John Forsyth Dallas, the creative hand behind some of Britain’s best-loved comic characters, has died aged 83.
For 16 years he was the artist responsible for drawing Beryl the Peril, taking over from David Law, who had created the character for The Topper comic.
Between 1987 until his retiral 2003, John was the artistic custodian of Ball Boy, the loveable but not overly skilled football character in The Beano.
John spent the greater part of his career at DC Thomson in Dundee, publishers of some of the 20th centuries most successful comics and children’s publications.
He was born in Glasgow in 1938 to Stewart and Isabella Dallas and educated at Kent Road primary then Woodside senior secondary school in the city.
In 1953 John left school at 15 to begin work as a junior commercial artist with a Glasgow firm called McMurtie but studied art in the evenings at Glasgow School of Art.
After three years there he was called up for National Service which he served in Germany with the RAF.
Marriage
He returned to work with McMurtie in 1958. John had met his future wife, Jean, while they were teenagers in Drumchapel and they went on to marry at Drumchapel Congregational Church in 1961.
The couple went on to have two of family, Jean in 1964 and Fiona in 1967.
In December 1963, he joined DC Thomson as a studio artist, illustrating, including on The People’s Friend as J Campbell Kerr, and ghosting, copying the styles of other artists in the firm.
His working life was spent mainly in DC Thomson’s headquarters at Meadowside in Dundee, although he did have a spell of home working in the 1970s and 1980s.
Custodian
At the beginning of the 1970s, John took on the stewardship of Beryl the Peril following the death at the age of 63 of its creator, David Law.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, John was the hand and imagination behind characters who thrilled millions of children in this country and abroad.
He brought Tricky Dicky to life, as well as Souper Boy for the Topper, and Lumbering Jack for The Topper Book of 1972.
John also illustrated Joe Soap in Cracker, Tony Jackpot in Plug and Billy the Whizz in the Beano.
In 1987, he took over Ball Boy in The Beano from Malcolm Judge and drew it until his retiral in 2003.
His daughters said that his work was really his hobby and he loved to do portraits and caricatures for family and friends.
His spare time was in the main spent with family, including his four grandchildren; Andrew, Cameron, Rebecca and Morven.