HAMBONE is going to put a smile on your face every week. This cartoon about a little business man is the creation of Mike Flanagan who is going to be Freetime's weekly cartoonist.

Mike says: "Hambone is based around office characters that I have known during my working years. He comes out of my experience in office life."

Mike has been a cartoonist for more than 20 years and his strips have been used all over the world.

He says: "I have always been interested in cartoons, and I used it in my work in advertising, so it's always been a bit of a side-line.

"But the side-line quickly developed into a career.

"I had built up a few customers, and there came a point where I thought that I would like to start it full-time."

Originally from South Africa, Mike has lived in Australia and moved to Britain in the 70s.

"It was about 1981 when I decided to give cartooning a go," explains Mike. "It was scary because I was launching off into the unknown and if things didn't pick up I was in trouble.

"I got into doing this full-time by writing to people, mainly just getting hold of names and addresses of newspapers and magazines through directories and mailing them Hambone and asking if they could use it."

He got his fair share of rejection letters.

"I did have to send off hundreds before I got a couple back saying 'yes'. It is hard work when you first start out because newspapers are not really ready to change their existing cartoonist."

But eventually things were on the up for Mike and his cartoons.

"My first job was a sports strip in the News of the World. It was on the back page and that ran for about five years, so it gave me a chance to work on Hambone, with some regular money coming in.

"Hambone is based on me by default. I just put all my feelings and experiences into him.

"Now he appears in other countries like Austria and Australia in newspapers, and also in various business magazines."

And according to Mike, being a cartoonist is a nice job if you can get it. He says: "There's no commuting, and you can sit around in your pyjamas all day. It's great.

"You are your own boss and you can work when you want. It's just the sort of job I like.

The cartoon will be on our coffee break page next week or read them on www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/leisure/cartoons/