There he stands, clad in the classic England kit of the early eighties, with red and blue across his shoulders and three lions on his chest, above a sizeable beer gut, which he tries vainly to hold in. His jowly chin is raised and his eyes are closed, as if dreaming of England, or perhaps of Yorkshire. Not many people know that Bulldog Bobby, the England mascot of the 1982 World Cup in Spain, was created right here in Leeds.

It’s been forty years since the Alf Cooke Printworks on Hunslet Road received the brief to create an anthropomorphic bulldog. This character was destined to feature on World Cup merchandise for England’s clothing partner, Admiral. Bulldog Bobby’s design was chosen from one of four sketches drawn up by a young Halifax-born illustrator, Gill Guile, who, a few short years later, also created me. I suppose that makes Bulldog Bobby the brother I never had.

My mum has since gone on to illustrate over six hundred children’s books, copies of most of which have ended up lining the walls of her house in North Leeds. This was, and still is, wonderful for me; a book-obsessed child who has grown up to become the parent of another book-obsessed child. My old bedroom was right next to her art studio, where her personal brand of magic happened, bringing to life all kinds of marvellous characters. But, in common with the rest of my family, football didn’t have a place in her life. It therefore came as something of a shock when, as a teenager, I first saw the yellowing newspaper cutting of Bobby Charlton posing with a cartoon bulldog, and first heard the story of how Bulldog Bobby came to be.

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