Bill Titcombe biography

William Thomas Roland Titcombe (September 1938 - 3 February 2021; born Romford, Essex, UK)

Bill was educated at schools in London and in South Africa. Leaving school at the age of 16, he began working at London publishers Amalgamated Press, where his career in British comics began. Bill married at Harrow, London in 1959, Audrey Dorcas Taylor (1 May 1931-4 September 2010), who was an author of children's books and they lived at Stanningfield, before moving to Beccles, both in Suffolk.

A very prolific and talented comic strip artist with many styles, Bill Titcombe illustrated children's comics from the late 1950s. Bill's work captured the essence of many of our favourite TV and film characters into comic strips that today still delight the eye with their clean lines and bright colours.

He created 'Buster', the son of Reg Smythe's 'Andy Capp', and drew the title comic of the character's own comic book before Hugh McNeill (1910-1979) took over in the 1960s.

Titcombe is best known for his versatile contributions to 'TV Comic' throughout the 1960s and 1970s, where he often had as many as four different strips on the go at once. He drew not only 'TV Terrors', but also a great many comic strips based on TV shows, including 'Bootsie and Snudge', 'The Dickie Henderson Family', 'The Telegoons', 'World Cup Willie', 'Bugs Bunny' and 'Barney Bear'.

The Telegoons, one of Bill's earlier comic strips, far exceeded the norm for a TV series tie-in, in that it outlived the television original by more than two years; witness Eccles, the original goon, as drawn by Bill Titcombe.

Over the years, Bill Titcombe has worked on more than 60 different comic strips, including Inspector Gadget, Scooby Doo and Woody Woodpecker.

He was also an artist for the Dad's Army comic book published by Piccolo in 1973 and for Tom and Jerry comic books and lolly wrappers.

He had his studio at 1 Northgate, Beccles, Suffolk and he donated a work to the 'Westhall Secret Postcard Auction' in 2012 'Bullfinch' and in 2013 a watercolour 'Redstart'.

In 2015, together with Norfolk artist David Baxter (1943-), Miles Fairhurst and Stephen Govier, they opened the Earsham Hall Art Gallery at the 18th century Earsham Hall, near Bungay. William Thomas Roland Titcombe died on 3 February 2021.
Source: Illustration Art Gallery

See BILL TITCOMBE ART.