The Tony Cuthbert Cup - remembering the man that penned "In the Duck Poo" and who obtained our Lido Cafe members' discount

In 1998 Tony was introduced to the club by Mark Fraser, who he met in a bar with work colleagues and agreed "after a few drinks" to swim the following morning.  Tony was hooked.  The rest, as they say, is history.

Tony won the Bridge to Bridge the following year.  Though Tony was not first to finish the then handicapper Frank Simms managed to disqualify the first swimmer home for reasons no one could fathom.  As if by fate, this first swimmer was the man who had fed Tony drinks and convinced him swimming in the duck poo was a cool thing to do: Mark Fraser!  Mark was none too pleased.

Tony was a real "character", in keeping with the long tradition of our club acting as a magnet to oddness.  Born in 1941 Tony joined the club in 1998, in his late 50s.  His earlier sporting prowess was as a three day eventer.  Unfortunately a hip replacement lead him to quite literally hang up his spurs.   Equine's loss was swimming's gain.  It also left Tony with a very handy choice of outfits for the All Clothes Race.

Tony had a long and successful career in advertising.  Tony Cuthbert Cartoons was responsible for many famous and memorable TV and film adverts -  BT's Buzby, the Babycham fawn, the Foxes' Glacier Mints' polar bear and best of all Kelloggs' Frosties' Tony the Tiger.  Tony also had a strong input into the Beatles' Yellow Submarine film.

Many of us want to believe the club myth that Tony based the Tony the Tiger character on himself.  Sadly for our dreams of borrowed glory Kelloggs' Tony the Tiger character first appeared in the early 1950s when Tony would not even have been in his teens.  That said, his TV and cinema campaigns for Frosties brought Tony the Tiger to animated life.  Likewise, the Fox's Glacier Mint polar bear and the Babycham fawn may not have been Tony's original creations but he certainly made them jump out at us from the screen.  Given Tony's work on Yellow Submarine perhaps we should claim him as our very own "fifth Beatle"?

For loads more detail on Tony and Saundra please see "the race we missed" report from 2021 when racing was suspended due to Covid restriction.

https://serpentineswimmingclub.com/news/51093/tony-cuthbert-cup

Norman Jones (disqualified for not going round both buoys)

John Luckhurst

Ilyan Kocatchev

Barnaby Parker

Charlie Frith

Hannah Davies

Paul Daniel’s

Jamal Saad