie and Joe never met the Two Types.

    Willie and Joe did meet Snoopy, and that's because Charles Schultz, the creator of "Peanuts," served in Italy in WW2, as did Mort Walker of "Beetle Bailey" fame.
    [post=27858]Quoted post[/post]


    Beetle Bailey? Is it me, or did this, or it?, never cross the Atlantic?

    I read somewhere that Bill Mauldin said that Willie and Joe saved his life. If he had not been drawing them he would have been back in a Rifle Company in 45th (Thunderbird) Infantry Division.

    My favourite cartoon is the one with the German POWs, and one of the guards is saying, to the GIs, something like "We'll let you know when we find the one that invented the '88".
     
  5. Gerry Chester

    Gerry Chester WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Are there any other books about these two officers?


    Hi Beppo,

    Not that I am aware of - since being stung (as mentioned below) I have a friend in the UK who is looking out for a copy of Jon's book

    I have the two original booklets, purchased in Italy for the magnificent sum of 10 and 15 lire respectively at 200 to the ₤ they were bargains. I have being looking for Jon's book for a long time - about a year ago, some chap offered on E-bay what I thought was the book as the asking price was ₤18 - my bid was successful, however, when it arrived it was just one of the booklets!

    My favourite cartoons are:
    edit:removed dead link Owen

    And one, which I sent to ex NIH chaps because it features a Churchill is:
    edit:removed dead link Owen

    For those who do have access to the booklet, the caption reads:
    "Don't worry old man, we've enough macadam on the tracks to take us into Austria."
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 29, 2017
  6. BeppoSapone

    BeppoSapone Senior Member

    I have being looking for Jon's book for a long time - about a year ago, some chap offered on E-bay what I thought was the book as the asking price was ₤18 - my bid was successful, however, when it arrived it was just one of the booklets!

    Gerry

    Try remaindered book shops. About 2 years ago I picked up a couple of copies for a lot less than a fiver each!

    Like you I had been looking for a copy for years, and so kept one. The other I sold on ebay to an 8th Army veteran from, IIRC, Yorkshire. He was "over the moon" with it, and sent me a colour photo-copy of the 8th Army Thanksgiving Prog.
     
  7. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    From http://www.politicalcartoon.co.uk/html/books.html
    [​IMG]
    JON's Complete Two Types by 'JON'
    Foreword by Lord Cudlipp - £9.99 (£7.99 to PCS Members)
    JON's moustachioed Two Types were the quintessential caricatures of Eighth Army's 'Desert Rat' officers in North Africa and Italy during the Second World War. Here for the first time their creator, W.J.P. Jones - awarded an MBE by Winston Churchill for the contribution the Two Types made to Allied morale - has compiled the very best of the cartoons for this book.
     
  8. Ron Goldstein

    Ron Goldstein WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Hi Gerry et al
    As an ex 78 Div/1st Army/8th Army type myself I can't get enough of the Two Types.
    On the last page of my Army Album:
    http://ronsactualarmyalbum.blogspot.com/
    I pasted in what presumably was meant to be the last of these brilliant and evocative cartoons.
    You've got the books Gerry, was this the case?

    Ron
    ex 49th LAA/4th Queen's Own Hussars
     
  9. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

  10. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    Excellent website!
    It's going to take a fair while to read through all that.:)

    Cheers,
    Adam.
     
  11. Bodston

    Bodston Little Willy

    Plenty of the reprint of Jon's 'Complete Two Types' at AbeBooks

    I bought mine in an Oxfam shop for £2.99
     
  12. Smudger Jnr

    Smudger Jnr Our Man in Berlin

    Ron,

    I have just placed your website on my favourites list so that I can look at it regularly.

    What I have read so far is excellent.

    Regards

    Tom
     
  13. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    [​IMG]

    "When they call us D-Day Dodgers- which D-Day do they mean , old man?"
     
  14. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

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  15. Tony56

    Tony56 Member Patron

    Well done for resurrecting this post, although the original images by Gerry Chester seem to have been corrupted, they contain no links so presumably are harmless. (Is it possible to clean them up?)

    Found this

    http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30084300

    There is a ‘WWII Cartoons’ forum here, and some time ago I posted a photo inscribed “26 Group Farewell Party, Sgt's Mess, 78 Div HQ, Pörtschach, Austria, Wednesday 30 June 1946”.

    http://ww2talk.com/index.php?threads/wwii-cartoons.32685/page-3#post-412811

    The creator of these cartoons – William John Philpin Jones (Jon) – joined the British Army Newspaper Unit, perhaps he ended up in Austria and the backdrop was an original? Wonder what happened to it?

    https://www.cartoons.ac.uk/cartoonist-biographies/i-j/WilliamJohnPhilpinJones_Jon.html
     
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  16. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Dead links removed & I've replaced image missing from my post.
     
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  17. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Paul Reed posted this on FB , from his visit to IWM North in Manchester
    [​IMG]
     
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  18. 4jonboy

    4jonboy Daughter of a 56 Recce

    Thanks for posting this Owen. Saw it too on FB; I must make a visit to IWM soon-it looks very interesting.

    Lesley
     
  19. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    My link earlier is dead and uneditable (thanks, photobucket), but here's the image again.

    3333170336_4c68b30b5f_o.jpg

    There are also a few glimpses of a stage show that features the characters in the footage from the 1951 El Alamein Reunion:

     
  20. Ron Goldstein

    Ron Goldstein WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Last edited: Dec 31, 2017
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