Friday, July 24, 2009

John Ryan dies


How sad John Ryan has died. Not only was he the creator of Captain Pugwash but also Cardinal Grotti who made the Catholic Herald fun.
Maybe the Herald might reprint some of his cartoons as a tribute.

6 comments:

George said...

May God rest his soul.

I have fond memories of Captain Pugwash on the 'telly' when I was a youngster. Sailing the seven seas in the famous Black Pig with his crew (Master Bates, Cabin Boy Tom and all) and coming up against the arch-villain Cut-Throat Jake sailing the Flying Dustman!

Ahoy me hearties!!!!! Staggering Starfish, Jumping Jellyfish, Arrggghhhhh!

One of the few worthwhile things to come out from the BBC - great stuff and unsurpassed to date even with all the TV technology, gadgets, chrome doodads and gizmos we have nowadays!!!!!

Q - Why are pirates always mean and horrible?
A - Because they ARRRRGGHHHHHHH!!!!

Not familiar with Cardinal Grotti at all - was this aimed at anyone in the Vatican Hierarchy in particular - or just plain spoof and fun (not too irreverent I hope).

Richard Collins said...

..and brother to Fr Columba Ryan OP.

Dorothy B said...

Also the creator of Lettice Leaf, the Greenest Girl in the School (in "Girl"), and Harris Tweed ("Eagle"). I used to enjoy my big brother's comics as much as my own. Happy memories.

pelerin said...

Happy memories indeed! My eldest, now 41, once thoroughly enjoyed Captain Pugwash and also Mary, Mungo and Midge which I have learnt from the obituary was another of John Ryan's creations. Both these programmes used to hold him spellbound.

And like Dorothy I was a regular reader of 'Girl' and I also used to read my brother's 'Eagle' but until now had no idea that Lettice Leefe and Harris Tweed were also creations by the same very talented artist.

John Ryan's talent spanned the generations - May he rest in peace.

Crux Fidelis said...

George, there was no character called Master Bates in "Captain Pugwash". John Ryan actually received an apology from the Grauniad for publishing this canard. The character was, in fact, Master Mate. I seem to remember another ecclesiastic in his Herald cartoons called Monsignor Ceribrandi (there was a high ranking Vatican diplomat at the time by the name of Gaetano Alibrandi). Another of John Ryan's creations for TV was Sir Prancelot. He gave much fun to many. Requiescat in pace.

George said...

Crux Fidelis - my mistake, an honest one at that. Definitely Master Mate!

Thanks for the correction.

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