Some students of the shirking-class hero (thanks, Mirror) believe he was based on Mr Smythe's father.

ECONOMIST: Reg Smythe, creator of Andy Capp, died on June 13th, aged 80

If you are wealthy to the point of having left the middle class in your rear view mirror, I can appreciate your frustration.

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But Mr Montgomery's grand plans have failed to distract investors' attention from the decline of the Mirror, once Britain's great working-class paper, which sold 5.3m copies at its peak 30 years ago and now sells only 2.3m.

ECONOMIST: Reflections on the Mirror