Chris Donald (born 25 April 1960 in

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

, England) is the founder of, and one of the principal contributors to, the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

comic magazine Comic magazine may refer to: * Comics anthology * ''Comic Magazine'', a 1986 Japanese film * Comic Magazines, the parent company of Quality Comics * Franco-Belgian comics magazines * Japanese manga magazines * A periodical containing comic strips, ...

'' Viz''.

Biography

Donald attended West Jesmond Primary School,http://www.communitychannel.org/content/view/2666 and then Heaton Comprehensive School, where he failed his

A-levels The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational aut ...

. His Arts teacher John Dixon, who Donald recalls as never being present during art lessons, claims to have seen the original draft ''Viz'' cartoon drawings and advised Chris "to give it up, and find a proper job!" The forerunner of Viz was in fact a series of small comic booklets, titled "The Fat Crusader", drawn on the back of Esso Blue invoice pads and secretly circulated around classrooms at Heaton School – first amongst pupils, and later penetrating the staff room – between 1976 and 1978. In October 1978, having failed to achieve sufficient qualifications to continue his "education", Donald began work as a clerical officer at the

DHSS The Department of Health and Social Security (commonly known as the DHSS) was a ministry of the British government in existence for twenty years from 1968 until 1988, and was headed by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Services. His ...

central office in

Longbenton Longbenton is a district of North Tyneside, England. It is largely occupied by an extensive estate originally built as municipal housing by Newcastle City Council in the 1930s and extended in the 1950s. It is served by the Tyne and Wear Metro st ...

. Donald, together with his brother

Simon Simon may refer to: People * Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon * Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon * Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genus ...

and a schoolfriend Jim Brownlow, set up ''Viz'' in December 1979 from a bedroom in

Jesmond Jesmond is a suburb of Newcastle upon Tyne, situated to the east of the Town Moor. Jesmond is considered to be one of the most affluent suburbs of Newcastle upon Tyne, with higher average house prices than most other areas of the city. H ...

, Newcastle. He was editor (or head of the "editorial cabinet") for many years but retired from day-to-day duties in 1999, and now only contributes occasional cartoons. He has since written a personal history of ''Viz'' magazine entitled ''Rude Kids''. In an interview on

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, Donald paid tribute to

Spike Milligan Terence Alan "Spike" Milligan (16 April 1918 – 27 February 2002) was an Irish actor, comedian, writer, musician, poet, and playwright. The son of an English mother and Irish father, he was born in British Raj, British Colonial India, where h ...

on his death and cited him and

Monty Python Monty Python (also collectively known as the Pythons) were a British comedy troupe who created the sketch comedy television show '' Monty Python's Flying Circus'', which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four ...

as the two major influences on ''Viz''. During the latter years of his tenure as the editor of ''Viz'', Donald opened a hugely unsuccessful restaurant at a former railway station at Ilderton in Northumberland. It opened in 1994 and closed three years later than it should have done, in 1997. Between 2002 and 2008, Donald worked as a shop assistant, and later shop manager, at Barter Books in Alnwick, Northumberland. At around this time he was also Fixtures Secretary of the Belford & District Pool League, as well as editor of the annual Powburn Agricultural Show programme. In 2016 he became a top soul DJ on BBC Radio Newcastle and BBC Radio Tees, presenting a weekly show, "Chris Donald’s Soul Club". In 2020, the show was taken off air during the pandemic. Since late 2020 he has presented "Chris Donald’s Imaginary Soul Club" on Nova Radio North East.

Publications

* ''Rude Kids'', Chris Donald, 2004 ()

References

1960 births Living people People from Newcastle upon Tyne {{UK-comics-creator-stub