"Wuzzy Wiz", The Dandy, 1953
William Henry "Bill" Holroyd was born in Salford, Lancashire on 21 March 1919, and was educated at Salford Technical College and Hornsey Art College before joining an advertising agency in Manchester. He joined the Royal Artillery in 1937 and served in Ireland and Italy.
In the late 1940s he joined the Gaumont British animation studio, and started drawing comics on a freelance basis for DC Thomson, including "Alf Wit, the Ancient Brit" (1947) for The Beano, as well as small publishers Scion, J. B. Allen and Paget. Later he worked exclusively for Thomsons. Strips he worked on include "Plum MacDuff" (1948-52), "Wuzzy Wiz" (1949-55), "Screwy Driver" (1955-59) , "Brassneck" (1964-68) and "Jack Silver" (1973-81) for The Dandy, "Ding-Dong Belle" (1949-51), "The Iron Fish" (1952-67) for The Beano, "The Fighting Frasers" (1953-56) for The Topper, and "The Four Marys" (1958-) for Bunty.
He retired in 1984, and died in Montrose, Angus, on 1 February 2000. His brother Albert was a staff artist for DC Thomson, and sister Elizabeth married comic artist Ken Reid.
References[]
- Alan Clark, Dictionary of British Comic Artists, Writers and Editors, The British Library, 1998, pp. 80-81
- Denis Gifford, Encyclopedia of Comic Characters, Longman, 1987
