Marcus Morris

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The Reverend John Marcus Harston Morris OBE, (25 April 1915 – 16 March 1989) known as Marcus Morris, was an English Anglican priest who founded the Eagle comic in 1950 and was deputy chairman of the National Magazine Company.

He was born in Preston, Lancashire, moved to Southport, Lancashire in 1918, studied literature and then theology at the University of Oxford, and was ordained as a priest in 1940. He worked in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk and Weeley, Essex and was an RAF chaplain. In 1945 he returned to Southport as vicar of St James's Birkdale, and in 1950 moved to Epsom, Surrey. He lived later in Bath, Somerset, and died in the King Edward VII Hospital for Officers, London. "His memorial service filled St Bride's in Fleet Street to overflowing."^[1]

He is best known for founding the Eagle in 1950, after noticing that young boys were reading American adult horror comics. He chose to offer more suitable stories in the same attractive comic-strip format. He later founded several other comics for girls, boys, and younger children.

[edit] References

^ Varah, Chad (2004). "Morris, (John) Marcus Harston (1915–1989)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved on 2007-12-10.

[edit] Further reading

Varah, Chad (2004). "Morris, (John) Marcus Harston (1915–1989)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press. Retrieved on 2007-12-10.