John Gerald Christopher Ryan (4 March 1921 – 22 July 2009)
''

Daily Telegraph Daily or The Daily may refer to: Journalism * Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks * ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times'' * ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...

'' was a British

animator An animator is an artist who creates multiple images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video games ...

and

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

. He was best known for his character ''

Captain Pugwash ''Captain Pugwash'' is a fictional pirate in a series of British children's comic strips and books created by John Ryan. The character's adventures were adapted into a TV series, using cardboard cut-outs filmed in live-action (the first series ...

''.

Biography

Ryan was born in Edinburgh, the son of diplomat Sir Andrew Ryan. He expressed his love of writing and drawing early in life, creating his first book, ''Adventures of Tommy Brown'', at the age of 7.John Ryan entry

Lambiek Galerie Lambiek is a Dutch comic book store and art gallery in Amsterdam, founded on November 8, 1968 by Kees Kousemaker (, – Bussum, ), though since 2007, his son Boris Kousemaker is the current owner. From 1968 to 2015, it was located ...

's Comiclopedia. Retrieved 30 August 2015. Ryan attended

Ampleforth College Ampleforth College is a co-educational independent day and boarding school in the English public school tradition located in the village of Ampleforth, North Yorkshire, England. It opened in 1802 as a boys' school, it is situated in the grou ...

, a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of " room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exte ...

. After serving as an officer with the Lincolnshire Regiment in Burma during the Second World War, Ryan studied at the

Regent Street Polytechnic The University of Westminster is a public university, public university based in London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1838 as the Royal Polytechnic Institution, it was the first Polytechnic (United Kingdom), polytechnic to open in London. The Polyte ...

. Whilst teaching art at Harrow,Twwed
''Dan Dare - The Eagle and Dan Dare website'' Retrieved 21 June 2005 Ryan first created ''Captain Pugwash'' as a comic strip for '' The Eagle'' in 1950, although the strip was dropped after three months as it was felt to be aimed at younger readers than the target audience. Unperturbed, Ryan created '' Harris Tweed, Special Agent''. However, when ''

The Radio Times ''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...

'' commissioned him to provide a strip he resurrected the Captain Pugwash strip, and in 1957 he was commissioned by the BBC to produce a series of animation shorts featuring the character, originally running from 1957 to 1958. The animation of these films was done in real time (rather than by the stop-frame animation method) using an ingenious system of cut-out characters and boats, moved by hidden cardboard levers. Further episodes were commissioned almost twenty years later in 1974,John Ryan Studios Toonhound-Toon Studios
Retrieved 21 June 2005 and in all 126 episodes were made with the last airing in 1975. Ryan also wrote and illustrated a number of children's books featuring the character; in the 1980s three new

comic album a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicat ...

s appeared. Through his animation studio, John Ryan Studios, he also created '' The Adventures of Sir Prancelot'' (1971–1972) and '' Mary Mungo & Midge'' (1969) for the BBC, the latter for the ''

Watch With Mother ''Watch with Mother'' was a cycle of children's programmes created by Freda Lingstrom and Maria Bird. Broadcast by BBC Television from 1952 until 1975, it was the first BBC television series aimed specifically at pre-school children, a developm ...

'' slot. In 1981, Ryan presented ''The Ark Stories'' for

Yorkshire Television ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV (TV network), ITV network. Until 19 ...

, the series being produced by Anne Wood. Each episode saw Ryan present and illustrate a story about

Noah's Ark Noah's Ark ( he, תיבת נח; Biblical Hebrew: ''Tevat Noaḥ'')The word "ark" in modern English comes from Old English ''aerca'', meaning a chest or box. (See Cresswell 2010, p.22) The Hebrew word for the vessel, ''teva'', occurs twice in t ...

, either prior to or during the Great Flood. He also created ''Lettice Leefe, the Greenest Girl in School'', a comic strip for ''

Girl A girl is a young female human, usually a child or an adolescent. When a girl becomes an adult, she is accurately described as a '' woman''. However, the term ''girl'' is also used for other meanings, including ''young woman'',Dictionar ...

'' magazine. Ryan, a Catholic (his brother was the theologican

Columba Ryan Columba Ryan (born Patrick Ryan, 13 January 1916 in Hampstead – 4 August 2009) was a British priest of the Dominican Order and a philosophy teacher, university chaplain, and pastor. He was the brother of John Ryan, the British animator and ca ...

), provided illustrations and cartoons for Catholic newspapers, including the ''

Catholic Herald The ''Catholic Herald'' is a London-based Roman Catholic monthly newspaper and starting December 2014 a magazine, published in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and, formerly, the United States. It reports a total circulation of abo ...

'', and several collections of these cartoons were published as books.News For Old Amplefordians
''Ampleforth College Newsletter'' Retrieved 21 June 2005 Towards the end of his life, he was resident in Rye.2004 Rye Festival of Music and the Arts
Retrieved 21 June 2005 There are a number of Ryan's original book illustrations on permanent loan at the Centre for the Study of Cartoons,

University of Kent , motto_lang = , mottoeng = Literal translation: 'Whom to serve is to reign'(Book of Common Prayer translation: 'whose service is perfect freedom')Graham Martin, ''From Vision to Reality: the Making of the University of Kent at Canterbury'' ...

.John Gerald Christopher Ryan
''Cambridge Book and Print Gallery'' Retrieved 21 June 2005 In addition to the 24 books in the Captain Pugwash series and the 11 in his Noah's Ark series, he produced a further 24 books.John Ryan
''Gregory & Company Authors' Agents'' Retrieved 21 June 2005 Ryan died in hospital in Rye, East Sussex. He is survived by his wife Priscilla and his three children.Pugwash creator Ryan dies aged 88
/ref> His daughter Isabel Ryan provided Mary's voice in '' Mary, Mungo and Midge''.

Family

His brother was

Roman Catholic theologian Catholic theology is the understanding of Catholic doctrine or teachings, and results from the studies of theologians. It is based on canonical scripture, and sacred tradition, as interpreted authoritatively by the magisterium of the Catholic ...

and

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

. His father was diplomat Andrew Ryan.

References

External links

Jedis Children's TV
Captain Pugwash page, contains a 1974 interview with Ryan on the animation of ''Captain Pugwash'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Ryan, John 1921 births 2009 deaths 20th-century British artists 20th-century British male writers 20th-century British writers Alumni of the University of Westminster Artists from Edinburgh British animated film directors British animators British Army personnel of World War II British cartoonists British children's writers British comic strip cartoonists British comics artists British Roman Catholics British television directors People educated at Ampleforth College Royal Lincolnshire Regiment officers Writers from Edinburgh Writers who illustrated their own writing