John Ryan
John Ryan says: “I’m a lucky man, because I’ve earnt a living as a freelance by doing what I love: drawing, painting and writing every day! I’ve been supported by my wonderful wife, children and grandchildren, who’ve helped keep Pugwash afloat for over 50 years! No matter how many other characters I create, I always seem to come back to Pugwash. The Captain has two qualities which I believe are present in all of us to some degree: cowardice and greed. It’s the conflict between these opposing forces which make the stories work. What would YOU do if you saw a delicious toffee on the nose of a crocodile?”
John Ryan, creator of Captain Pugwash, was born in Edinburgh in 1921. His lifelong fascination with pirates began when his family moved to Rabat, an exotic port on the coast of Morocco. From his bedroom window John scanned the rolling seas to catch a glimpse of real pirate ships.
Later at Ampleforth College, a Catholic boarding school in Yorkshire, John was encouraged to draw by a monk who was an ex-Fleet Street cartoonist. World War II found John fighting in the jungles of Burma, drawing caricatures of his superior officers for light relief between battles.
In 1950 John married fellow artist Priscilla. One day, while sketching, a pirate appeared on the page before him… CAPTAIN HORATIO PUGWASH was born!
Launched in the legendary Eagle boys’ magazine as a strip cartoon, John then created a picture book for children: Captain Pugwash, A Pirate Story. Published in 1957, it featured the Captain’s triumphant confrontation with his arch enemy Cut Throat Jake. A series of illustrated Pugwash story books followed over the next 40 years, which were translated into many languages.
In 1957 John made a Pugwash film series for BBC TV. He devised an ingenious 2-dimensional animation method. Hidden levers moved cardboard cut-out pirate figures inside seascapes. Uniquely, they were manually operated in real time in front of a rolling camera. Next, for younger children, came the film series Mary, Mungo and Midge, followed by the hilarious Adventures of Sir Prancelot. John’s second Pugwash TV series followed in the 1970s.
In the 1980s, Pugwash audio books and videos of the TV series were launched, and John hit the road as a ‘talking artist’. In schools and libraries he gave inspirational illustrated talks, showing children how his books and films were created. John and his wife moved from London to Rye, a town steeped in the history of seafaring. In 1998 Captain Pugwash was recreated for television by John Cary Studios in exciting new computer-animated adventures.
Faithful to his cartoon-strip roots, John Ryan provided a weekly cartoon for the Catholic Herald newspaper for 43 years. He has recently retired.
The original first 7 Pugwash books are now re-published by Frances Lincoln, with 4 more titles arriving in 2010.
Isabel Ryan, daughter
We were all extremely saddened when we heard that John Ryan passed away on Wednesday 22nd July.