Derek Birnage
Derek Birnage | |
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Born | Derek Arthur William Birnage 13 June 1913 Tiger Roy of the Rovers |
Derek Arthur William Birnage (13 June 1913 – 18 January 2004) was a British comics editor and writer and newspaper editor, best known as the founding editor of the weekly sports comic
He was born in Wandsworth, South London, on 13 June 1913, the son of Frank Birnage, editor of the conservative evangelical newspaper the Sunday Companion, and was educated at Sutton Valence School in Kent. After leaving school he joined the comics department of Amalgamated Press under Reg Eves, initially working on Schooldays. After it folded he moved to The Champion as a sub-editor under Bernard Smith, also writing Colwyn Dane, a detective strip, for the title.[1]
During the
In 1954 Birnage launched a new sports-themed comic,
Birnage left Tiger, and Roy of the Rovers, in 1963, to edit comics annuals. He left comics in 1964 to edit his father's old paper, the
After jobs in publishing, planning, and the Department of Health and Social Security, Birnage retired to Burgess Hill, West Sussex, where he died on 18 January 2004, survived by his wife and their three children.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e Obituaries: Derek Birnage, The Daily Telegraph, 18 February 2004
- ^ a b c d "Obituaries - Derek Birnage". Archived from the original on 17 October 2010. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link), The Independent, 14 February 2004 - ^ a b Race Against Time Archived 2010-08-28 at the Wayback Machine, When Saturday Comes, April 2004
- ^ Roy of the Rovers: Behind the Scenes - the Writers Archived 2010-12-14 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Man Who Launched Roy of the Rovers, Mid Sussex Times, 22 January 2004
- ^ AP/Fleetway: a Potted History