Former Dandy editor Morris Heggie retires

Former Dandy editor Morris Heggie retired from DC Thomson and Co Ltd yesterday after more than 40 years’ service with the company.

Mr Heggie, 64, joined the Dundee-based company straight from school at the age of 17.

His first job was as a copyboy on The Rover, an all-text adventure comic for boys.

His talent as a writer was soon recognised and he began penning the adventures of some of the company’s most famous comic characters, such as Dennis The Menace and Gnasher, The Bash Street Kids and Desperate Dan.

Mr Heggie wrote for Wizard from 1970 until he joined the writing staff of The Beano two years later.

In the 1980s he wrote for comics such as Sparky and Nutty before becoming editor of The Dandy in 1986, a position he held for 20 years.

Since 2006 he has been the editor of The Broons and Oor Wullie.

He will turn 65 in two weeks’ time, on the same day his final Broons strip will be published in The Sunday Post.

It will feature Glebe Street’s first family dealing with an Abigail-inspired storm.

Mr Heggie, who lives in Luncarty, was presented with a 3D cake featuring some of the comic characters he has worked on at a farewell presentation yesterday.

Morris Heggie.