John Dallas

• Born 1938-02-17 · Died 2022-01-07

In 1953 John left school at 15 to work as a junior commercial artist with a firm in Glasgow called McMurtie whilst studying art in the evenings at Glasgow School of Art. He was called up for National Service in 1956 and served in Germany with the RAF before returning to work with McMurtie in 1958. He joined DC Thomson in December 1963 as a studio artist. He illustrated on "The People’s Friend" as J Campbell Kerr, and ghosted other artists in the firm. Then in the early 1970s he took over "Beryl the Peril" and drew it for 16 years after its creator, David Law, passed away. Other characters he drew included "Tricky Dicky", "Souper Boy" and "Lumbering Jack" for the Topper; "Joe Soap" in Cracker; "Tony Jackpot" in Plug and "Billy the Whizz", "Ball Boy", "Chip the Stone Age Boy", and "Lord Snooty" in the Beano. He was one of the artists on "The Numskulls", about tiny people living inside a head, for The Beezer. Also in the Beezer "Saucy Sue" and "The Badd Lads". In the Dandy he was again one of several artists who drew "Dinah Mo". He worked mostly in DC Thomson’s Meadowside headquarters in Dundee, with some home working in the 1970s and 1980s. John married Jean in Drumchapel Congregational Church in 1961 and they went on to have two girls, Jean in 1964 and Fiona in 1967, followed by four grandchildren. He retired in 2003.