The Cloggies

The Cloggies, an Everyday Saga in the Life of Clog Dancing Folk, is a cartoon strip created by Bill Tidy. It ran in the satirical magazine Private Eye from 1967 to 1981, and later in The Listener from 1985 to 1986.

The strip served as a satire of northern English male culture and focused on a team of men who took part in what the group called Lancashire clog-dancing. This version of clog-dancing involved two teams dancing towards each other in formation, followed by each attempting to cripple their opponents with gracefully executed knee and foot moves. Tidy developed a deeply arcane and complex scoring system, with results such as 124.863 to 92 14⁄37 being recorded. Of all the moves, The Double or Flying Arkwright with Legs Akimbo was considered the most hazardous to perform, but was often a match-winner.

The strip has been credited with popularizing the word "cloggies", a slang term for clog dancers.