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'Oor Wullie' is a Scottish comic strip published in the D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd newspaper ''The Sunday Post''. It features a boy named William (''Oor Wullie'' is ''Our Willie'' in Scots) whose trademarks are spiky hair, dungarees and sitting on an upturned bucket - indeed, the strip has started and ended with a single frame featuring Wullie on his bucket since early 1937. The earliest strips always ended with Wullie complaining 'I nivver get ony fun roond here!' and featured very little dialogue, with the artistic style settling down by 1940 and changing little since. A frequent tag-line reads "Oor Wullie! Your Wullie! A'body's Wullie!".
Created by cartoonist Dudley D. Watkins (1907-1969), the strip first appeared in the issue dated 8 March 1936. Watkins continued to draw it until his death, after which the ''Sunday Post'' recycled his work into the 1970s, when he was succeeded by Ken H. Harrison, followed in 1997 by the current artist Peter Davidson. The storylines were written by broadcaster Tom Morton, from his home in Shetland ^[1] between January 2005 and sometime late in 2006. They are now being written by Dave Donaldson. ^[2].
Wullie's home town is an amalgam of Dundee and Glasgow, unnamed in the Watkins strips, but called Auchenshoogle since the late 1990s. His adventures consist mostly of get-rich-quick schemes and getting up to mischief, to the despair of his parents Ma and Pa (Dave), and the local policeman, P.C. Joe Murdoch. His 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 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 9 years old, his height has been specified at 4 feet 6 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, Kay 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.

Contents

The annuals

References

See also

External links

The 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 5p. 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. 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/-

References

1. http://heritage.scotsman.com/profiles.cfm?cid=1&id=2309202005
2. http://www.thatsbraw.co.uk/News/News.htm

See also

★ List of DC Thomson publications

★ The Sunday Post

★ The Broons

External links

★ "That's Braw" A Broons and Oor Wullie website

★ ''Great Scots - Our loveable spiky-haired loon'' - The Scotsman newspaper

★ Ron Low story

★ Ron Low story follow up

★ Picture of a lifesize model of Oor Wullie