Bill Ritchie

[BeanoMark]

Ok, will do.

[BeanoMark]

Scotty Dog by Bill Ritchie:

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

That's great, MMi, it's always good to get truly unique imagery on here.

Did Bill live in Dundee, as I've heard?

The scottie sculpture actually resembles his style of drawing.

[philcom55]

Thanks for the fantastic photos MMi! Do you know when the model dog was made?

It sounds as though Bill must have had a soft spot for dogs as, along with the long-running adventures of Bunty's black Scotty Dog 'Haggis', he also drew a strip called 'Top Dogs' for the story paper Wizard during the early 1960s in which a different cartoon dog appeared every week:



(...at least I think it's Bill's work; hopefully Kashgar will swiftly disabuse me if I'm wrong! )

- Phil Rushton

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

This is definately the work of Bill, Phil: in one of the most compact-sized strips I have seen since Bazooka Joe! Great novelty value.

[Peter Gray]

Thanks for the photo..
and a new comic strip by Bill..will use both as a blog post thanks..

Liiked the sausage dog joke..

[BeanoMark]

Hi, guys...

The date of the dog would be around 20 years old, plus I've been mis-told the story, as she didn't get it when she was a kid. She's just informed me that her mum bought it for her, knowing that it was Bill's. Although, saying all that, she did get gifts and things from her Dad's artist pals over the years.

Bill lived in Carnoustie and laterly Friockheim.

Sorry I got the story a bit wrong, I initially posted it up without the main source of information (the wife) being around.

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

I'm Scottish, MMi, and I know the area that Carnoustie is in. There was also a long-running TOPPER strip called 'KING GUSSIE' that appeared alongside JULIUS CHEEZER and DESERT ISLAND DICK named after the Scottish [town/village?] of Kingussie.

[BeanoMark]

Which reminds me that there's a wee place in Fife called Kingskettle and Kettlebridge, which was the inspiration for 'The Singing Kettle' kids theatre show. I think the originators came from there.

Got nothing to do with Bill Ritchie, but I couldn't help myself.

[Kashgar]

I'm Scottish, MMi, and I know the area that Carnoustie is in. There was also a long-running TOPPER strip called 'KING GUSSIE' that appeared alongside JULIUS CHEEZER and DESERT ISLAND DICK named after the Scottish [town/village?] of Kingussie.

In fact the Scottish connection here probably meant more to the adult readers of
King Gussie's first home which was the magazine-cum-newspaper 'The People's Journal'
which was really only read north of the border. A lot of the early Topper King Gussie strips having appeared in The People's Journal first.

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

Wow! I never knew that, kashgar. I assume the original strips were also by Mr. Martin?

[Kashgar]

They were indeed Rab by George Martin and were some of his earliest work for Thomsons.

[stevezodiac]

My mate Steve sometimes has to buy bulk lots of comics off ebay just to get a few issues he doesn't have, lucky for me I get the doubles. He gave me a bundle of Hotspurs, Wizards and Nikkis last Saturday. In the Hotspur no. 618 dated 21/8/71 there was this reprinted Bill Ritchie. The other reprints of this strip were by a different artist. This looks like late 50s Ritchie, anyone know when it first appeared?

[Peter Gray]

Great to see another new Bill Ritchie..
thanks..

liked the tall story..
Him glueing the bits of boat together was funny..

http://petergraycartoonsandcomics.blogs ... -even.html

Heres the blog post...thanks everyone..

[Digifiend]

That Uncle Windbag strip would indeed be from the 50s, in The Beano. The third series was done by Ritchie and appeared from issue 744 (20/10/56) to 763 (2/3/57).

The reprints you say are by a different artist are probably from the second series, drawn by Charles Grigg, from issue 579 (22/8/53) to 596 (19/12/53).

The first series was back in 1938, in the first 20 issues, drawn by Charles Holt.