Ronald Charles Vivian was born on 19 February 1914 in Sydney, New South Wales,[1] to Charles Cecil Vivian and Vida Francis.[2]
Vivian enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in January 1942 and served in Australia and New Guinea during the Second World War.[3] Vivian was awarded the 1939-45 Star, Pacific Star, War Medal 1939-45 and Australian Service Medal 1939-45.[3] Upon his return he was appointed to the Victorian Air Board where he illustrated many RAAF magazines before returning to civilian life.[1]
He worked as an artist for Sir Frank Packer's Australian Consolidated Press (ACP), drawing political cartoons for The Daily Telegraph, illustrations for The Australian Women's Weekly[4] and other Consolidated Press publications. When Jim Bancks died suddenly of a heart attack in 1952, Packer held a competition among several artists to select a suitable person to continue to draw Ginger Meggs.[5][6] Numerous artists submitted trial pages and in the end Vivian's entry was chosen over others including Dan Russell[7] (whom Packer thought that his brother Jim Russell had drawn instead).[8] He then drew the comic for ACP's Sunday Telegraph from April 1953 for the next twenty one years, until his death in early 1973.[6] Vivian remained true to the Bancks style and concept[7] and the only difference was the signature, with the strip carrying the identification 'Created by Bancks', as he was not permitted to put his name to the drawings.[8][9]
