Bill Ritchie

• Birth Name — William Ritchie • Birthplace — Glasgow • Nationality — Scottish • Cartoonist — y • Pencil — y • Born — 1 August 1931 • Died — 25 January 2010

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. Between 1957 and 1964 Ritchie drew the illustrations for "The Glad Mag" an annual magazine produced by students of Queen's College, Dundee as part of their charities campaign. Copies of these magazines are held by University of Dundee Archive Services. After his retirement in the 1990s, his comics were "ghosted" by other artists. He died on 25 January 2010.