Angus Peter Allan (22 July 1936 – 16 July 2007) was a British comic strip writer and magazine editor who worked on ''
TV Century 21
''TV Century 21'', later renamed ''TV21'', ''TV21 and Tornado'', ''TV21 and Joe 90'', and ''TV21'' again, was a weekly British children's comic published by City Magazines during the latter half of the 1960s. Originally produced in partnership ...
'' in the 1960s and ''
Look-in
''Look-in'' was a children's magazine centred on ITV's television programmes in the United Kingdom, and subtitled "The Junior ''TVTimes''". It ran from 9 January 1971 to 12 March 1994.The Six Million Dollar Man
''The Six Million Dollar Man'' is an American science fiction and action television series, running from 1973 to 1978, about a former astronaut, USAF Colonel Steve Austin, portrayed by Lee Majors. After a NASA test flight accident, Austin is r ...
'', ''
Logan's Run
''Logan's Run'' is a science fiction novel by American writers William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson. Published in 1967, the novel depicts a dystopic Malthusianism future society in which both population and the consumption of resou ...
'' and ''
Charlie's Angels
''Charlie's Angels'' is an American crime drama television series that aired on ABC from September 22, 1976, to June 24, 1981, producing five seasons and 115 episodes. The series was created by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts and was produced by ...
''. Allan collaborated with many well-known British comic strip artists, including
Jim Baikie
James George Baikie (28 February 1940 – 29 December 2017) was a Scottish comics artist best known for his work with Alan Moore on ''Skizz''. He was also a musician.
Biography
Baikie served as a Corporal with the Royal Air Force in 1956–1963 ...
and
Arthur Ranson
Arthur James Ranson (born 1939) is an People of the United Kingdom, English Comic book creator, comic book illustrator, known for his work on ''Look-in'', ''Judge Anderson, Anderson: Psi Division'', ''Button Man'' and ''Mazeworld''. His work on C ...
.
Biography
Allan was born in Wimbledon, on 22 July 1936 and attended
King's College School
King's College School, also known as Wimbledon, KCS, King's and KCS Wimbledon, is a public school in Wimbledon, southwest London, England. The school was founded in 1829 by King George IV, as the junior department of King's College London and ...
there.
Allan's first job in publishing, in late 1952, was as an office junior at
Amalgamated Press
The Amalgamated Press (AP) was a British newspaper and magazine publishing company founded by journalist and entrepreneur Alfred Harmsworth (1865–1922) in 1901, gathering his many publishing ventures together under one banner. At one point the ...
(later
Fleetway
Fleetway Publications was a magazine publishing company based in London. It was founded in 1959 when the Mirror Group acquired the Amalgamated Press, then based at Fleetway House, Farringdon Street, London. It was one of the companies that mer ...
, then
IPC
IPC may refer to:
Computing
* Infrastructure protection centre or information security operations center
* Instructions per cycle or instructions per clock, an aspect of central-processing performance
* Inter-process communication, the sharin ...
). He worked on the weekly comic '' The Comet'', and the monthly titles ''Cowboy Comics'' and ''Super Detective Library'', edited by Ted Holmes.
Following a period of national service in the
Gordon Highlanders
Gordon may refer to:
People
* Gordon (given name), a masculine given name, including list of persons and fictional characters
* Gordon (surname), the surname
* Gordon (slave), escaped to a Union Army camp during the U.S. Civil War
* Clan Gordo ...
from November 1954 to November 1956, having been on active service in
Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...
, Allan returned to Amalgamated Press and after working on ''Super Detective Library'', eventually became co-editor of what was now known as "Cowboy Picture Library", with Alan Fennell. He handled the ''Davy Crockett'' and ''Kansas Kid'' monthly titles.
Eventually, he was recruited to join the team producing ''Marty'', the first photo-strip teenage romance weekly published by Newnes and Pearson. Here he met his future wife, Gillian, and made the decision to become a freelance writer instead of editing. He has remained a freelance ever since.
Later, he was heavily involved with Alan Fennell's Century 21 Publishing company, becoming associated with
Gerry Anderson
Gerald Alexander Anderson (; 14 April 1929 – 26 December 2012) was an English television and film producer, director, writer and occasional voice artist. He remains famous for his futuristic television programmes, especially his 1960s produ ...
classics such as ''
Stingray
Stingrays are a group of sea rays, which are cartilaginous fish related to sharks. They are classified in the suborder Myliobatoidei of the order Myliobatiformes and consist of eight families: Hexatrygonidae (sixgill stingray), Plesiobatid ...
'', '' Thunderbirds'', etc. He was also the mainstay scriptwriter for Fennell's ''
Look-In
''Look-in'' was a children's magazine centred on ITV's television programmes in the United Kingdom, and subtitled "The Junior ''TVTimes''". It ran from 9 January 1971 to 12 March 1994.DangerMouse''.
Allan also wrote for many other outlets, and penned several of the '' Garth'' adventures for the ''
Daily Mirror
The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print ci ...
''. In January 1990, he and his wife moved to France.
Allan died of cancer on 16 July 2007, having been admitted to hospital the previous Thursday, at least six days before his 71st birthday.
Bibliography
Allan wrote the novelisation of the film Thunderbirds Are Go.
He also wrote a novel of
Dan Dare
Dan Dare is a British science fiction comic hero, created by illustrator Frank Hampson who also wrote the first stories. Dare appeared in the ''Eagle'' comic story ''Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future'' from 1950 to 1967 (and subsequently in rep ...
(NEL 1977)
His comics work includes:
Work in
TV Century 21
''TV Century 21'', later renamed ''TV21'', ''TV21 and Tornado'', ''TV21 and Joe 90'', and ''TV21'' again, was a weekly British children's comic published by City Magazines during the latter half of the 1960s. Originally produced in partnership ...
Work in
Look-In
''Look-in'' was a children's magazine centred on ITV's television programmes in the United Kingdom, and subtitled "The Junior ''TVTimes''". It ran from 9 January 1971 to 12 March 1994.The Six Million Dollar Man
''The Six Million Dollar Man'' is an American science fiction and action television series, running from 1973 to 1978, about a former astronaut, USAF Colonel Steve Austin, portrayed by Lee Majors. After a NASA test flight accident, Austin is r ...
''
*''
Logan's Run
''Logan's Run'' is a science fiction novel by American writers William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson. Published in 1967, the novel depicts a dystopic Malthusianism future society in which both population and the consumption of resou ...
''
*''
Charlie's Angels
''Charlie's Angels'' is an American crime drama television series that aired on ABC from September 22, 1976, to June 24, 1981, producing five seasons and 115 episodes. The series was created by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts and was produced by ...