And finally… sketchy

A man from West Sussex has raised almost £5,000 for homeless charity Turning Tides by drawing “rubbish” pictures of pets. 

It began when Phil, who operates under the spoof alias “acclaimed artist Hercule Van Wolfwinkle”, drew his pet dog while colouring with his son. Phil then put the drawing on Facebook and offered commissions at a joke price of £299, but genuine requests for his art flooded his mailbox. 

He did the illustrations for free and shared them on social media with funny fake reviews and got thousands of likes.

With people keen to pay him for his drawings, he said: “I couldn’t take their money - the pictures are rubbish. So I set up a Just Giving page and suggested people donate instead.”

In just five weeks, the demand for his drawings soared allowing Phil to raise £4,903 for the charity which supports rough sleepers and aims to help them out of homelessness.

Phil is now churning out 150 drawings a week and has a backlog of 600 requests, BBC News reports. 

He said: “Homelessness is such an important issue, it’s a basic right for people to have a roof over the head and food in their bellies. With cuts to services, these charities are often the last line of defence as to whether these people live or die.”

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