Oor Wullie and The Broons Celebrate 90 Years
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Ninety years ago Oor William and The Browns started appearing in their separate comic strips for The Sunday Post’s Fun Section under titles in their native Scottish dialect Oor Wullie and The Broons. Both comic strips were by the same creative team of writer Robert D. Low and artist Dudley Watkins.
The BBC celebrates the anniversary (or here) of the characters from The Sunday Post Fun Section:
Jings! Scotland’s favourite “spiky-haired loon” and best-loved family are celebrating their 90th anniversary – and looking good for it.
Oor Wullie and The Broons began creating chaos across the pages of DC Thomson’s Sunday Post in March 1936.
Since then, Oor Wullie has spent nine decades perched on his famous bucket, while The Broons have portrayed the joys, chaos and heart of family life in 10 Glebe Street.
Now The Sunday Post is set to publish a commemorative supplement, featuring a national comics competition and guide on how to draw the spiky-haired boy in dungarees and hobnail boots.
Below is the 15 page section celebrating The Broons and Oor Wullie from today’s The Sunday Post.
And, of course, the comic strips themselves celebrated:
(Yeah, try as I might I haven’t found versions of the 90th pages large enough to read.)
The BBC continues:
The comic strips share tales of working-class life and community through mischief, family humour and their distinctive Scots language.
Oor Wullie was originally seen as an ordinary boy the readers would identify with and is believed to have been inspired by Low’s own blond-haired son.
He was never far from his best pals Fat Bob, Wee Eck and Soapy Soutar, and girlfriend Primrose Paterson.
And there was never a dull moment in the Broon household.
The comic strip was loved by many for its portrayal of traditional home values – from Maw’s wisdom and Paw’s blustering to the antics of the bairns and romances and mishaps of Hen and Daphne.
Illustrator Watkins was believed to be so valuable to British morale that he could not be conscripted [during World War 2].
Paul Hudson from 2021 lists the amazingly few writers and artists who have created the strip over the years.
The Broons writers: R.D. Low, David Donaldson, Morris Heggie.
The Broons artists: Dudley Watkins, Tom Lavery, Ken Harrison, Peter Davidson.
Oor Wullie writers: R. D. Low, Tom Morton, David Donaldson, Morris Heggie.
Oor Wullie artists: Dudley Watkins, Tom Lavery, Ken Harrison, Peter Davidson, Robert Nixon.
Wikipedia gives a more detailed list of contributors.
Former Dandy editor Morris Heggie took over as editor and main writer on Donaldson’s departure, and continued to write the strips until 2022. In more recent years writers have included Georgia Battle, Kate Dewar, Gerard Dignan, Craig Ferguson, Hector Mac, Daniel McGachey, and others, with writer and artist credits now appearing alongside the strips in The Sunday Post.
Between 2016 and 2017, artist Diego Jourdan Pereira filled in for Peter Davidson on Wullie, The Broons and Wee Harry. Jourdan Pereira also provided illustrations for the 2017 Annual and official merchandising.[5]
Since Peter Davidson’s retirement, Oor Wullie has been drawn by Mike Donaldson, who also took over art duties on The Broons
Watkins drew the strip from his Broughty Ferry home until his death in 1969. For five years after Watkins’ death, D. C. Thomson recycled old strips in the newspaper and annuals, fearing no adequate replacement could be found to match Watkins’ unique style. In these repeated strips, some particularly Scots words were replaced (e.g., “ahint” became “behind”) and the pre-decimal coinage was updated. Mike Donaldson is the current artist, succeeding Peter Davidson. BBC Radio Scotland presenter Tom Morton was the scriptwriter until 2006, when Dave Donaldson took over. Morris Heggie, former editor of The Dandy, is one of the current writers; however, credits are now attributed when published in The Sunday Post.
Naturally The Sunday Post has an article or two about their own characters – and the creators.
Most Scots feel they’ve grown up with The Broons and Oor Wullie as surely as they have with their own families, but Morris Heggie has spent more time with them than most.
He joined DC Thomson straight from high school, starting out as a comics copyboy in 1969. He rose to become editor of The Dandy in 1986 and kept writing The Broons and Oor Wullie scripts until his retirement in 2006. But retirement didn’t last long – he went on to oversee The Broons and Oor Wullie until finally laying down his pen in 2015.
The Sunday Post archive of Oor Wullie and The Broons articles from years past.
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