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Oor Wullie

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Oor Wullie
An Oor Wullie annual
Author(s)Dudley D. Watkins, Ken H. Harrison
Peter Davidson
Current status/scheduleWeekly, The Sunday Post
Launch date8 March 1936
Publisher(s)D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd
Genre(s)Humour

Oor Wullie (Gaelic "ar-n-Uilleam") is a Scottish comic strip published in the D.C. Thomson newspaper, The Sunday Post. It features a boy named William, known as Wullie (Oor Wullie is Our Willie in Scots). His trademarks are spiky hair, dungarees and an upturned bucket, which he often uses as a seat. Indeed, most strips since early 1937 begin and end with a single panel of Wullie sitting on his bucket. The earliest strips always ended with Wullie complaining ("I nivver get ony fun roond here!") and featured little dialogue. The artistic style settled down by 1940 and has changed little since. A frequent tagline reads, "Oor Wullie! Your Wullie! A'body's Wullie!" (Our Willie! Your Willie! Everybody's Willie!).

Created by D.C. Thompson editor R.D. Low and drawn by cartoonist Dudley D. Watkins, the strip first appeared on 8 March 1936. Watkins continued to draw Oor Wullie until his death in 1969, after which the Post recycled his work into the 1970s. New strips were eventually commissioned from Tom Lavery, followed by Peter Davidson. Ken H. Harrison then drew the strip from 1989 until 1997 when Davidson resumed duties. Between January 2005 and 2006, storylines were written by broadcaster Tom Morton from his home in Shetland,[1] and subsequently they have been written by Dave Donaldson, managing director of D. C. Thomson's comics division.[2]

Characters and story

Wullie's hometown is an amalgam of Dundee and Glasgow. It is unnamed in the original Watkins strips, but it has been called Auchenshoogle since the late 1990s. In the original Watkins scripts the dialect unquestionably placed the action on Scotland's east coast, probably D.C. Thomson's hometown of Dundee. In 1970s annuals, which reprinted earlier strips, Watkins' dialogue was Anglicised somewhat, and the current scripts feature Scots dialect of a more generic kind.

Wullie's adventures consist mostly of unrealistic get-rich-quick schemes that lead to mischief, to the despair of his parents Ma and Pa (Dave), and the local policeman, P.C. Joe Murdoch. Wullie's friends are Fat Boab (Eng: Fat Bob), Wee Eck (Eng: Little Alec), and Soapy Soutar, and he is the leader of their gang, a position which is frequently disputed by the others. He used to have another friend called Ezzy, who stopped appearing in the strips, along with Wullie's little brother. He owns a pet mouse named Jeemy, and a pet hedgehog named Hamish, and in later years has gained a Highland Terrier named Harry, and a "sometime-girlfriend", Primrose Patterson. Characters from The Broons occasionally feature, particularly Granpaw.

Wullie's age is nine years old, his height has been specified at four feet, six inches tall. His catch phrases consist of "Jings", "Crivvens" and "Help ma Boab".

The Oor Wullie strips are presented in a bi-annual with every other year being given over to The Broons. A series of compilation albums have been published over the years featuring The Broons and Oor Wullie on alternate pages.

William Ross, Baron Ross of Marnock, Secretary of State for Scotland 1964-1970 and 1974-1976, was occasionally depicted in political cartoons seated on a bucket as Oor Wullie.

In March 2006, BBC Scotland documentary Happy Birthday Oor Wullie celebrated the character's 70th anniversary with celebrity guests including Karen Dunbar, Sanjeev Kohli, Kaye Adams, Iain Robertson, Tony Roper, Tam Cowan, Stuart Cosgrove, Dominik Diamond and was narrated by Lord of the Rings star Billy Boyd. The programme was made by Angel Eye Media.

When The Topper launched in 1953, Oor Wullie appeared in the masthead, although not as a story in the comic. He often appeared sitting on his bucket, though other poses were used as well.

Annuals

Early annuals were undated, so this information is to help identify them. The annuals alternated years with The Broons annuals. Prices are in shillings and (old) pence with one shilling equal to 12d. Later annuals had copyright inside them. Annuals were printed in the Autumn in time for Christmas.

  • 1940. Wullie sitting on his bucket, elbows on knees and chin in hands and smiling. Yellow background. Price 1/6.
  • 1942. Wullie standing, smiling with a satchel on his back and his bucket to his left.
  • No annuals 1944-1946 due to the war paper shortage.
  • 1948. Sixteen pictures (4x4) of Wullie with different expressions on his face. Price 3/-
  • 1950. Head and shoulders view of Wullie smiling. Red background.
  • 1952. Twelve pictures (4x3) of Wullie in different situations, one for each month of the year. In first he is hit by snowball. Price 4/-
  • 1954. Wullie reading the same Oor Wullie annual (infinity cover). Blue background. Price 4/-
  • 1956. Snowman version of Wullie sitting on bucket while Wullie peers out from behind hut. Price 5/-
  • 1958. Wullie holding brushes and paint pot has painted his body on a white fence and is standing behind it. 3 other images painted on fence. Price 5/-
  • 1960. Wullie sitting at table about to eat sausage, tomato and two fried eggs arranged in shape of a face on plate. Price 5/-
  • 1962. Wullie walking along and his shadow on a wall is that of a policeman. Price 5/-
  • 1964. Wullie has polished his bucket so well that he can see his face in it. Price 5/-
  • 1980. Wullie is fishing and he catches a boot. A 'No Fishing' sign and P.C. Murdoch are in the background. Price £1.05.

See also

References

  1. ^ Gilchrist, Jim. "Help ma boab... Oor Wullie's 70 - Scotsman.com Living". Living.scotsman.com. Retrieved 2009-09-21.
  2. ^ "Gavin Brightwell's history of Dudley Watkins' work". Thatsbraw.co.uk. Retrieved 2009-09-21.

External links

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