Biography
Allan was born in Wimbledon, 22 July 1936 and attended King's College School there.
Allan's first job in publishing, in late 1952, was as an office junior at Amalgamated Press (later Fleetway, then IPC). 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 from November 1954 to November 1956, having been on active service in Cyprus, 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 headhunted 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 classics such as Stingray, Thunderbirds, etc. He was also the mainstay scriptwriter for Fennell's Look-In magazine, and at one time was writing every strip in the paper, including DangerMouse.
Allan also wrote for many other outlets, and penned several of the Garth adventures for the Daily Mirror. 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, just six days before his 71st birthday.
Read more about this topic: Angus Allan
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