Ian Gray Gnasher creator obituary

Obituary - Ian Gray

A long-serving scriptwriter for the Beano and Dandy, he invented Gnasher

Ian Gray, longtime scriptwriter for Dennis the Menace, Minnie the Minx, the Bash Street Kids, Desperate Dan, Biffo the Bear and other perennial favourites from the Beano and the Dandy, has died after a heart attack, aged 69. He was also the co-creator of Dennis's wild and woolly dog Gnasher, and became something of a legend for his passion for animals, folk music and the countryside, and his exuberant sense of humour.
Gray was born in Arbroath, the Scottish town renowned for the smoked haddock delicacy known as Arbroath smokies. He was nicknamed Smokie Gray after them, and after a folk music band called Smokie Folk in which he later performed. He grew up reading the Dandy and the Beano, brought home by his father Walter, who was a reporter for DC Thomson's newspapers in Dundee and went on to become a subeditor on the Weekly News.

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