Bill Ritchie

Bill Ritchie (1 August 1931 25 January 2010) was a Scottish cartoonist. He is known for work on comics published by D. C. Thomson.

Biography

Born in Glasgow, Ritchie attended the Glasgow School of Art, where he learnt little about cartoons or comics; instead, he taught himself by practising from local comics artists Jack Lindsay, Bud Neill, Jimmy Malcolm, Harry Smith and Bill Tait. It was Malcolm who suggested he try to draw comics for D. C. Thomson in Dundee. While serving in the army in Korea, he submitted his first cartoons to the publisher, which were printed in The Weekly News.

His first comic strip was Clumsy Claude in The Beano, and for many years he drew Baby Crockett in the Beezer.

After his retirement in the 1990s, his comics were "ghosted" by other artists.

He died on 25 January 2010.

Bibliography

Comics work includes:

• Clumsy Claude in The Beano
• Baby Crockett in the Beezer
• Smiffy in the Beezer
• Dicky Burd in the Beezer
• Barney Bulldog in Sparky – the third cover strip, similar to Biffo the Bear
• Hungry Hoss in Beezer – an ever-hungry horse, owned by Joe the cowboy......
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