Occasionally, Oor Wullie and The Broons editor Alan Digby has toyed with the idea of introducing hints of modern life into the comic strips— Oor Wullie’s infamous chair alternative, his bucket, he suggests, could be replaced by a wheelie bin. But with Oor Wullie having been named Scotland’s top icon this week, and with Steve Coogan’s production company interested in making a serialisation based on The Broons, clearly it sometimes makes sense just to stick with a winning formula.

By Emma Seith

It was during the second world war that Oor Wullie and The Broons came to prominence as the relatives of those serving on the front line sent out copies of The Sunday Post in the hope that it would raise moral. Contained within the pages of the newspaper was a comic supplement entitled The Fun Section where full page cartoon strips of Oor Wullie and The Broons could be found.

Perhaps not quite the beautiful pin-up that you would have expected to buck up the boys doing battle—in fact, Digby himself is quick to make it clear that, if ever he should be called up, much as he is fond of Wullie, he feels a certain Miss Kylie Minogue would have a better chance of persuading him there was something in the world worth fighting for.

Recipients of The Post, however, were not completely deprived of beautiful women, as the paper did boast Maggie Broon who, if proof of her appeal is needed, recently made it to the top of Scotland’s “Hot 100.” According to the newspaper that published this chart, Maggie Broon—one of eight offspring living at 10 Glebe Street, and sister to the less fair of face and more rounded Daphne—is the sexiest piece of stuff we Celts have to offer.

However, I can’t help but feel, when you’re choosing a cartoon character over a genuine flesh and blood heart throb, in possession of all three dimensions, something has gone slightly wrong. “The Hot 100” places Ewan McGregor at number eight and Sean Connery appears to be losing his touch aged 73, coming in at 11. It has to be hoped, then, that Wullie winning the title of top icon has nothing to do with sex appeal, otherwise nation-wide counselling might be in order!

“Quite simply, I think Oor Wullie came out as Scotland’s icon because he’s so popular and has been in the Sunday Post for 68 years. There’s just nobody in Scotland who hasn’t heard of Oor Wullie,” explained Dave Donaldson, managing editor of children’s publications.

Wullie first came into our lives dragging his feet, scuffing his shoes and with his hands rammed firmly into those infamous dungaree pockets on March 8, 1936. His illustrator predicted to his wife that this, his latest commission, would last only a matter of weeks. Instead, Dudley Dexter Watkins was still drawing the characters right up until his death at the age of 62.

In the past, it has often been suggested that Oor Wullie’s success is based on the fact that he offends no one. You could be right wing, left wing, atheist or Christian and Wullie would still make you chuckle.

“There is nothing offensive about Oor Wullie, there is nothing to put people off,” continued Donaldson.

Oor Wullie and The Broons have, therefore, been responsible for generations of Sunday Post readers hastily flicking past the news pages and getting straight to the nitty gritty—the comic strips.

However, things have changed in the life of the blond, spiky haired, cheeky chappy since 1936. While the ancient traditions of Wullie playing truant, knocking the helmet off the long suffering PC Murdoch, ringing doorbells and running away and refusing to help Maw with the house work have continued, we are not likely to see a repeat of the first cartoon strip.

“There’s so many things now that we just can’t do,” said Donaldson. “I mean, take the very, very first Oor Wullie, if we printed anything like that now, there would be an outcry—he was deliberately derailing a tram car!”

The first strip goes something like this: a bored Wullie—a threat to the innocent residents of a quiet neighbourhood if ever there was one—sits on his bucket mulling over how fed up he is. Thus, the young scallywag sets off in search of amusement and begins by distracting the butcher while a dog steals his sausages. This leads Wullie to ponder the potential entertainment value of further pranks as he arrives at a fire station and notices an alarm bell. No prizes for guessing what happens next.

Further inspiration for the King of Mischief Making comes when he spots an old man with a walking stick crossing tram tracks. We see the cogs of Wullie’s mind turning and by the next sketch he has his very own stick which he uses to tamper with the rails, eventually succeeding in derailing a tram.

Finally, having dedicated himself to a day of havoc wreaking, Wullie remains unimpressed and returns to sit on his bucket saying, “Ah’m fed up! I never get ony fun here.”

Satisfying Oor Wullie’s appetite for destruction is no easy task, Donaldson assures me. As already mentioned, today, the height of Wullie’s high jinks can’t be quite so dizzying, but when writing for Oor Wullie, there is another added complication. . .

“There’s a limit to the things you can do with Oor Wullie. He’s not like some of our other cartoon characters—like Dennis the Menace—you can’t have him do certain things. With Oor Wullie, things have got to be almost possible, whereas, with the other cartoon characters, it’s much easier to write the scripts, because they’re able to do everything but fly, if you like.

“They can be run over by steam rollers and they jump back up in their original shape, but you can’t do that with Wullie. It’s almost true to life.”

Therefore, if you ever see Wullie sawn in half or blown to smithereens, remember to shed a tear, because this is one cartoon character who won’t be springing back to life.

When I ask Digby where he gets all his ideas from, he replies, “In a car park in Arbroath.”

Clearly, he’s been asked this question one too many times, and it reminds me of a bright friend of mine who was constantly being asked by teachers “What do you want to be when you grow up?” And at age 10 she took to answering, ‘A gynaecologist’.

Taking the hint, I move on to the serious questions—where does Wullie live? And what’s his surname?

“I think it’s fine if people think he comes from their neck-of-the-woods, he doesn’t actually come from one particular place,” said Digby.

Apparently, there has been some speculation recently that Wullie comes from Dundee, but I’m assured this is not the case. Some also claim that, in past editions, Wullie’s family name has been revealed.

“Now, with characters like The Simpsons, where they are almost like soap opera characters with a whole family history behind them, people start to expect the same with Oor Wullie, but, in the old days, there was nothing like that.

“Perhaps when the script writers went away to war, then, maybe, someone who was just helping out with the writing, stuck a surname in as a one-off.

“But no policy has ever been made.”

Another common accusation is that there’s not enough of the contemporary world in the strips—that they still reflect the late 1930s as opposed to the 21st century.

“We do try new stuff. Like I remember there was a big article in a newspaper about global warming, and it was Baltic outside, so the characters have a little protest march—you know, ‘End global warming!—but have to go home in the end because they are too cold,” said Digby.

“Whenever we get the chance we have a modern thing in, but things like Xboxes and iPods, just don’t tell a story. I mean, it wouldn’t be very interesting to have him sitting playing a computer game.”

In the past, attempts to add some colour to the creations has created a public outcry. So much so, that Maw and Paw Broon and their extended family, along with Wullie, Fat Bob and Soapy Soutar are condemned for all eternity to a monochrome existence.

Nevertheless, if Steve Coogan’s production company Baby Cow get their way, The Broons may yet appear in glorious technicolour on the box. Currently, Donaldson tells me, the production company is trying to persuade the cartoon’s guardians to allow them to create half a dozen, half-hour episodes with the likes of Ewan McGregor, Richard Wilson and Elaine C. Smith among those interested in taking on roles.

At the moment, there’s nothing in the pipeline for Oor Wullie. This, however, is no cause for concern, as Oor Wullie possesses the very characteristics that made another cartoon character great.

Walt Disney said of Mickey Mouse “All we ever intended for him or expected of him was that he should continue to make people everywhere chuckle with him and at him. We didn’t burden him with any social symbolism, we made him no mouthpiece for frustration or harsh satire.”

In short, like Oor Wullie, he was designed “simply for the purposes of laughter.”