FREE - Friardale Boys Book... · FREE ... T H J:: 0 L D B 0 y !:i I ... 11 p1on" and mnny other boys• papers, including "The ... Hartloy Aspden, then a d1rector of th lgamated Press.

No. 3

AUTUMN

1952

m:o,S)� �� GooiCouEcroe =

One of the stories which pushed

Sexton Blake out of "The Union jack."'

2/POST FREE

... T H J:: 0 L D B 0 y !:i I B 0 0 K c 0 L L E c T. 0 R ?I o. 5 I Edited nri.; ;rublisbed by Tom Hopverton, Courtlands, Fulford Pf. Jclirboro1

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J.O 19 �� li4 28 50

COHTEliTS

F-<litorial A Forty Yebra �ynopsis • • • •

The First �.n� the Bost - St. Jim1s! •

Titles in the ::.choolboys 1 Own Ll.brw-y ;.. :la.rnnt l-!y:Jtery • • • • •

Al.a.fi, t'oor Bl.hke! • . • • •

KolJ.y �nd Swomerc '!bat DroadfuJ. Mr. Reynolds

Mich&cJ. t'oole Tom HoJJ.-erton

Roger �l. Jenkins George Grogory Leon Stono Tom Hopperton

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NOTE: IF YOUR SU&;CRI?TION EXTENDED BEYOND THIS Tl!IltD llUl.fBEF:, J. i'OSTi<� ORDER FOR T'nE !11.i.AflCE IS ATTACHED TO THIS PACE.

The editorid. l:e1>.dint of !lo l W'.:.s borrO\(ed froc Tii3 .L .. GllET, th�t of No 2 frOlll THE CE.';. AEl fc.r t.e I k:low, thi::i third ono is unique, t.nd I don't like the look or it o.t �11.

l<nlen I was considering l<:�ching the 1?1L1g<i.zin1J about � yeo.r ngo, it soomo<.i to be logical t o 111.:itch the OJ.d Boys' Book Club:- with 'l'HF. OLD BOYS• BOOK COLLECTOR. Until a few d:.ys r.go, I WLf' not i.wc.re thl.t t..horu w.-e a jourmd of that title published in J.319. :.t the mO>J?1mt, I kno1o; nothing more of it, but I apolo�.•e to the editor or hi� �haie for the unintentional plai;iarism. Tho intention we:; to IDQkO thic magazine distinctive. To this end, a circulation of £bout a hundred w&s nccessi;.r., i.J.though no teurs would h"'ve been shed if it fell n L.ttle below ti1b. \;ith bloc for illustrations 25/- eo.ch, a }JI'inter ch.irging u quid to bre6"tbe on his window, v.nd oo�o contributiono to be paid for, the J.malg!\JIUtod Prose would hr..rdly havo botherod to buy ::iv out. To my surpri!Jo - c..nd delight -the circulution proved to be juct over 150, u highly sc..tisfcctory figure in such 11 ros:lrl.cted fi .. ld. �ty naturd enjoyment in _µre4x;..ring tho first two numbors wt-s swelled by the steady flow of .friendly and oncournging lotters, which shower�d prcioe on the mag.

Everythin� seOllled set for a long run -� &nd then c»oo u rocrudence of un c.lJno�t forgotten pbysicuJ. t.rou!>·_ . A.: I have al.l"O;,.d.y oxpl.Linc;-d by circular, by tbu ti.mo Soptel:l°tlPr r.am.e round, when No 5 w...s due, the editor wc.s in roughly lie samo st'.t · ··- ·'ii� Amforto.s in 111-'t.rsif:..l" wbom Fro.nk Richi.rds ofim quotv:; - not de:;.d, but in 6" r.t:..te of :::uf;.i,>c.nde:d 1.mi.Jai.tion. 1bu involuntary !!Uopon�i·-- '·:·,. boon !l :::ource of con:'!idvro.blo worry to 1111J, t..J.though thore w::-.s nothlng I could tlo 1..bout it. Recovery is c.

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:a.low µroce•J1 c.nd when I decided tb&t it would be possible to finc.lly get lout No s, � supposed.13' generoua U.. ..Uowance proved i.no.dequc.te. But, a ,week late, here it is.

The circuJ.i:.Z" brought a� doHD4 ot letterc of regret o.nd good wishe� co�led with s& •. : .. 1 suggestions. 1Nnk Richerds hao beon kind enough to scyr tJu .. t he ''will rogret it very much indeed. I llhould hcve been better y.l6'.seci to hear tho.t it we.a in the susponded state of our old friend nmf'ortas ! " Bill GG.nder thinks that at lee.st c. ilo 4 ahould i:ppecr / ·no rn:.tter bow lon.; that mi[lht t<.ke. .1ost correspondonts favour turning it into ion t.nouc..L or occu::;ional publication.

· - .. •

The11a 1...lto1·m;tiNs to shutting do\o/ll e.re gratifying in the o:<tremo, bu tit lo no uso blinking thr.. facts. Indefinite susi,;ension is too V<l!,f\lC a yollcy, �ticu.iarJ..y with so mu.ny c.dvi.nce subscri;:itions in h::.nd. !ut. ·

yublicution wou.Lc., I think, bo irritt.tin& to tho rouders r.no. worryllig to me. Afid thero is no getting u'>lf!.y from it that there is c .Lot more work in c nw.g such as this th«n might appear on tho surfr.ce, i..Od I just do not kno wnon I shall be �ble to tackle it ag(..in. Even loosening the job by roducing the yi.ges 001)9 not apponl, beCAuae the rec.l object wt.a to put out n substc.ntial quarterly. Hence, though "With bitter roluct.ance, this is ''positvely tho finc.l performance".

This beillb eo, a certain 8..lilount of re-errangement hc.s bet..n necessary, .U.chaei Poole's r.rtlcle needs no cOlll!lont: but for my determinatlon to Bet that into print butweon 0,B.B.C. covor3, thoro might not have beon i.. No �. To the Blb.ldbJls wo reproached me for their 'being igl'.lored in No 2, hero

s "Al..Ae, Poor Blake?" This is the &dverU.sed "L.C.D.11, but it is re-od bee<.u:;o e;dg;,ncios of s)JG.ce hi..vo du.letf:d the. section which gi..vo it

the for�er mathem<..tical title. I wL.s survri3c.d by tho del!l8.nd for bibliogra.snicaJ. dete.11: hence tl1u check-list of the 6.0,;,,, which is ono of tho

oat povuli.r soric.s, as �oms holp with that irritutod feeling when books i.ro oft'tirod for sale by nwabers only, Poor Raynolda ir..:: crow<,;od out of No

• and, even if dr��tico.l.ly ubridged, I had to rough how his end. HL.ving : · ld C> .t1l&<.oo everyone c.lse, I then pleased rq'Oe.1.1' by runnint the :.t. Ji.JD s rticle. as it bi.yyon:i, I ful.fil a iong-stuidin& snf4g3lllont to debate St. Jim's vorsui: Groyfriars with Breezo BGntley at the ;-larch :n!luting of tho

Northern Old Boys 1 Boo!-: Club, i.nd the article gives me & chl.?lco to sho.rpea stiletto bJi re:hc....rsing i..t la&st.�some of tho arguLJonts. · So now itio tiuie to ring do\o/ll the surtd.n. In three numbers the O.B • . c. has yresonted Frank Richi.rcis, Lewis Jackson, c .. �. Down �d l!ichael

<'oole to thti collecting circle. The illustrations, hei..deci by C.H. Cha,!E18n i. cover design, ht.ve cert<Oi� been thu best so�n in �l\V similar pub.J.icution rrejudicea or not, I f�cy that we shall bo luok;y if we see better article than those contributed by t::,• 11&11Uiteurs 11 of our own fraternity. And I c.u quite sure that there could not havo been a better, friend.lier, or more

el,;f\ll circle of readers. You have given 111.e something to look b&ck on 1th &ppreciution and enJo;ymsnt, and I offer l1S';f thank:: &.nd good "Wishes to

you all.

I. _ ___ _

A FORTY YEARS. SDIOPSIS

�Michael Poole

My exc.use tor acc;epting the F.dit.or•� invitation to 'Write a reminiocent rticle is .npt that I have any great al.aims to be regarded as a Sexton Blake author, or indeed to an.y particular label at all: but I have 'Written oth long and 'snort Sexton Blakes, contributed to "Tbe Union Jack", "P luck'

"Boys' Friond" ,... 11�p1on"� and mnny other boys• papers, including "The gnet II and 11Tbe (iemll I althO\lgh not about the cilaracterS for Wich these

two a.re jus* famod. There are other detectives, too: Dixon Hawke, Dixon Brett, Tubby Haig, and a few others, incltiding one or two of my very own.

Like most 'Writers I began hs 'a apare-time o;>tim.ist, and, after two or three yea.rs, had the usual. idea abo)lt pa�ri.ng a room with rejection slips. en one memorable day near· 'the end of 19bo the ,first story wns accepted

d wns >Coll.owed by others. An article published in the old 11T. P 1 s Veekly' 1909 led to a little trouble, s.s well as coou>liliients, It wns thought t cri tice.J. of my then emplcyers. One of the departmental chiefs, however,

offered to 'Write to a friend of bis, Hartloy Aspden, then a d1rector of th lgamated Press. Would I give him a list of what I had written?

It:.didn't sound very l;lopeful, nor wn11 tho list imposing, though it ha riety: short stories in "The Grand''• 11Roya.l.11, "Ile.Uy Chronicle's Chr1sts Number", "'Ibo Reader", "'Iba Captain" a¢ "The Boys' Own Pnper (includ-. serial in the lat.tor) and a fe.,,. short articles. \leeks later. came a le

igned by W .H. Back of the Amalgamll.ted Press, ask1ng me �o call on him whe axt I was 1n town. Actua.lly, I had onl,y been to London once before, to eet the "office boy" (as be ,co.lled himseli') of a literary agency who had laced one or two stories of mine. Tomny Burke, famous later, began my eal education as a writer.

Bo I took a few days 1 bol1day and called on Mr. Back, who took me to eet "our d1rector11, Mr. Haillllton F.d�s. H.E., whom I came to know fa� ell later, asked a fev questions, and then gave me emphatic advice: I wns

sting my ti.me in Cllesh1r!3, o.nd I should jo1n ''Answers" at once, The s ry would be little more than I vas gett1ng, but I should earn much more b

writing. '\/bat about i�? . I said, "Yee -- thank.you, Mr. F.dv�rds", and wi-tb1n three weeks wns

ck at Bouverie Street at.10 a.111,. one Monday morn1ng� For some ti.me I stood 1n that rather dingy office alone, then a young man smok1ng a big calabash pipe wandered 1n, asked 1f I vere the new 'man, Poole, and 1ntro

uced bi.Ill.self as Herbert Farjeon, He has a quiet, sliglitly tired, rather zy air, but 1n some way he gavo me, from that 1'1rst moment, a varm, fri ly feeling of being at home,

Another mnn came 1n and I wns introduced to F.A. Felton - "Flit" to ll who lmew bim, He was the opposite of Farjeon 1n every way except two:

both were very good journalists, though of to� dliferent types, and both were exceeding� kind and hel.pfW. to me. Within a fort.nig)lt, I vas living at the Feltons' house. Flit had big ideas about our collaborating,

amt w did, on boys' storiea. He introduced me to the.editor of "The Boys Friend"; it was A.O. Marlhall (.uthur Brooa) aa4 w bepn a friendship "Which lasted till bis death and continu.1 with bU ICIG,

This is anticipating a little. I,.. Clll a ..th'• prob&Uoa, accord-1ng to Hamilton Fdwards's letter. liben tbat �ble llCllt.b OIM to an end I was amdoua to know B,E, •s decision. ApolopU�, I tried to mention it to WUlie Back, but didn't get ftZ7 tu betON be Mid, also apologetica�, that he would have to speak to H.E .• about it, Ile obvious doubts soared me •

However, next evening, Back spoke to• apin, •till apoloptioally, He had spoken to Hamilton lMwvda. wbo bad Mid tbat b9 quite 'UIMlerstood that living in Landon was ditfereDt - 'bllt, after all, I --.•t doing too badly, and would I be satiltiec:l 1t tb9' dauble4 11r llOdnt. a1ary for the time being? I was - and � to tell bia 110.

J. Jefferson Farjeon Jo1Mcl th• etatt a little later, U anything, Joe was even more conscictioua 1D hia �It =1�:t. u h'1mdly with me, as Herbert. Of them, and of their bm. aa4 1 I haft the most happy men:orii:is • They were wonderfull,y ld:ad to er» \ltlo ,.. ltill wry much a raw and youthful prov1nc1al and still bad a Ima'* of pat.tiq bla foot in it, or even both feet.

It would be pleasant to vl'ite at lqth of tbOH exciting days. Ther were so llllUV good fellows, intel"eltiq people, and queer characters connected with the �tod Pre111 at that tille. I d1d • lot of writing work, apart frCll eul>-editori&l dutiel. Arthur Bax, aoting editor of "Anl!IW'ers", liked me or two ehort 1tori.N tbat I did, and late one Friday evening be C&M out to tbe aWia' rooa and Mid that tcme<ID8 (Andrew � I think) bad tailed to deliver a SextoD Blab lhort. 1tcz-;y, nw due to goto the printers. Would I have coe en h1I deelt en � aorD1ng, wi tbout. faU?

'Ihat wu � first introductim u a vriter to 8extoll Blake. I bad read him, of oour11e, and b1' noir bad aoqulred a tn1r amaunt of knowledge from Flit, "oar cr1- expertn, liho bad introduced llO to several Yard men (and, on one ocoaaicm, to tbe public benpa.DI), So, with considerable brain-racld.D(, rq firlt Sexton Blab ettort waa doDo, and delivered as commanded.

Willie Back moved tram "Anlwer•" office and other oh:mges took place, but W.B. MDt fat" me tr<a tm to time, He aeked • to do a P.C, Spearing

1 a series they 'W8l'9 intending to brinc out in "Pluck"; he even gave the title, "<n Point �"• and I lfellt clown to Caaberwoll to study the

eigbbourbood and tbe police cm d\Jt7, I did three or four of these yarns 1911-1912. There were odd atoriee tor A.C; Hlraball on "'llle Boys' 1!H£IJd

d Rex Haydcm on "The Bqys1 Reallll"� "Mr. Answrs" o.rt1cles, interviews, d even a type of book review, 'l'bere was, indeed, too much to be done, d Feltm was now away most of tbe tillo aa "Answers Special Corresponden� job which be did reme.rka� well,

At that time we had a we� contorence with Lord.Northcliffe. "klswlld t.he founder of bis fortunes, was al-79 hie beet-be.loved, 'When I d.ecided

o follow Herbert Fa.rjeor. and become a free-lo.nee, he was at first angry, . ut allowed me to explain, 'Which wasn '1' eaa;r 'Wlth the Chief. But in tl:le '--------·--····-····----' 6

end he was quite reason.a.ble, and I was allowed ro resign, on condition. tho. t I wrote for some of the women rs journals. I never understood.:why, but for a time I certainly tried, and my rather ill-kept�register of that time has a queer mixture of titles and journals: "The Girl Who Deceived Her Mother"; "The Boarding House Drudge"; "His Servont.-Wife"; but there are less cxci ting titles of stories and series in "The Penny Pictorial 11, "�.nswors", 11Rect11, o.nd, a little later, "Top Notch Magazine", "People's ��gazino", and "Argosy", American magazines which took stories I sent through Frank Conly, who had been on "Answers" for a while. For a time in 1!0'12 I settled ui Cheshire, as I hnd a lot of work in hand . Two telegrams came one dey: one from Mr. (later Sir George) Sutton said: "Chief wishes to see you tomorrow without fail. See Felton." The other was: "Meeting ycu ::�Euston tonight. I know the trains and you stay with us. Flit."

I went. There had been changes on "Answers". Felton was &litor, and: so he said, I was assistant editor. I told him at once that I was not COlll ing back. I was too happy as a freelance. I told him several times, and, on the follO\ling day, I managed to tell the Chief, who was w1 th his brothe1 Harold (l.ll.tcr Lord Rothermere) in his big room at Carmelita House. Tho Chief took alightly more notice than Felton had done. 11Yes, I know! You are doing very well -- but you will do bot-ter here. 11 And that was the enc of the argument. We talked quite a lot, but there was no further argument I was back.

Jack Lew1s tells in No l of "The Old Boys' Book Collector" of some of the queer characters at Bouverie Street and then at the Floetway House, to which we moved soon after my return. But "F'lit" Felton was one of the mos1 extraordinary. !lie first ambition as F.ditor was --- to borrow £100 fro� the Chief. He said that ho had never borrowed from a peer before, and. des pite my desperate effort.a to dissuade him, he wrote to the Chief --- and received the cheque within about an hour. He told me that tho Chief had decided that I should have charge of the po.per wile Felton thought up the big ideas. Not for him the drudgery of reading MSS, planning and makingup the paper. He would go out and about, seeking Big !deus.

However, the paper was doing well, and for a few months at all events, Flit came to the office fairly regularly. We had a very good staff at the tima, including A.C. Marshall and Joe Farjeon, and it was a most h<ifJPY team, not even marred by Flit1s vagaries. Gradually, his visits to the office became so rare that it was difficult and worrying. The directors knew more than we did, and Felton1s editorship came to an end.

He told me later that he knew he could never have stood being an editor, and decided to have a good time 'While it .Lasted. Later, he became chief "special" writer for several Hulton papers, fell out with them, took on another post for a year, then went back to Hul ton3. Be died in his early forties, but even today, when I meet old friends of those days, some body is bound to recall a story about Flit.

I carried on as F.ditor till nearly the end of 19141 and then, for !various reasons, and possibly rather foolish.zy, I resigned. The War had ccme, and the Cllief had become rather difficult. There were many resignations about that time. But'�! had no camp.La.int actually against the Chief,

7

or the Az:ialgamated Press, except disagreement on a certain policy. They were wrong, as they discovered later. Lord Rotheniere w.rote a very nice letter; tho Chief also wrote, kindly, but said he didn't think I had the right tei.iperamant to stand the strains o! editorial life. He was probably right.

I joined the A.rnw, the 2nd H.A.C. Of ex;periences:.as an infant.ry priv ate I hi..ve written in variows journals and in llllliliY stories. Within a week of being back in civvies I had taken Ul> work for the Aalgamated Press aealn, and 1l\Y record11 llhow quite a wide range of magazines end journals 111!.!.ch publlllhed short stories or mine.

Willie Back was still there and la'Ote me. He and E::lwill HidcUeton of "The London" and 11'lb.e Penny Pictoria.111 bad written i:i.e in France c.nd Italy.

i·:Y first story for the Sexton Blake Libraey was tiUed "Unjustly; Branded" and av,1)6ared about October, 1919; a shorter ODe, "'lhe Lost Labour i.eader" (though it may have been re-tiUed) was in ''The Union Jack" of 15th Hovel!lber, 1919. The next rew p11ges of 11\Y register are all Sexton Blakes. I

c-r.if Jack Lewis remembers a day he spent with me at Osterley about this Ume? We talked quite a lot!

It is a pity I didu•t continue to keep� records more carefully, but early in 1920 a series of "Tales of St. Katie's" ran ror a time in 11The Ttere wns a short serial later, ll?ld then a much longer series of these stories in 11Th'3 Boys• Friend 11, \Illich had passed to Herbert Hinton and il.lurice Down. There had bee!l serialo by "Anthony Thon.as" in "'Ibo !-fegnet", L think. But the magazines ke,1>t butting in: 11Red•, "Yellow", 11Green11, '1'lbe Detective Magazine", "l'remier", "Plln", the Cassell•s =guzines, with various weeklies, followed by several "Dixon Hawkes" &nd another Sexton Blake. Reeves Slaw, chief editor of Newnes', and not without qualificattons as "o. character" himself, c.sked lllB to write a "Tubby Haig", l'.nd I did several.

Then I was lured back for a brier spa.co to editorial work, bringing cit:t; twoor three new journo.le for the "Daily Chronicle" Periodie4l Depart-

· ·:mt. But -- tbnt ngain is another story, which concern.a high finance r>.ud complications. The old Chief, who dieci about this time, hud been quit righ t about '.11Y temperlllDBllt. I gave it all up, very ee.sily, and became a fl'ee lance again. Che of tho longest serials I ever did was written e.bout', t.!iis time 11'lb.e Secret of Lotllll Isl.&nd 11, in Hulton• s "Pals". l'horoiU'ter I id at odd intervals a fair uount of work for Bulton•s ueoys• Magazine",. s woll as their Annuals.

Then there was Walter IJ.ght, who edited the "Aldine" publicntions. He ad been at Cassells at one time, and we would foregather with some of th t times. For Light I wrote Dixon Bretts, war &tories, footbc.ll stories, :!d even on occasion, Christaias and New Year short storios for "Joyful �.ews"! They were always written on request, at high pressure, and were no -ery woll paid -- but I was very fond of Wo.ltor Light. In aey cc.so, it ;11.ll be gathered that I am no specialist, but what might be te:med a

.�eneral practitioner, ready to write for "LitUe Folks" or "The tmion Jack'

I" Puck Annual 11, "Chums" or "The Cham_pion", a serial in "The Star" or o. childron•s serial in "'lb.e Evening News". The serial ill "The Star" was

. 8

later published as a novel, than ran aeriall,y oversee.a, and even during tho last W-..!.r I received a welcOlllG cheque f'rclll some Australian magazine for serial rights once moro.

From the ordinary writer 's point of viow, the general magazines disappeared abo ut 1925-26, and later the boys' market began to dwindle. I turned to booka, and journals such 0.11 'l'lhe Scout" 1 tl(liums t1, =d t1'lho Boy 1 � Own t11 while the Annuals seemed t o increase.

Then cwne September 1 1939 and contracts an d commissions were suddenzy cancolletl, rnthor misto.kenly in some cases as several. storieo had to be completed later, on request, wban it w.s not so easy. I joined up for Govornment &ervico o.nd was in a branch of tho M,O.I. for more than four yoars. rty old friend, A rthur Mltrshall, with whom, during tho yoars, I hnd often worked on booko of general knowledge, sought collaboration again Other work began to pile up, and evantualzy, at the end of 1944, I wus. ablo to ect my reloaoe from the war job and bocame a freelance writer onco moro.

Arthur Ma.rahall diom :1uddenl.y in February, 1945. We baci just arranged that I :lhould h<1lp \lith a big edi.torial and writing task ho hod undertaken The publishers, of course, knew of the arrangemont and asked me to take over the partly finished work. In some way, this has led to a more or le:l3 perma.nont arrangement; a free-lance writer still, but "retained" for editorio.l work and writing on many subjects, with an occasional. story, detective, school or adventure, qy way of relaxation. Maybe I haven •t arrive! anywhere, but it has bean a great adventure trovelJ.ing so rar, with a few crowded hour s, an OCC'1siona.l big moment, and IDllilY very good frionds on the way.

�: Information regarding JA!"\ffiS LINDRIDGE, the penny-dreadful author, wllo was writing about 1845 to 1850, Any detail, no

mr.tter how small, would be gre<Atly ayi,>reciatod,

I <l.14 ulso o.nxious to bu.Yi away for, or borrow one of Lindridgo'? works 1 TYBURN Tli.EE, OR, THE MYSTERIES OF THE PAST, publishod in 40 weok.l.y numbers by G, .Purkess in 1848, rc�sued by G, Vickers, 1850-51, .'\nd ngain qy Purkess 1 1852, Any edition, r.cy condition. If you h«vo it cmd don't wunt to soil, I woula gladly pay registered ,.ost both wu.ys und a generous reading fee for a fortnight 's loan of the book.

c..n i.l\Yono hel.y me with GEM No, 1155, "Goodbye to EtonR", &.nd ::..O.L. Nos. 227 Md 2::5:

T, HO.PPERTON. vlCi··1ooovv · YX<JIV"LY�v ·.ax:· ia·:ic·. OC•XJ ••000' 00000000!.Jl:X• KJl•:JOO<XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX:XXXXXXXAXXXXXXXX l

A nv co.rr� _ A VERY nw - OF NUMBERS ONE AND TWO OF THE OLD BOYS' I BOOK COLW!:C'?OR ARE �TILL AVULABJ.;t.9AT TWO SHILLINGS A COPY, POST FREE.

.----·---..- pi PIRST .AllI> m BBSt -ST· J!M'S-.. -- - · --1 b{Tm&o�

Prank Richards has told us t.hat he had no early struggles. Lelll • fortunate t.han-be, I had ae a youth one fiendish etl'\lggle - to keep up

my end in a l\Dlch-time solo whist school. This was presided over by a gnarled old character Crom the Cleveland Dalee, niclcnamed Bruff, 'Who unfailing]¥ chopped short our dissertations on the science of aolo witb tbe 1 dictum1 "'l'here•s nobbut ;ran rule i1 oards ae 1n owt else: play with tby ·

cards close to tb¥ bell,y!" · ;

I can call ruetul..cy to lll.1nd JDBJ>,Y occasions llhen I should have followi ed Bruff'11 advice, and didn't. 1h1s 1a one occasion ldlen I remember it :

' and disregard it. Herbert LeckenllY describes tbe present title a11 "sticki 1ng m:t neck out", and certainly tho majorit;y of those who collect the I Hamilton 11t0rios would not agree. But neither they nor I would be inter-; eetod 1n merely scoring tricks, or debating points. I know f'ull well in ! clo.1m1ng pre-eminence for St. Jim's I do not hold all the trumpa, or even! all the aces. Netborthele11s, throwing Bruff to the wolves and putting I o.ll tbe cards on the to.ble, I tb1nk a winn1n& ho.nd can be shown. .And 1n 1 support I propose to cite <harlea Haallton, the Amalg&.mo.ted Press o.nd ; yourse.l vos. '

Let us go rigllt bo.ck to tbe begiml.ing1 1n PLUC!t, 1906. Mr. Hamilton I '111111 called on to creo.te a nev sohool. He '11118 quite unhampered 1n l1?V' 'Wll.7, and hia 11ole objective '11118 to evolve the beat possible fictional school. ; He, in c()lllplley 'llith bi11 editor, H.J. Ge.rrieh, ho.d no idon that St. Jim's would run o.nd run for neo.rly ho.lt a century, but it wus obviol&S Crom the introductory editorial comment thnt a lengthy series was 1n lll.ind. No c0111Plication oxisted 1n the sbo.pe of an established 11eries by the same author 'llith llhich it wa11 necessal'y to avoid cOlllPQrl.11on. ttu'tin Cllfiord d1J8 down for the beet or which he was capa.ble, and he produced St. Jim1s. ·

?low the distinguishing fenture of the school wns the division into houses, I a thing which has lad to some cament, not all favournble. Groyfriars ll.ddicts, for ammplo, a.re wont to clA1m th4t their favourite school hc.d 1

j no houses o.nd was o.ll tbe better for it. To beat someono to tho punch, I· • bnvo written myself on bov tbo absence of houso oonfllct led to develop- 1 : ment in the Greyf'riare cho.ractors while the St. Jim's crowd rOlll4inod

rolntivel.T sU.tic. For these, and othor r048ons, saiie would no doubt 1 argue tb4t after e.xperimonting with n divided school, Frank Richo.rde knavl bettor than to repoo.t tho division 1n '1tiE MAGNET. •

Quite a numbe.r of lnter Hamiltoo:S.an achoo.le can bo citod to the OOlll3 I end, but don't lot us lose the trees among the wood . 'l'he vnstly different purwHs of the stories ha.ve to be considorod. In, for OJ!Zllll},lle, 'DIE j SalOOL 1'0R SUCKBBS• there 18 onlT one problem, th4t ot the 11ev heo.dlllc.st.er

' rousing the 1cbool tree ita lotb4r17 • 4Dd houae division would be •imply ' a diatraction. 'Jheae CD0-4hot achoola• 110 izttor halt vell written, o.re I of 1111.nor iaportGnce boaide those which ware dollberntoly faahioned to '

I

·----·-·---· ---· lO ... - -- - __ ..J

r--------- - ·------------ ·-------- --·-·- ·-- ------

'withstand the heavy grinding of an indotini te \l'ee� series. 'Which brings . us bllck to Groytrio.rs. I Vo con cl.l agroo that tho voice of the author is one that wa o.ro

bound to listen to with raspoct an o.ey question of the school stories. The • AtrrOBIOGRA.ffiY lllllkes it clenr that when F.ditor Percy Griffiths wished to

ca.ab 1n a:i the success of THE GEH with o. secood paper, he ho.d in mind ons that ws a.s near a duplicate of THE GEM as THE BOYS 1 REAU! was of THE BOYS FRIElID. It ws Frank Richards who· wo.s astute enough to realise tho.t such tactics ware at best shoddy and o.t worst doomed to fo.ilure - and tho ample.

! gro.vey;i.rd of bCG"s 1 p11pers shows convincing evidence on its headstonos tha.t for one 1m1U>.tion that flourished a dozen crashed. He carried his

: point, but •• •• ••• there is no questiqn of Greyfrio.rs being concocted as something� than St. J'im's: the chief consideration wns ttu:t it hc.d to be different. Thon, in 19151 a.fter the author had ho.d eight or nino

I ye.:irs concentrated oxporience with both typos of schools, ho wo.s ca.lied on to produce his third l!lO.jor scrtes. �o no mistake, Rookwood wo.s not something tossed off in the intervuls between GEM AND MAGNEr stories. .

I It was specially co.llad for to bolster THE BOYS' FRIEND, now sliding frOlll its peak, and it ho.d to be the boat. What Owen Conquest did must surely

. clinch the argument a.bout 'llhllt the author's op:l.nion of house di vision v.is.: · He g.:iva us the Clo.ssic.:il and Modern Houses# llhich co.n on:cy be rego.rded .:is

his lo.st word on the subject. , 'lhis ho.sic structure of tho stories =do o. 111.'.l.l'kod difforencci in THE :

• GF.M and THE MAGNEr. Thero 'Wll.S a lighter and gayer .:iir about tha stories I in tho older p11per, which reininds me of another noo.r�pigram of old Bruff 'fl Ho he.cl occasion ono dey to reprove a. young apprentice, and the U:.d gave him n good dool of "old buck", phrnsed in lurid shipyurd l.mgu:lge. Bruff scored a bull on his tormontor•a skull with a chunk of wood, shook his head s�, and observed: "Ah dunno! When Ah wns a lad, lo.ds wo.s lads

!and men was men, Now lads is man, nnd men'a nwd b •••••••• .a!" This is roughly the position in THE GEM a.nd THE MAGNEI', At St. Jim's, lode wo.s

1 lAds, and behc.ved o.s such, At Groyfrio.rs1 loda was •••• well, older tha.n thair yoo.rs. In point of f.:ict, Fro.nit Richo.rds' success with tho Kentish '.school wns .:ichievod by something of o. gigimtic confidance trick. Ha 'dapicted o. school of which the Removo Form wns peopled by kids of the 1 uallll.l age - fifteen or so - and mndo it completol11. convincing. But once 'ho was divorced from THE GD! and begnn to concentrate on Greyfriars, . I the effect of the stories was producod by cho.ractors who wore not only

la.rger tho.n life - which one might expect - but by =king those characters! older than life -- which one would Pot expect. I ! I fnnoy that no matter where yo\l dip into the series which rnn during

I the plum years of THE MAGNET, you will find that this is true. W'ibley•s imporsonntions might - no, let's hnvo "might" in capital lettera c.nd underlined - MIGHT have been possible for e.n c.dult, aey Leon Kestrel. No mAtte:r

. how smoothly tho to.lea ran e.nd no matter bow unexceptionnl they might seem :wen actuo.ll,y reading them, c. little cold nno.l,ysis shows them c.s utterly j i.mposlible for a ;youth of fifteen. Bunter's Mtural "fat aqBAkn ccn be

[�r

an� into c. be'Wildering w.rie

il of

--��i

�� lib��-��_:�-��--•:��_;

·· ---- ·-· -· - . ·--------- ---· -

cough" =d ventriloquises. Oddly enough, e.fter bee.ring every sto.ge 1 ventriloquist of note (and a. lot of no note), and fo.iling to find one who I could imitate o. nOI'lll!ll. voice in his be� tones, I ho.vs to cgree with Bob : Cherry tho.t the Owl's o.bility wo.s ind.sad o. "gift". Vernon-Smith's cool '

: hardness wo.s, I submit, o.n o.rmour such o.s ooul.d never he.vs gro'llll in a. mere 6 fifteen yoo.rs. Kipps performs feo.ts that David Devt..nt would not ho.ve I l disd11ined. However, I want, o.s the !long puts it, to nccentu.::.te the posit-,

ive, so you = go on adding to the list at your leisure, unless you W"'..nt , to return with me to St. Jim's. 1

I mentioned the divorce of Cho.rles Hamilton from THE GEM, There is . l nothing, 11s fo.r o.s .I know, up to J.N. Pentelow 11p,,earing on the scene, ·

which indic11ted tho.t C.H. hlld llJlY preference for Greyfriers, The indico.t-1 I ions, in fa.ct, are the other wny. I renlly do not understand the cro.ze ·1 for red MAGNETS. \.r'hlltever 1DOrits they possess, they are much inferior to

both the U.ter MAGNETS 11Dd the contemporary GEM. The first is ecsy to I understo.nd; the second depends, I believe, on the feet that my title is I right, Mr. Ho.mil.ton, of course, now �s thnt his o.ffection centres on THE MAGNET, in which he so.ys his best work o.ppe::i.red, end o.s for lllllilY yenrs1 he wrote steo.dcily and solely for tho.t Jl!lper, he ho.s every justifico.tion ; for so so;ying, And what he does sa;y is !}Qi that Greyfric.rs is the better I school, but that his best work o.p.,eared in Greyfrio.rs tnles. :

One of the things which the AUTOBIOGRAPHY llltl.kes no effort to explain I is bow Martin Clifford nnd THE GEM ooma to part compo.ny. Eight or nine ' yenrs ago, however, he mentioned that "for many yec.rs THE GEl4 we.a �ken I 11lmost entirely out of 111Jf bends." 'lbere w.s accordingly no question of 1 a. voluntary a.bcndonment: there seems to be .a big question of why it wns

the origino.J. pa.per th11t lost its cr•O.tor. Practico.Uy up to tho time of , the cleavage, it bc.d outsold it.s i;ttllbla comPanion, which excludes, pres-: uma.bly, c. dropping of the po.per 'Which held the poorer prospects. 'lbs ins .

and outs of the edit9rio.l policy present 11 fo.scinc.ting field for speculo.t� . ion but are not pa.rticula.rly relevant to our present purpose. It is not ·

: irrelevant, though, to pcy c.ttention to one or two things interwoven with : it.

.

Greyfriru-s end St. Jim's h11d taken different roods, a.s they were · bound to do. THE MAGNET, having dropped the Foreign AcadeJl\Y .:..nd relego.ted : Highcllffe to the bo.ckground :is the 11nt11gonism between the schools had ·

: given way to 11 personal. a.nto.gonism to Ponsonby, THE MAGNET wo.s concentr11t-1

I ing on stories based on character. St. Jim's, because of its layout, offered different fare. There VllS an even wider range of charc.cters, but the House division ma.de the yarns stand on a basis of situo.tion

'

· modified by character. '!here VllS 8-\wo,ya a sort of skeleton in the feuds I I between School House and New House and the Fourth and t.'le Shell which mus� I have made it easier for e. substitute writer to tackle c. GEM stoI"J. I ' , notice that J,N. Pentelow, who certo.inly did not lo.ck for experience, : seemed to favour that paper for his incursions. If tliis iro.s � point in , milking the decision, it certain}¥ does not seem unreo.sonble to suppose I that THE GEM offered the firmest prop on 'Which the tyros could le11n. '

ADywcy, regardless of the reasons for Martin Clifford capping his l---·· 12 ------�··.,_ ____ ____ .....

1-;;un�ln pen, it�;t be a� wll-t� 11tre;; the- f�c-� th�t-�;ld�ring -whether St, Ji.m's is c. better ficticco.l school ill �bound up with the question of whether THE Gnt was a better p&per thc.n THE MAGNET. 'Ibo I famous twins did not pursue similnr po.the, For obout eight yous, Mr

, R!llD.ilton worked stendily, developing and elc.boro.ting Gre,.frinrs wile 11 ho \fI'ote hc.rdly n lin.e on St, Jim' 11, Then there 'Wll.S c.notber period of rou� eq=l length wen the good work went on in THE HAGNEl', 'While the othor weekly, Yi.th its reprints ot St, Jim1s, GreyfriArs, Rookwood, j Cod.cir Creok c.nd St, Frnnlc's, se01118d to be not so much itself (l.S the old PENNY POPULAR reborn, Finally, there wns that closing yeu- in which THE GEM seemed to be rising to new heights 1111 the original Martin took over c.gllin, c.nd yet in wich it wo.s oni, too obvioWI thllt the endless concentr11tion on Greyfriars h11d modified the original style. No, the courses of tho JlClpers wore so different =d tho pros nnd cons are so involved, tho.t 11 debo.te on thoir merits is too m>tch like trying to find c. comm.on denomin-l 11tor for moot o.nd milk,

The conclusion thnt cc.n be drawn frOID these yea.rs of substitute ye.ms ' .:md reprinted stories is that the school llOd tho characters were endowed

c.t the outset with e tromendous vitality, l(e hc.vo on.J,y to look e..t the • dozens of pranising papers floated � lnrge and experienced firms such c.s

Nownos-Pee.rson, the Amrll • 1 "AC.ted Press and Hultoo 1s o.nd reflect that tho sole survivor is THE CHAMPION to know that running n beys' paper is a preco.rious business. Yet Mo.rtin Cli'-'ord produced with St. Jim's a foun-

' d11tion which kept the pt!.por going \lhile other bends used his chc.ro.ctere in strc.nge o.nd wondrous wnys. When they hc.d brought it finA� to 11 low ebb, the original stories ho.d the du.st of c. quarter of c. century brushed

, off them Md, notwithst:mding outs c.nd muti.l.D.tions, served to keep the · old peper c.n economic success during c. further aicht years when there we I c. veritable Blc.ck Death rceing c.mong its rivOJ.s. Yos, thore was in St.

Jim's an inherent merit c.nd c.ttrc.ction that noither mishc.ndling nor c.ge ! wus c.ble to s•;ibdue.

The GF.M wua not the on.l,y pc.per in which the tales re-rc.n their former trium.Eils, bllt it l'"emod thc.t in 1940 the dust of the morgue hnd finully

; go.thered over them, How wrong th11t idec. wc.s! The A.P. took over from , J.B. Allen c. few years o.go c. couple of comics, THE SUN and THE COMEI',

which hc.ve alwcys had the c.pl'l!arc.nce of being the poor relations of such hardy perunic.ls c.s Cl!IPS, COMIC CUTS c.nd the lc.rgo sheet jobs. Thero hc.s been quite c.n amount of experiment with these pe.pers, snd in October, 1952, there was o. most unextected develop:nont. Yes! Tom Merry, complete with velvet suit c.p�ed once more as tho oirculc.tion booster, in THE SUN, c.nd five months later he is still going etrong. Incidentally, ns he ocr:upies :i. mere four p;i.ges, the editor ho.a Clllple mo.terilll for tho next fifty years.

I p:-omised to cite tho A.P. in 'llt:f support, 'Ibis latest reprint is indisputable proof that St. Ji.m's is held in tho highest reec.rd at the

; Fleotwey House, c.nd what followed settled beYond cavil tho.t Creyfrlm's • wee held in lower esteom. \11th o. free choice, St. Jim's was chosen for . re.vrinting from tho beg1.uning, And Clrqtriars? lby the Lord forgive him, :..__ -·---·---- -- - . -- --- . u -· --·. - ·-· - ___j

,-th� oditor.de"c�ided. tbat if St • . .Jbi·i; �-g� £�; THE SUN Greyfrt;.:;s· . ·i would be good for THE COMET e.nd he began to feature it -- only instead of reprinting the stories be transformed it into one of those 1.nfllric.ting picture etrips.

It, as author, I gave "'1 candid e>pinion of this, I ehould, as editor� bllvo to blue-pencil the remarka. And 79t I can understand hie fighting shy of the eo.rlier originAl stories, \lhich ill where I cite :your memor,y in ., support. THE G&I reprinted "The. M!lking of Hnrr:y Wbo.rton" in the I 1thirtios and continued for months with the 1908 MAGNET talos. It \roe

most disconcerting! I am sure the.t the Oelllitoe vho also reo.d 'lllE MAGNET und did not re:tlise thnt the tA.les wero so old 111USt hnve blinked frequentl,y as th� read them. Wbo.rton 1e regeneration went down 'lrell. It wo.s the i subsequent stories which se8111ed so feo.rf'ullT flat wen C()IQJ>Qred "1th tho I spnrk.ling series running in their proper bnbitat. Considering the l.apse of t.ime, there wus nothing pc.rticulnrl.y surprising in th;i.t. What w.s surprising lnls that tho Gre:yfrio.rs begi.nnings seomod just as flat Won CClllparod with the ro\!Ghl,y contemporar,y St. Jim's stories which ap,.,eared o.longBide them ench '!rook. The difference 'l(Q,S due to tho structure of tho schools.

'Jhere is an old quip thnt it is o.lwe.ys possible to spot e. vellinformod man: his idec.s coincide so closel,y "1th one 's OWI!. Tho.t being so, I mUllt proclaim tlult Roger Jenkins is oxception.:.lly weil-informed . I roo.d his e.rticl.es on Ho.miltonio.na with tho groc.test enjoyment, o.nd o.lmost unfo.illngl,y I find J11Y8elf' nodding rq boo.d .:i.s be stresses some o.spect of bis studies . It ws all the more surprisi.ne, therefore, to find tho.t in STORY PAPER COLLECTOR be condemned the three-cornered conflict at St. Jim 1 s o.s o. i'undOlllOnto.l weo.kness, on the grounds tho.t tho reo.der 1 s , s:ympnthies were so divided between the Terrible Three, Blllko c.nd Co and Figgins o.nd Co that he could not identify hwelf' with any of them, nnd so wns left bnnging in the air.

This three-cornered conflict is highly unusua.l - in fe.ot, as fo.r as I know, unique - beco.use o.11 three parties are sympethatic characters. It is rather odd thnt the situation appeo.rs to ho.ve been an c.ccident, e..lthougb n happy one. Except as o. curioait:y, the pre-GEM PLUCK stories with Bl.Alce ns the head l.Ad, nnd the first Gl!H stories with Tom Merry nt Clavering Schoo1 bo.rdly enter into tho reckoning. st. Jim's without

, Tea Merr:y or TOii Merl'3' without st. Jim's - such things now seem outside the scheme of nature. However, st . Jim's was pretty well developed in PLUCK and, to llij' taste, the Cl.Avoring stories wore not nearl:y ns good c.s their predecessors. F.ditor Griffith, eithor b:y circulation figures or beoc.use bis te.11te ran tho same we.,, o.ppoo.rs to ho.ve delllOllstro.ted thct he knew hie onions when be suggested (or perhnps demo.nded, which seems a word better associo.ted with "tho Pusbful Percy") tho.t Ckvering be closed ll?ld ·

, St. Jim 's brought into THE GF.H. 'Die Terrible Throe bad to be 11aved froa t the wrock to preserve the continuity of interost. They were really the

only po.rt of Clnvering worth ec.l.ving, but Gore a.nd a few others tagged alcag. Ml' Ro.ilton, then equipped with n beard, wus one o! them. He was no botter than the Mr . Kidd be euppl.llnted, although it 111USt bo agreed

1'

· - · · · - -·-· -- ··- --· - ··--- ---------·- 1 that he w.s no worse. IJhe .i>oint ot identification needs further contideriat1on later : at the 1110111ent, all that it is neC8118&1'1 to � ill that 'What '1 Roger ap..,ears to be pqing insufficient consideration to is the vital effect the treble chance had on the mechanics of the stories . !

'Ihis was 110 11111.rked becauae, in 11111 opinion, it vae not a weakness butl a source of strength. l£ you �e � story, rou vW find the first 1 easentia l is a problem. For �le, Herbert SJdapole bas never been &JliYI good at football, but be sudden.4- develope an aspiration to play for the I Junior Eleven . His problem, and � association the iJl'oblem of the story, is • • • • how is Skimpo.le going to get into the team? But, having got your first essential of the problem, you just don 't have an;y story .at all without the second 6.lld abso.lute essentio.l of CONFLICTl No conf .d.ct, l no story! Considor � c.gain. 'lbe Hallliiton ooptains wero l1ll o.uto- I era.ts who suffered no interference with their divine right to choose the 1 team, so Herbert wends his wr.y to Tom Marry to make known his new-found : Wllbition. "SpleDdid!" �s Te111, "Turn out for us on Saturdz.y, t.nd .jo.Ll)r1 glad to ho.ve you," Hee.van knmfS, we put up with some monstrosities of : plots when we were kids, but evBll the o.uthors of "Good Little Georgie" ·

und 11milo.r vnniabed epics knew that o. how.l of protest would meet an,y attempt to fob off All exp!U'lded incident such as this. But if Tom Merry bur.ls Sld.mpole out on his neck, c.nd then hD.s to overcome a series of setbacks and obstci.cles, which conflict with his wish, you will get something worth reading, whether it proceeds as a comedy or in tbs orthodox wy of the local. boy mc.ld.ng good,

House conf.lict is not unusual in school stories. At St. Jim1s, how-· ever, we have Blr.lce1s struggle with Tom Morry to lend the School House Juniors1 we have the pc.ir of them combining to keep the New House down, ud Blt.ke and Piggins ro.lqing as Fourth-formers to grind the Sbell into , the dust. It is obvious tho.t maey lllld more unusual. llllgles can be given I to the yarns withoyt going outside the school wo.ll!!_ , and there 18 a more fruitful source of the eseentil:.l ingredient, conflict. Technicall,y, I as an 1nsyiration for plots, St. Jim 's bas a head start on its riva.ls.

I mention the school bounds because Roger also speaks deprecat1nglyof ragging c.s an end in itself at St. Jim ' s \!hen Greyfriars hod progresse{l to r,1;-1er things. \fell, what do we want in c. school story? Jim 'Walsh , revels 1n the holi� stories: Don Webster hunkers after C2lristmi.s ' Numbers. PersoIU-ll.y, I think that the imyorU-nt port of 11 school story is that it is u schogl story . .\nd what do kids go to school for - to capture spies, battle with crooks, tour every continent, repel invasions from other countries o.nd other planets? Pleney of authors have thought , so und found plenty of reud.ers to endorse them, and Cho.rles Hamilton, I fo.ced with over a hundred to.lea to spin in ee.ch y-EU:r no doubt welcomed I crook11 o.nd vacations o.s ec111ng tho strain on his inventivenese. Yet, if 11 echool story is to be whet it claim.a o.nd tho school not simyly an ei:.sy wn.y of p.thering a bunch of characters together on a scale not otherwise : possible, the final te1t is bound to be vbiit hapyens inside the wulls. As c. fictional aebool St, Jia1a pron.dee thllt testing ground os no other

I establishment does. �--·------·----··-- 15 ---· ., __________ _

��f � � °!��: I�::-:� �t!=t��sur�-:-s� k:t. -1 uation to that at St. Jim '1, except that th• G1dd;y Goats, \Ibo were the third corner of the Hampehire triangle, were not �tbetic charo.cters - . exceyt to s1ailo.r youths,. and the lad.a stuck aroUDd the doorste.P more I th an did the 1f'r1ars. 'Iha requiruente of a short story &?Id of the GEM o.nd HllGNET l.oag tale• were ao clit'ferct, hOWTer, that except for adducin this one sup1'(>rtinfr tact, it will be better to concentrate on the two llMl1n p&.�8 .

Greirtria.rs di.d not apecialiae in heme produce. In the 1951

COLl.EC'l'OllB ' DIGEST AMNllAL, I made an attempt to cl.assify 114 series which rllll in THE MAGNET. It wna a formidable problem, &I so maey dii'ferent factors entered into every sto:ry, but it could be said 'ldtbout de1Dur that onl,y 25 of th- emp.l<J79d onl,y Gnv"triara characters at Greyfriara, while the rest had to resort to cri.minais, specialq imported new boys, travel, circuses 1111d even fMtaay for thoir plots. I eubadt that as a fictional school, there wns a weakno&1, 1U1 1.nabilit;y to � salt-contained, wbi was �ter at Greyfri.D.rs because it wu deficient in conflict, deficient because ite contliets were personal rather then beeo.use of House nnd Form divisions. I <nee again, corn98rison is difficult, at least in actual figuen, beeo.use tr- llo 1072 to No 1625, THE G1M contained no new sories by .Mr Ho.mil.ton, and it -was during this period that be brought the Greyfriara I stories to their height. 'Ille final new stories, running from 1625 to 1663 are a dubious court of appeo.l. 23 of the se weekly issues were sited in St. Jim 's, but el.even years of concentration on Greyfriars L)lyear to buve moulded the technique of the author fair� rigid.17, and be carried , over to the eldor paper the 91stem t.'.,t was Hrving so well in THE MACiNE'f. It is rather curious, but in the first weeks of THE MAGNET, the reverse can be detected. Frm about 1909 to 1926 Frank Richards and Martin Clifford really did seem to be two difforent authors . And during those ;y8'U's, if notlli.ng else is avail.able, I appon.l to the reader's memo:ry for corroboration of the fact that in St. Jim1 s was found the gree.te11t diversity of stories re:Qring on the school for their inspiration , Not to argue on incomplete consideration of either school, I throw in the

;yea rs 1926 to l9S9 in THE MAGNET - yea.rs during which the storioll wandered even further from their .original moorings.

In essence, one school must be very much lilce another, and I have indici;ted that struetural.1¥ about the o� difference between St. Jim's a.nd Greyfriars was the house 117stem. '!he acid tost COlll8S with the other major consideration - the characters ,

I Greyfriars ' characters, as I have already pointed out, developed much more than did the St. Jim 1 s people, largely / I suppose, beoc.use

I the different t;ype of story forced the author into a dif'ferent ap)lroach, Inasfar 0.8 the tales la.id in the schools, Greytrillrs developed tales or

I ch11racter, while St. Jim's had to.lee of altuntion plus character. This devclopmont, mnrk you, does not Q!C!!!saril;r mean that th e Greyfriars

I automatieo.lly becaae superior, Eraain&tion of tho finished product 1e ' 16

os=e;�e��!;s cas:. �t--=-=�ous -�at ;o� ch:;a�te�� . . "j

twld head and shoulders above the rest, both in the drr.wing c..nd in the they dominate the stories. '!hey are i.'ho.rton, Bunter, Coker and Vernon

. Smith. Bunter, frOlll feehlo beginnings, eventutJ.13 arrived et such stL.tus tho.t THE MAGNET was labelled "Billy Bunter's CNn !':'.per". You trip over

, him every time you turn n eurner nt Greyfrinrs. Incidentelly, this c.rticl< , is in lu.rge measure based on a tnlk given nt the Northern Old Boys 1 Book , ! Club, o.nd at this stage I asked, "Is there aeyone in the room who can lt.y ! his hund on his heart c.nd say he never feels that he could do with Ii. rest . j from Bun tor? 11 '!here w .. s a stoey silence. ! But whether the reader feels that he could do with e. rest from the ' C>.ll or not, he never gets one . Frank Richards a<.ys that he still cW11t : quite understand the success of Bunter, but this must surol,y be one of I i Frunk•s lltUe quips. w.c.B. seized his creator's imuginlltion long before I thore was anything a.bout him to seize the imagim.tion of tho reo.dor. 'lhe 1

gl.asses, the belly, the ap�tite and the expected P.O. were all thv.t tho I ha.rm.Loss, good-ilaturod nonentity of 1900 had in common with the finti i product. A great deal of h&.rd work went into hilll, until qy 1910 he hnd become u crude and not very sympathetic shadow - shadow is hardl,y tho

: word to use with Bunter, but it conveys my meaning - of what ho did become until ten years later, When even more he.rd work elim.1nllted the

1 crudeness. It is diificult, with hundreds of lt.tor stories in mind, to enviix.ge just how we used to a.p.-roach this earlier Owl, who w<.s cert.I.inly povular. Howe.days, though, it is pretty certcin that while one might

, read a late MACNET for or beci.use or Bunter, one is 111ore likol,y to road a blue-covered issue in spite of him. 'Dlo hard fact remains tho.t for . thirty years the po.per wo.s written around Bunter, If it was c.. crook story, Bunter somehow was responsible - though ino.dvortentl,y - for tho capture of the fellow with a benk of u nose c.nd the thin-lip.-ed g-.i.sh. If Wharton · wc..s in trouble, it was Bunter who landed him further in tho miro o.nd -still inadvertently - probo.bl,y fished him out of it. In short, THE MAG.'fET

1 got down to being written to a formula, the formula being to intorwoave Buntor into the plot so that he could not be extl'l <:l.ted . 'lhct =s wbt.t THE MACNE'l' w:.s for, of course, c.nd I should be the le.st to dony tho.t the Owl is o. remo.rlroble o.nd first-r:.te chru;o.cter in his own right. \lh::t is equa.1..1,y difficult to den,y is thnt the determination to drc.g him into every story as an integral po.rt of the development was - by our stc.ndc.rds -o.n artistic weakness and n technicul fault.

Harry \lb.G.rton is, to my mind, as rine o. chc.racter as exists in schoo� fiction, with o. naturo.lnoss and com"lexity which could not be bettored. , '!he Bounder hQs alrolldy been 111entioned as being, for fifteen, a fictional'. i.mj)Osition, although a mighty convincing one. Coker wi-s a bit of 11 pest in the dD.ys when Aunt Judy got him elevated trom the Shell to the Fifth • .

'lhe outlines were sketched in, as they were with the Bunter with whom ; Coker scnetimes fed at Wun Lung's expense. \lhen the picture was rounded, · ho becrune an enjoyable comedy star. He prob&bl,y could never hc.ve existed ' t.lthough I have met a couple or chaps who vergod on the Cokerish o.nd, 1

.__ . -------- -- ..:- 17 �------- -------�

of prime importance, he got his fair ehu·e :>f the limelight without l being under the reader 1 s feet all the time, as Bwlter was.

Now don't let us have any misunderstanding about this characterisati business. I am not suggesting that Bob Cherry, Nugent, Bull, Peter Todd ! et tl c.re poor characters . They are not, but Greyfriars we overshadowe1 by the Big Four, of 'Whom Bunter and Coker were freaks, Smithy verging on the incredible, and onl¥ W'blll'ton criticism-proof, It is significant, too, that the fifth favour! te in the series stakes was William Wibley, 1 who wi.s thoroughly beyond belief - to an adult. ·

St. J1m 1 s does not possess this lopsidedness . Arthur Augustus I D' Arey was to THE GEM what BUnter was to TffE MAGNET, the figure Wl'lich I leaped autOllllltica� to mind 'When the pa.per ws mentioned, There wc.s no I story set in the school and probably none outside it in which the one =� only did not appelll', but there wc.s no formula in the way that there was 1 in THE MAGNET. The story wns not wrenched round to bring in Gussy wiUynilly. He appeared in the crowd 'When someone else was playing the lead, ; while when he wc.s the central character, he fell into place just ns logically, 'Ibo c..vorage s�-e.ss comedirul is a rather painful figure, and, fortunately, Gussy is no Wooster. He is the soul of simplicity, drawn with exc.ggero.tion rather tho.n caricature, which means that he is credible, !lnd the humour is naturnl fun based on the scrapings D1ARcy's . yollshed exterior suffers at tho hands of cruder mortals. More tho.n halt; the time, the render 'Who is lc.ughing at Gussy he.a at bottom an uneasy 1 feeling tho.t he ought to be sympathising with him, that Gussy is righ� to be on his high horse. Comeey that can achieve this is worth pondering, I for it conbins some of that genius that makes us remember the Chaplin film we s aw twenty years ago 'When we can't re.member the Three Stooges whom we so.t through last weok.

'!he two Houses gave st. Jim's a much larger cast - effective co.st, at leCi.st - than Greyfrio.rs, end a better balance. To.ken individually, there ure 56 juniois at the smo.llost collllt llho appear in the stories, o.nd there a.re only five of whom the ret!der can be vague . The rest are clearly etched, in defined cbo.racteristics 'Which could not be mistaken. This, I think, is the pl.::ce to deal with Roger Jenkin1s point that the reader could not identify himself With !krry, Bl.Ake or Figgins, because the continual conflict was confUSing.' Roger is pre-supposing tha.t the yo\.Q'.lg reader identified himself with .QB!!. character, and th&t one a hero , : It doesn't follow in the slightest. If be ws given that Wey, the only ! person whom he could identify with wc.s Tom Merry, who alone e.ppeo.red week in an week out in sufficient heroic prominence to give him the chance tol hook on mentally, and than whom a better model ·would behard to find . I The Wch llogicnl basis of identification isnlt quite as Simple SS · that, however. 'lhe tongue-tied youth in baggy, crumpled flc.nnels might, I from an envy based on o.wnrenees of his own deficiencies, look on Rll.lph I Reckness Co.rdew, the immaculate with the reedy flow of cool insolence I and yersiflage ns the type of being he would give bis ettrs to be, nnd Ce.rdew would for him be the central character of THE GEM. The scholarshl.1 boy at some loct.l Gro.mmar School could 'WOll look on Redfern or Harry I

·-- lt _ ___j

Rammona- 1 1 11s tlie ao.lt of the 8IU"th beet.use thli!Y were

,

po.paing. through similc.r trial"! 'Ihe springs of character are 110 deep amrilo llftlitltorm thnt thore are 1 endless J>OSSibilities of 'What 1lPe of. �p.cter,. will rivet tho attention ,L of '1 reader• 'Ihere miSht even have 'boon t<Y.PJ1if �o identified with Trilllb"'f or Clo.ranee York Tomldns - o.ltho\}gh r''.iJope 'tO.r their sakes thr.t there •

were notJ Ona .of OrW.11•11 plltln¥ ,,as Uia,t �- of the readers identified to th1f po1nt of le'1ding comp!et'e falito.S¥ 14y,r,s;�iinc1 it is probnble. But ; I suggest that_ i.r;l the cas_e (lf ��' fo}'_:\.&£]£ !>� !1 . better torm, we can caljl. tho average or nOZ'lll&l reo.dorJ. e.118� thnt weolc- after week he could and · would identify � llith ono character· is leaping to a conclusion that iti would be hard to prove·, It 1a 1n�eq more .re11son.nble to nssumo that a boy would identify llith a ch�ctel;' ,in the -pcrticular to.le he wns rend.ing at the moment. He could suffer with Dick Brooke ' s under Levison's i villni.n;y ono week, jl.lpe Figgins with Tom Morry the next, and like ono1J8b l help Figgins in the third week to bl>ing Gusoy under the spoil of n 1 feminised Kerr. �, no llllltter what chornctor the boy was seeking c.s I his ideal - which is not nocos1arilj' � ideal - he would find in the varied ranks of St , Jim 's, someone to suit his tnste, whether it be for 1 one woek or the duration of his boyl:iood. I

il:rl3 dotailed analysis of so l.arge a cast is obviously out of the 1 , question bore, NethertheleSll , bluff Blo.ke, stolid Harries, slimy Melli�. Wynn, ono nttractive and horoic d\IDpling, Levison labouring hard at r

villainy in his earl.Jr days o.nd gl� h1J8ging his virtue c.fter his I refol"ID4tion, Talbot, whoso saga so enthrals some collectors that thq •

search o.nxiously for even the substitute stories cbout him, Lumley-Lumley., in some sort a St, Jim's Bounder, inventor Gl,ynn, somet.ilnes �yond belief;i but unique in the Hamilton schools, the shades of unplease.ntness . 11ccur11to}¥ indicntod without duplication in Qiowle, Clamp, Crooke, Rll.cko,? ficropo and Piggot, Skimpalo of the "iB111S", Figgins, whose vicos are like I calves, astute Kerr, a.nd the inky tribe of the '!bird, they nll represont ; some facet of a miniature world. ·

In grc�er or lesser degree, their hope, fears, quarrols, jokes and confJ.icts have provided 11111terinl for a thousa.nd stories. 'Ibis I � microcoam offers c. widor vuriet;y of charc.cter than any other fictional

•_. school, :ind its structurn.l advantage placod it at nn even grec.ter h.eighti· If its erector had boon left with St, Jim's, one has only to scan the enormous advance me.de by THE MAGNET from about 1925 to realise thnt with the evon richer 11111teriol he had built up 1n his first paper the Sussex school could have soared to an eminence beyond dispute, .

Spilt milk, I suppose, and it's no use crying over it. All it is, I St, Jim's h118 tnk.en a now lease of life 1n the Goldhawk books, e.nd long m.ey it flourish there. For the older reader, though, its finest spirit will be foimd in the green, blue or po.rti-covers of THE GE:1. 'Ihose who

I know it, return again and again to the stories which never loso their charm. For those whose knowledge is sketchy or non-exist.'3nt, the

cullc.r course pursued by the po.per

.

now hos sano compensations. With 1221, it turned back the calendar and began to reprint tho storiee

om the beginning, They nre ensil,y available, Go to it! --------------- l$ll -----------·----

r-��-, tmp JI W WJ[QQtffl!H' tM WBBARI

'

Key to Authors: QI ::: CJaarlN llilllllltcm1 JR = !'rank Riobarct.1 llJ s: Martin Clifford: OC = Owen <:caqmft1 - = Plltvy Searl.ea Bl'oolat1 MP • Nlc:bael Poole : EP = Ernest �I C8l = Ceo. !. Rochesters DO 1::1 llarld Goodwin : ER = Eric Rocho: JB = Jdm Blnefords (1) dmiotes a eubet1tute aut.bor writing under a Hamilton J11D OPP •

l The Greyfriars P� l'R 41 &U.q emter•a Jlla9 Plldd1l2( 2 The Wai.f of St. Jim's MC '2 The Boy .trc:a Sowbere 3 The G!·oyfriars Business Mm PR ta The Seapegrace of t.he School 4 J:i'.i.ght.ing Forms of st Frank's ESB 44 The Devices of Dickie Dexter 5 'Virn S::ho:>lboy Cara.vanners FR 45 The Bol8 of the Study 6.'iTho Q;.ir...e.in of the Fourt.h OC 46 ",School House v New House 7 T.ne j{j,duapped Cricketers FR 47 The Greyfriars Hustler 8 His Brot.'ier 1 s Burden MC 48 The Colonial Co. 9 A Schoolboy 1 s Honour 1R 4,9 Rolling in Money

10 Joli)' Roger 's Way MP 50 Tom Merry's &leizy 11 The Duffer of Greyfriars FR 51 Harty Wharton rs Downfall 12 Expelled ! oc 52 under Roger ts Rule 13 The Tyr'l.Ilt of Greyfriars FR 55 Driven FrOll�t.lie School 14 The Outcast of St Jim's HC 54 Buying the Remove 15 Football Heroes (S)FR 55 A Rank Outsider 16 The Rebellion at St Biddy 's MP 56. The Terror of tho Third 17 Surprising the School FR 57 Barred ey His People 18 The Millionaire Bootboy MC 58 The Butt of the School 19 The Ta.ming of Harry Wharton FR 59 The Greyfriars Sailors 20 The Vanished Schoolboys OC 60 The Scapegrace of Rookwood 21 The Greyfriars Journalists FR 61 Wingate's Chum 22 D1 P.rcy of St. Jilli's MC 62 The Drudge of St . Jim's 23 T:.'l� Schoolboy Balloonists FR 63 The No-Surrender Schoolboy 24 Wake \:p St . Katy's! MP 64 Parted Cl11ms 25 'l'ho Invasion of G!'oyfriars FR 65 The Schoolboy Millionaire 26, Sacked ! MC 66 The F.astwood House l-t'stery 27 The Riv$:r House Rivals ESB 6.7 Tho Captain 's Minor 28 The Boy \.Jho Was Soft OC 68 Sir Japhet 1 s Heir 29 The Faddist Form Mlster FR 69 A Disgrace . to the School 30 To:n !ferry 's Trus·t MC 70 The Boy Who Found His Father

FR oc �·1' F!. 1".C FR! oc FR xc FR MP FR

ESB MC

ESB FR MP FR oc F?. MC F:.\ FH FR MC F'c: C" .,

Fil FR

31 A Mill Lad at Greyfriars FR 71 The Outlaws of the School , FR 32 A Schoolboy 's Temptation OC 72 The Swell of the Circus MC 35 The Schoolboy Actors FR 73 The Man from South America FH 34 The Sneak of St. Jilli's MC 74 The Blott of Berosford MP 55 The Boy from China FR 75 Taming c. Bully FR . 56 The Shadow of Shame oc 76 The Fighting Form Master OC 37 T'.::o O>.zts!dor of Greyfriars FR 77 Alonzo tJie Great FR 38 O.::> of the Bo<>.-*' MC! I 7ff The Tanglewood Twins EP 39 Aliens at Greyfl'ie.rs FR 79 Schoolboy-a Abroad FR 40 The l-t'Stery Schoolboy EP 80 D1Arcy1 s Cricket Week MC

20

81 Cock of the Walk 30 No Surrender 82 The Schoolboy Scientist l The Moonlight Footba.llere 83 The Fool of the School 2 Under False Colours 84 Chums on Tramp 33 That Gey Fish 85 A .traitor in the School •FR Truo Blue 86 Consvirators of St . Kit's MP 55 The Bounder's Feud 87 The Schoolboy Cup Fighters FR \.!lo Shall Be Captd.in? sa The Cockney Schoolboy MC 57 The Completo Outsider 89 l!o.rZ".f '-Jharton & Co' s )()nae No. FR 38 The <:a1ost of the .Priory 90 The Ghost of St, Jim ' s MC 39 The Broken Bond 91 The Schoolboy Ventriloquist FR 40 Kicked Out of School 92 The Freak of St. Freda • s GER 41 Stand Firm the Robels 95 The Got Rich Quick Schoolboy FR 42 Chums of the &lckwoods 94 The Rookwood Rebellion OC 43 Billy Dunter •a Barring-In 95 Wiblcy 's WonderfUl Wheer:e FR 44 Saints v Grammarians 96 Borrisford 1s Liveliest Term MP 45 The Mabob ' s Peril 97 Tho Creyfriars Clown FR 146 JJ.mmy Silver & Co Out� Weat.. 98 '!'om Herry &· Cc In !lonte Carl.o MC 147 Harry Wharton & Co In India 99 The Bounder of Greyfriars FR 48 St. Jim 1 s illowman

100 His Own Enemy OC �49 Tho Snob l.01 Not Wantod At Greyfriars FR µ.so Pnls of the Range l.02 The Schemer of St Jims MC •15l. The Jo!cor of the Re.move 103 Tho Tyrant Hee.cl FR :152 Sove:i Schoolboys and Solomon 104 Dropped FrOD. the T&Slll OC !1s5 Ella ck Poter 1 s Treasure 105 Just Like Coker FR 1154 The \/ar Trail 106 The Rival .l'!Ltrols MC 155 T'ne Rival Treasure Seekers 107 Bunter tho Blade FR �-iss The Worst Fom at Codri.ngton 108 Fo.cing tho Musio OC 157 The Greyfrio.rs Castaways 109 Tiu;1 Schoolboy Jugg.l.er FR 58 ChUJl)s of the Ranch 110 The St. Jim 1 s Inventors MC 59 The Fool of the Fifth ll.l Tho Impossible Four FR ,160 The Fichting Schoolboy 1.12 For the Honour of Rookwood OC 161 Coker 1 s Christmas Party 113 The Shylock of Creyfriare FR 1162 Trailing the ihant0111 114 The Kid o.t St. Ko.ty's H! ' 65 Barred by the Form 115 Tho r.idrui.p,i>ed Schoolboy FR 164 Rivals on the Warpath ll6J&nugeled to School MC 165 Nobody 's Chum 117 War With Highcliffe FR 166 The Fo1U'th For.a Rebels , ll8 Ji.Jmay Joins Up oc 167 The Bruiser of Greyfriare l.19 The Boy From New York FR 168 Tho Card.ow Cup 120 Rebels of St Fro.n.k 1s; ESB 169 The Call of the Ring 121 The Creyfriars Hypnotist FR 170 Prefects on Strike 122 St. Jim 1 s At .Sea MC 171 Conde:.;ined by tho Form 123 Rival Ja.iiers FR l. 72 The 'i'rai1 of: Vengeance 124 Gunner Gets Going OC 1'15 7no Rounder ' s Lesson 125 The Schemer of the Remove FR 1.74 Living e f.ie 126. Clynn 'D Mechanical Marvels Ml:: 175 Ckle Against the School 127 The Fighting Form Master FR 176 Gussy the Runaway 126 Ba.eking Up Jimmy OC 177 The Cr1d.se of tho Silver Scud.. 129 Barred By The School FR J 78 'i'he Outcast of Cedar Creek

21

MC FR oc FR HC FR FR FR oc FR MC FR oc FR l'IC FR OC· FR !-IC FR oc FR MC FR oc FR DG FR oc FR MC

179. The Toad of the Relaove FR l.80 Chums Afl.oat (S)MC 18l. The Gypsy Schoolboy FR 182 The Terror of Rookwood OC 185 The Boy With a Secret FR 184 On tho western Trail MC 185 The Pbantan of the H:lghlallds FR 186 The Secret of Drere Manor (S)MC 187 His Majesty King Bunter FR 188 Up the Rebels .• FR 189 The Schoolboy Hypnotist FR 190 The Boy From Bootleg Ranch UC 191 The Greyfriars Rebel.lion FR 192 For His Brother 1 s Sake CH 195 The School Without a Master FR l.04 The Captain ' s Enemy CH 195 The Foe Fram the East FR 196 A Schoolboy's Sacrifice MC 197 T"ne Scholller of the Re;nove FR 198 The Rookwood Secret Society OC 199 Rivals for a Fortune FR 200 St . J1m1s In the Soup (S)MC 201 Bil� Bunter 1 s Ci.rcus FR 202 The Rookwood Gypaies QC 205 Bil� Bunter 1 s Bodyguard

FR 204 The Missing Schoolboy MC 205 The Joker of Greyfriars FR 206 Masters on Strike oc 207 Who Punched Prout? FR 208 The Siege of St. Jim's (S)MC

228 Seven Boys in a Boat 229 The House of Terror 250 The River Adventurers 251 Tho Boy Without a Friend 2S2 Tbe Rabel of Grimslade 255 The lhantom of the Cave 254 A Qiristms.s Barring Out 255 Coker Comes a Cropper 256 The Rebels of St Jim's 257 Buntor the Bad Lad 258 The 4th Form at Grimslado 259 Tho Shylock of Greyfriars 240 Tom Merry ' s EnelJIY 241 Kidnappers at Greyfriars 242 � the Boy Tb.Iller 243 Pop 01 the C�rcus 244 The Trail of Adventure 245 Down With the Tyrant 246 The Secret of Lone Pine 247 Victory For The Rebels 248 High Jinks at Grimslade 249 The cau of the Desert 250 The St. Jim's Hikers 251 Foes of the Sahara 252 The Cheerio Castaways 253 Rligged Dick 254 Chums of Clistaway Island 255 The Star of tho Circus 256 The Grilnslade Crusoes

� .

F.�,, l•t'.J FR F'H Fil MC FR HC FR FR FR

(S)MC FR FR FR MC F MC

209 Bunter the Benevolent FR 210 The St . Jim 's Ghost Hunters MC

257 Bunter the Mischief Maker 256 Captuin and Slacker

259 The Rebel of the Remove F 2ll Bilzy Bunter le Convict FR 212 The Bootboy Baronet F.SB 215 The Secret of Pengartb FR 214 The Toff 1s Sacrifice MC 215 Harry Wharton & Co In New YorkFR 2l&;The Wizard of St Fran's ESB ?.17 From School tb Hollywod FR 218 Cousin Ethel 's Chlllll MC 219 Bilfy Bunter on the Films FR 220 The Son of a Cracksman OC 22l. The Schoolboy ::bsik FR 222 The Boy Who Hated St Ji.la's MC 225 A Fil.!11 Star 1s Vengeance FR 224 Handforth at St Jim's �MC 225 The Tyrant Prefect FR 226 ·The Fifth Form Rebellion OC 227 The Trail of the Trike �

260 The Stick-at-nothing SchoolboyM 261 The Downf1<.ll of Harry Wharton 262 Tho Fistical Four 0 263 The Boy With out u Name 264 Baggy Trimble's Refol'lll 265 Tho Voice of the Tempter 266 Chums of Top1;in@Jam 267 The Amateur Rogue 268 Tho Rookwood Barring In 269 The Menace of Ta..�g Wang 2 70 Japers of St Jira 1 s 271 The Ter:·or of tho Tong 272 Ta;ning the BuJ.ly 273 'lhe Mandarin 's Vengeance 274 Camp and Caravan 275 The Beggar of Shantung 276 Nippy From Nowhere

--�� ..... ��-.-�....,��---:��-:--:::�-:-�� - . , 277 'lhe Scal.cywag of the 'lh1rd FR S28 Harcy Manner ' s Feud l':C 278 Follow Uncle James OC S27 The Schoolboy Boxer E::>1,,� j 279 'Ihe Groat Fire at St J'rank'• ESB S28 Detootive Bunter ·• 280 Cc.J)tc.in ll.lld Tyrant FR S29 'Ibo Rebellion at Packsaddle I':� , 281 &t Jim's in Revolt MC S30 'lhe Housema.stor 's Revenge E... .. 282 �tystery of St Fra.nl: 1 s ESB SSl 'Ihe Downfall of Harry Wharton;· . 283 '!he Worst Form i.t Grll)'friare FR S3?. '!ho 11Ystory of Holly Lodge ,•-; 284 Jinlny Silvor 1 s Xmas Part;r OC S3S 'Iho Crook Headmaster :i::::,_ 28S '!he Tyrunt Head ESB SM Harry Wharton Dec4.ros War F •.

286 Billy Bunter Gets tho Boot FR SSS Under False Colours v� 287 Tom Morry & Co Declare Wt.r MC SS6 'lhe St Frank 's Cllstawuys E;. �88 Robols of' tho Remove ESB 337 Tbs Worst Boy at Groyfriars F.-289 Harry Whu.rton • s l\ivv.l FR 338 'lhe Price of Loyalty 1· • 290 Th., School for Slackers CH 339 'lho Terror of the Ta.1·gosso. E;,. 1 29.l. The Spendthrift of i>t Frank 1sESB 340 Nobody's Pnl 1 292 Tho Swot of the Remove FR 341 On Fight� Terms l ' 293 For Honour •s So.ks MC 342 The Demon Cricketc.r t.>2 294 'lbe Doy .,,bo Bought a School ESB S43 Harry Wharton & Co 1 s African 295 '!he Fugitive Schoolboy FR Adventure FR 296 1'ho 4th Form :it Rookllood OC 544 The Savine of Selby MC 297 'lhe Spendthrift's Lesson E.'.>B 345 Schoolboy Test w�tch Player ESB 298 1'ho Boy With o. Bu d Na.me FR 346 1'be Slllve TrE.der 1 s Vebgeunco l•'R 299 Tho Live Wiru Hoo.d CH 347 Chums on the o,.en Rot.d OC 300 The 1-tystory Manter of St Fr. :ESB 348 111stery of RoarL".lg Z Ranch Enil 301 Bunt.,r of Bunter Court FR 549 'Ibe Schoolboy Slaves F:'\ 302 Rt..ining tho Wind MC 350 Grundy Ta.kcs t.lio Lead (�::c I 303 '!he Schooliai..stor Spy ESB 351 The Vo.Uoy of Gold ESJ 504 Goodbye to Dunter Court FR S52 The Boot boy 1 s Lucky Break �';' 305 '!ht> Pa.cks«dc.llo Bunch FR SSS The Schoolboy Tee Ch I 306 The St Fra.nk 1 s Explorers ESB 354 Tyrll.llt and Sport E63 507 Coker the Ch�pion Chump FR SSS Billy Bunter ' s Olristmas F:t 308 Ji.Jney Silver Resigns OC 3S6 Tho Boy Who Walked by Night OC I 309 'lbe Lost Lo.nd ESB S57 The Xlll!ls Rebols ES3 310 Tbo Schoolboy Cra.cksman FR 3S8 Tho l�stery Ma::ter F-1 3il 'Ibo Boy Who Wunted tho Sack MC S59 Tho Slv..ngn'!.od Sc:hoolboys (SI .. ,� 512 Tho Bo.ttln of tho Giants ESB !560 Brothorhood of the Free b _

313 Tho Boy Who Y.new Too Much FR 3ol '1110 Master r'rom Scot!D.nd Yordf•,1 514 Tho Schoolboy •lirm&n MC :562 Mandors on the Spot. OC 315 'Iba Kidnr1pyod Schoolboy ESB S63 Nolson 1.-0e Comes Back �·il 316 'Ibe Boy From the Underworld FR 1164 Tho Greyfriars CrackslllWl FR 517 No Good no Co.ptain OC 565 Tho Boy Who Came Back }!C 318 '!he Schoolboy Inventor ESB 566 The St Frank 1 s Cadets E1:il3 319 '!he fbuntom of the Towers FR S67 Billy Bunter' s Cruise l!'R 320 A Lion at St Jim 's MC 1568 Rookwood Calling o:: 521 1bo Ghost of Bannington GranpBS 369 Hiddon Gold E;.m 522 The Terror of the Form FR :570 1be Groyfriars Tourists FR :5215 The Six-Cun Schoolmaster PR S71 A skins for tho Sack CH 324 'lbe Schoolboy Housebre&bra ISB 1572 Tho Yellow Menace ESB 525 Bold Bad Bunter FR 57S The Fighting Form-master Fit

25

3 74 'Iho Boy 'Ibey Couldn 1t Trust !«: 595 The Ghost of Somorton Abbey- E..,B. l 375 'Ibe Fiends of EU Chow ESB 594 A Dupe of the Underworld FR ! 376 The Grcyfriars Hikers FR 598 A Gunman at st Jim's MC 1' 3 7'i '.lbe School Squadron ER !196 Petticoat Rule at St Frank's F.SB 1 s·10 '!he Schoolboy Crusoes ESB 597 'Ibe Schoolboy Forger FR i 379 The Kidnc.pped Hiker FR 598 Told in the Tuckshop J& I 580 'lhe Rookwood ftlggers OC 599 Rebellion at st Fro.nit's ESB 381 '!he Cannibal Invadars ESB 400 'ftle Boy With a Past FR I 382 '!he Secret of the Holiday .Annual 401 Cock o' the Walk (S)MC 388 'Ibe Great Grundy MC (Fl< 402 Tbe Robel& ' Victory ESB 584 '!he Isle of Terror ESE 40!1 'lhe Han From the Sk;y FR 585 'lbe Tough Gtzy of Greyfrinrs Fl' 404 The Secret of the Silver Box: FR 386 Put to tho Tost MC 405 The St Frank 1 s Carnvannors ESB 387 '!'he Socrot World ESB 406 Southward Ho! FR 388 The Schoolboy Sampson FR 407 The t1Ystery of Sti.WY No l FR 389 Rival Ccye of Rookwood OC 408 Tho Touring School ESB j 390 War in tbo New \olorld ESB 409 The Lure of the Golden ScarQb FR 391 Tho lt"::tory of ·.ruu.rton Lodgo Fil 410 Hidden Loot FR ' 392 'lbe Sn\)ak of Rook\lood OC 4ll 1ho St Frank 1 s Tourists ESB�

I A MAGNET MYSTERY: 1'llch has been written of the way in 'Which Cllarlee I Hamilton's work vus 1114Ilgled and mauled to fit into tho! Procrustean bed of the Schoolboys• Own Library, but it seems so far to ·

buve escaped attention that his original lllAllUBcript received the so.me ldras',ic abridgoment at least once in tbe b�nde of the editor of the Mignet library itsolf.

The offending issue is No. ll691 'bho first of the series deo.l..ing with I the barring-out in the time of Mr. Brnndor. The drnwing at the boginning i of the story depicts A missile boing thrown at Dr . Locke, while Billy .

I Bunter, o.n o..mu.zod witness, qunkes in A nearby arbour. Tho following weog•

I issue makes reference to this incident, but the description of it is not to bo found anywhere in t-ngnet No. ll69. Tho decision to omit a few che ! ters was 011po.rently l!lllde, therefore, at tho very last minute cU'tar the l uscript bod boen rend by the artist. A peruso.l of tho story reveals a j very obvious gap between Olapters 14 and 15, c.n omission \dlich we porpet

I UD.ted when the story was reprinted in No. 245 of tho Schoolboys 1 Own Lib. I 'l'he only explruv.ition can be thr.t the story in question wr.s c little I

longer than usU!U., and that space wae short because o. pr.ge ws given over 1 to nutshell biogr:iphies of famous test-m11tch cricketers, photographs of I whom formed the subject of a free gift in that week 1 s issue . It might 1

I perhaps bo appropriate for collectors to congregate outside Fleot'W8y Hous1 nnd chant, "Give us bnck our missing chapters!" c.fter the =ner of the

I crowd that protested against the reform of tho calen<ki.r in tho eighteenth century. In all probability, however, those chapters have gone beyond ! recall. 1

I should bo interested to hear from nnyone who bas been ablo to trncl l own a similar abridgement in the po.gos of the Magnet or tho Gem. ROGER M. JENKINS

�

by George Gregorx -ALAS POOR BI.AKEl l "AI.as, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow of infinite jest, I of most excellent fancy 1 he hath borne me on his back a thousand times;

and now, how abhorred 1n 1JJ1f imagination it is ! 1JJ/f gorge risen at it." . So Hamlet, the Melancholy Dane unburdened himself with the jester's skull t in his hands . Jesting was never mu..ch featured in the Sexton Blake stories! but he was a fellow of infinite variety. 'With that one word altered, the Melanchozy Blakian could woll pick up a copy of the present series of tho Sexton Blake Library and similarly apoatltphiso it. 1 It would be easier to win a Penny Pointa Pool than to compute ucour- : arely how ma.ny hundreds or thousands of fictional detectives have squinted!· through a. magnifying glass or down a gunsight since Poe lit the fuse. Not one, however, has evon c.pproc.ched Blake 's remark.:tble record. ..\.t a conservc.tive cstimc.te, one hundred c.utbors hnve trundled out roughly three, thouSQJld stories about him, totalling eight ot ten million words, c.nd ht'.ve; done it without a. broclc for 59 years. ,\nd yet • • • • • • • has thera over been· , g Sexton Bla.ke?

I The question is not as crnzy ns it ma.y sound, Think c. momont round ; either juvonilo or adult fiction , Billy Bunter has well-defined cha.ract- I eristics: you know what he looks like, how he talk& • c.nd how his mind wor� You could nevor confuse him with � other character, not even such pseudo.Bunters a.s Baggy Trimblo o.nd Tubby Muffin. In the field of crime, Perry I Mason, Poter 'Wimsey, Sa.turnin Do.x, Nero Wolfe and a. rlozen more are invc.r- ' !ably and unmistak!:.bly themselves . It would be c.. bold (and deluded) = 1 who dared to say the sumo of Sexton Blake. BJ.D.ke, sad to 80¥, is uot so ' much a cha.raetor c.a o. peg on which to h=g a. story. Even more, he is o.n atmosjilere, and now that that atmos,lilere has been dissipated, Blake ' s glory has vanished.

BlAke, like cmciont Ga.ul.1 is divided into three parts. So is a gooseiberry. lind like tho gooseberry, Blake mUllt be tOJJPod and tailed, aQd tile j ends thrown o.wo.y, cs onzy the middle is of value. The stalk, in tho form . of the early yec.rs, through which he drew form and nutriment are biologic-, ally interesting, if you have o. taste for tho.t sort of thing, but the a.vera.ge Blakion o.pproa.ching .them for tho first time will o.lmost certo.inly I be disappoimted at the crudity. The o.ftergrowth, the 3rd Series S.B.L., is a dry and withered o.ppendo.ge indeed.

It is no cheo.p hobby, nowc.do.ys, collectin€ BlL.kianc.., .:.nd while none ' of us could rest without dibbling among the early Union Jacks, it rer.lly l is �ing twice the price for half the so.tiafaction c.e compared with I buying copies of the lAter golden days of the po.1,Jer. Three things Olllerge :i the U .J. seemed to be aimed c. t an older ma.rket: 1 t was not solely the , Sexton Blake weekly : and (strange boginni.ng for the cr:Lm.in.:i.l 1 s a.rch-foe) i Blake was a deli bare. te "PINCH 11

• [ 'lhe reason is not fa.r to seek. The Sherlock Holmes furore wi:.s e.t its height in the early 'nineties . Blake, by editoric;l policy, w e designed I c.a the poor znan ' s Sherlock, the hnlt-peney Holllles. This is not a muter :

25 .J

·- --···- - - - - · �·- -· - _.._

of my imaginution. It wo.s given me with chupter and verse by one of the I older Blake authors, whom it would be obviously unwise to nllllle in con junc� tion with such a sto.tement. The corroboration is hardly needed, in ::.ny I ccse, as tho signs arc plain to read. The lean spare frame, the hawk-like f::.ce, the dres:iing gown, and the Bdker Street address were with him from I the sturt, .'.Uld no matter how varied the course he steered, most of the ! authors lllld nrtists kept the slender foundation, even if the s uporstruc- : ture presented some remarkable divergences, ,

Holmos 's super-scientific methods and flllshily logical reasoning I wore .:i.lso lavishly employed in early stories: subsequently, more lurid : and adv�nturous fnre wc.s offered, probnbly much to tho rel.ief of the over� truced hreins of the writers. Blake was popular, beyond doubt, ns c,pnrt fro:c. his "own" Union Jack, he wns featured in The Boys' Friend, Fluck, 'Ihe M!lrvel, Chips, Answers, The Penny Pictori.el, The Boys' Herald, Je::ter ,• =d T"ne Peney Popular, that I cnn call to mind. Yet ho nenrly woro his 11 welcome out between 1896 o.nd 1904.

Tho favourite stunts of the Harm.sworth editors soem to hc.ve done mord than l!.llytbing else to bring this about. A common circul.£.tion booster wc.s to have some prominent ch::iructer fentured in c story concerning, scy, Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, or Birmingham. Jo.ck, Sam and Pete in The t-nrvel =d Tom Merry in The Gem kept having u go ct this, and tho results were generc..lly mediocre. Blake did the rounds, and in o.ddition wns run a.d)<llausewn through stories where he ho.d to musquor�do cs a wrestler, boxe1, mi.liua.n or whatever ha.p�ned to strike some fcncy in the Carmel.ite House . Such dreury stuff had its nnturcil effect, c.nd tho Union Jack co.at round for other a.tractions to help pull up the circulution. It was not until 1904, when W.H. Buck took over tho editorship cnd combined u belief in Sexton Blake with a consist.mt a.nd successful w&y of handling him that Blake picked up until he eventually had hie revenge on the characters who I had shoved him out or the pink paper by excluding them for nearly thirty I years. 'Ihe peculiar atmosphere that Back imparted to the paper stayed with it nearly as long.

It ii.: not easy to pin-J)Oint the changes, which naturally took quite � a �eriod as the authors cSIDe into line, but by 1900 to 1910, the Union Jack became pretty much what most of uc remember it by, o.nd it stayed put fo:r over twenty years, a ru.ro thi�.;, in boys' papers. Did the circul.G. tio begin to fall about 1950, or wa.s there just an editorial itch to cha.nge?

• Either, or both, might huve been the case, but reading through the last

I couple of years one ca.n now see a confusion which would almost indicate I that there were two editors, fighting out a traditional versus amended line. 'Ihe old favourites continued, while interspnced with them were new�r

I hands with stories which were more of the thriller type. : This becll!lle more pronounced when the title wc.s cha.nged to The Detoctl'

ive Weekly in 1955. '!ho war blitzed tha.t, leaving only of the former I glories the Sexton Blc.ke Library, which begnn a new, third series. .l s . �o.r us the name is concerned, the .'.m.1lgwonted Press can claim that Hke I chnny W:ilker Blake is still going strong, even if �t sixteen times the rieino.l price. But the no.mo is all that doos exist. So fer c.s the

-·-- - 26 ___J

.-----------------------· ------ -- -- --··� savour of Blakedom is concerned, it might aa well be ce.lled the Pontius 1 Perkins Libro.ry. 'lbere muat be e. strong streak ot sentimentality in any

one who harks back to tho bQ1bood papers, and, e�sedly, most of us I extendod to the 5rd Series ell the goodwill thet the name of Blake would I conjure up in us . We bung on, hoping for improvement : all excovt the most. , obstinate must now realise that is not going to happen, 'Iba books fJ'JJJ¥ not, have achiovod their object of presonting an adult rather than a youthful

11ppe11l, but they hnve achieved an uneasy equil,ibrium at the three-qU1.1rter I mark. Many of the stories are excellent, as detective stories: just as IDW\Y are puerile. But good, bo.d or indifferent, Blake, as far as any attempt 11t cbnracterisation is made, is just af1Y private detective. ,

It is hurdly for you or me to quarrol with the A.P. editors . They are prosumnbly eble 111on, with their ,fillgers OD the pulse of tho times, ard., they !mow what best brings sales and divideDds in 1955. They don 't like the old Blake . I do. They won 't have tho old Blake . Well, I won 't hc.ve ; the new one . They can keep him, and I shall "blow" my cash on Union I Jacks of the vintage years . ,

n10S" ;,reo:::, .stl·otching them from 811,Y .L908 to 19551 offer U richness I , diverse yet unified. Tho diversity ClllllS from the fifty or more authors I I at work: the unity came from the rem.ark.o.ble ntmospbero tho.t w::.s built up • and maintnined. Blo.ke is not really the important thing in the stories; 1 t the fc.scino.ti-:ln of the Union Jack lies precisely in that atinoepbere. I ! What was created wo.:i a Never-never I.and. It could only h:.ve existed l in a boys' paper. Adult fiction readers 11!/zy swul.low c. c.::.mel o.nd strain aj

a. !Plot. 'nle Union Jack 's bro.nd of tale WD.s, in tho lest ono.lyeis, as · n.lltural as a. cross between a 1P1nt and a co.mel, c lusus �turce for fathere 1 to boggle at, �d sons to revol in. Thora hes nover been (llt lellst to [ publio knowledge) a. 1llllstor criminal sinco tho grec.t Jonc.tbo.n Wild WllS ' topped. The Union Jilek produced eighty or ninoty of them. When they

found time to devote thomselvee to gc.thering their ill-gotten gcine is 1 not vory clear. As far as we could ever discover, they spent all their i ti.me struggling with Sexton Blake, c,.nd wile they mannged to extricate their hides intact to thot they could turn up for th e next story , they I never showed c profit on the deal. Notice, it WD.s Sexton Blake with whom ' they conducted their battles. The C.I.D. opero.tod only a.s Blake's lluxil- j

: iat'ies. 1 , George Mll.rsden Plummer and a few others wore normal, in appearance I ' 1f not in instincts, but most of the Kings of Crime wore distictl.y biz::.rre •

. 1 Not being o.n ostrich, Mr Reece could hardly bury in the sc.nd the monstro� skull that would have got him run in by the first bobby he met. The Owl •sl eyes, clearr..'.':lg in the dark, let.Ve US in the dark. Quotations from The ! IAncet notwithstanciing, po.in is only c.n extreme excitation of the nerves 1 of touch and ho...- !Jal.do mnnaged bis everyday functions with wa.t was necesso ".l.y a dead nervous system is a bigger mystery than any Blake solv And afti.r mo.ny yenrs of following weight-lifting ns a sport, I hnve lllY I own opinion ::.bout hie abnormal strength . But accepting tho unique world of the Union Jack called for no 1110re illlagination than going to the picturds Thero we agree to accept a two-dimensional world as having depth as well. I

27

rfu_th_e_lnn _ _ d_o_f_Blnk __ �om, one h�d_e_illl_P4r_to-a-cc-e-pt_ th_e_�;;�t-ion- thc.t I Blo.ke bad establishod hiJDBelt as the outatandiDg figure supporting the 1::-.:,

und every llllljor cri.lllinal. unavoidllbl.¥ locked horns with b1m, either from I prido in besting tt-essleuth or becauae thoir victimS ignored the voile.� I end c.utomc.tict'.ll.y ran to Bnker Street for bel.p. So convillcing did the atinospbcre become that Sexton Bl.Ake became one of the on.1¥ four figuro: in juvoni.le literature llhicb were followed year in and year out by t.boil· � devotees while they ran, and 1'1hicb becaJ118 cults after publicationc9b.st1d .

Tbe avpetite growing by what it foed11 upon, tho important factor in this power of fascinntion was that Harry Wharton, Tom Men-y, Nelson Leo nnd Bl.nko each bod o weekly paper to themselves, end.a habit ..,.�s formed which was not oo.sily broken. The Sexton Blake Library, with its four

• numbers n month, helped considorably. Nethertbeless, the book form of the 1 1 .library could nover hnve built ll!ld mnintained the atm.osftlere as did the I j wo .. kly Union Juck, und if the cl.nsaic:i.l spirit of Blake hed been ;o:-.,�,_,.,,,L

I intact, the present couple of stories o. month :Ln the library could not .:..nd• would not he.mess tt new generation of fans to the triumphal c=.

l'robo.bly of equal importance, 'WUS tho merit of the more than compot- ! j ent group of authors. A rapid ond generul. survey such as this does not 1 1 a.llow scope for quotation c.mong the nine or ton whom I consider to be out-1 1 standing, however bard it mo.y be to pass over G. Hcmilton Tood, U..1110 . J:tckson, Robert Murrey, Gwyn �a and Andrew Murrey . I must sa.y 1 though,

t.ha.t for sheer impressiveness of writing, the Zenith stories f<..rm c.n id.:i::.l.I 1 introduction to Blake. Qtly 11 eensitivo writer could bcve produced the : gr�ceful and artistic o.lbino, D.Dd in these drzys when Am9rict.:i s�dism and � degenerQcy flood tho bookstc.l.l.e, Anthony Skone 's decisio:i to stop writing 1

I is to be lomentod . (Che can 11 t let.et so.y this much for the Union Jack: in I it hundreds of" stories, it is r11re to find c. crimino.l who is 11 hoollgnn.) !

I 'll1oro are stories, and plency of thoiu, 'Whore tho plot seems to bc..ve Qddled' I between the first idea and the final working out, or where the nutbor seemt to have written them becc.use be hnd to ro.ther than bece.use ho wuntod to. i These form a. moQgre minorit;y, however, ttnd as a general rule the plotting, •

; the characters, and the scyle rove!ll the bo.nds of crnftSlllen in the vein. I i It ien 't much =e lo'lking round i. public library to ectimi.te tho i ro11ding taste:J of tho public: so m.c.ny bouks ar.:i there, unread, bocc.use they 11 a.re clc.ssics or boc.:.use there is no incontlvo to throw out white el.:iftlc..uts!

But in the t11openey-, or rather fourp&DIIY libraries, where the customer ix.ys a.nd the selection ic natur::.l.ly c rofloction of tho demcnd, it is oc.sy to j seo tbut crime and detective stories hold and easy lead over everythint

; else� i:.nd here must be very few people who, in greater or lessor dogNe, · ! do not read such books. I ki.11 time with tbom myself, und the morti I read; tho moro sure I o.m that in the Union Jack can be found everything thc.t canl ' be found in tho books, and that the Sox.ton BlAke authors in invontivonoss, t I fecundi'ty and sheer o.bility could muko millioo-SAle J.11.ckey Spill.a..t10 c.nd bis follow-corruptors of good taste and tho l!hgllah L:l.ng.111ge look liko un \ issue of Billy Bunter's 'Weekly - spel.liJl: and 1111.

1 Add to this what the boob have not got - the unique ai.r of tho days I when Bloke wo.s King and the aentillental recapturi.ng of e. thirty year old I thrill - and let Ee�t"WS,Y ��2 �\°'? ___ _____ _

r ;·-------- J;m�.1111r.vl!..--1ANDilll!lo�.w.SUMMERS��:.: 11Pal.lamana", Elgin Street,

··-----,

· Gordon, New South Wales. , Dear Tam Hol'prton, I

I was grenti., intrigued 'Qr your article in THE OLD BOYS' BOOK COLLECT04 No 21 on "'lhe Australian No. 1111 with the reproduction of the cover of one : of the series of Old Boys 1 Bloods, "Ned Kelly; the Iron Clad Australian I Bushrc.nger." :

You queried, "It would be interesting to learn frOlll some of our Austr:.lirul rec.dare 'Whether his f&lllO still endures in his Mtive land?" My reply is, "It cer� does!" To prove IQ;Y' assertkin I am forwarding you nn o.rticle from c.n Austrlllian mc.guzine of 19491 c.nd c. copy of n booklet, "Kelly:uw.11, c. bibllogrc.J,Oical. listing of c.11 the books worth listing (::.s the compiler sto.tes) on the Kelly Go.ng thc.t hnve been published frOlll 1879 to 194 3 . This includes oversea3 works as well c.s Australian publications ; I think you will be po.rticula.rly interested to note that the very "blood" I . With which your article dealt is listed. It seems it was published in 38 weekly pci.rte . Incidentally 1 11 blunder perpetra tad by the artist on tlw.t cov..r picture was to show Ned Kell¥ with c. iw.'bro hMging from his waist . He carried a rifle c.nd revolvers - but o. sword • • • • • • well! i

From the urticla, "In Pursuit of the Kelly Go.ng", A,M. Magazine, June� 11949, you 1 ll see exnctly how fervently tho meinory of the femous (plenty of ! iAustrc.lians suy in.famous) outlaw still endures in the Kelly country in i Vil toria 'Which Ned c.nd bis gc.ng roamed, 'Ibere is no doubt thc.t ·Ned Kell.1 ·� 1shacle rides c.guin these deys Down Under. The slc.ng expression, 11As game c.� INed Kelly", is in use, <ind Tex Morton, leading Austrnlic.n hillbilly expon- · lent, has n song about him llhlch he composed himself. Especially when refeJtring to politici=, Australians are apt to remark, "Ned Kelly was a gontl�IJID.ll compnred w1 t.h S<Hlnd-ao ! 11 Ne. turnlly, ncross tho gulf of the years, Neq !Kelly he.s been gl.amorisod and 'Whitewashed.

j

Re "Call. the Hissing Persons Burenu", in O.B,B,C. No 1, dealing with Montc.gue Summers and your thoughttha.t 11 a few times Summors included in hi 'A Gothic Bibllogrn(:ily ' books which he had not nctll!l.lJ.y seen", you mo.y be interested to know thot "Biblionews", official me.ge.zino of tho Book Collectors• Society of Australia, in its Feb,, 1952, issue fec.tured nn article qy membor S,L. Larnc.ch on "A Considerati_on of Montague Summers' i 1 A Gothic Bibliogro.(:ily 1 • " ,

Larnach seys, "'Ihe most prolific and popular scribes of the Lloyd 1 school were R;vmer and Thomas Peckott Prest. Among the books nttributed to j him were soaething like one hundred. While recognising that Prest had nn 1 1onormous output, one feels that Summers leaned over backwc.rds in listing ·

1titles under bis nuthorship. For ex£mple, he lists the two following : : 'The Skeletoo Cl.utch; or the Goblet or Gore I I c. r=ce of T. Prest, E. !Lloyd, 18421 t.nd •sawney Bean, the Mc.n-Ec.ter of Midlothian' , E. Lloyd, 1851, Both are quite good titles invented yenrs ago qy J,P, Qualn0 as a ,joke, It is amusing to think that Summers accepted as genuine for over itwenty years two f1ct1tiwa titles of non->OXis�ent books . 'Ibey must have Lr-- ---- 29. · .. � --

'soomed of the utmost rc.rit;y, 'lhie raieo11 an irritating doubt . " J.P. Q®ine i s a veteran Melbourne secondho.nd bookseller and leud1ng

collector o.n.d writer about "bloods". In the (?) issue of "Biblionews" he ho.d rui c.rticle on "Brothers of the Blood". At one time he hnd one of the world' s largest collections (5000) of them, but in recent years hns reduced it to on:cy nn o.ccumul:ation of tho choicest i tol!ls .

The fnct that 1n all sincerity Montague Summers listed two fictitious : "bloods" - invented c.s n joke by Hr Que.ine - strengthens your i:.sslJllU)tion!

that he probably listed a number he ho.d never seen, nor of which had ho I reliable confinno.tion that they even existed .

The O.B.B.C. is the goods ! An outstandingly fine publicution. Ali good wishes, Sincerely,

LEX>N STONE

: (�: W'hile No 2 wus in tho post, the question about Kelly 's fame wo.s •

pc.rtially .:mswerod by the nppea.rance on the bookstalls here of I BUSHRANGERS; MEN WITH A PRICE ON THEIR HEAD, a shilling pnpor-ba.ck printed! in Austrc.J.iu, which devoted most of its spec to the Kelly Gang. Mr Stone i gives the rest of the f£nswer, nnd bis kindness in sending the article and ! tho bibliogra.phy filled in ga.ps. '!he rolli.ng wilderness shown in the :

, photos as the stalllp1ng ground of the gllllg make plain ae no words can why the police were so keen on blnck tra.ckers, KELLYANA is o. most useful ! checklist, although I wa.s surprised to fihd it ran to no more tha.n 42 itemk. There are two I cun c.dd. NED KELLY, a 32 page pc.per-wrapper job, publish-, ec! by The Dnisy &ink Printing o.nd Publishing Co·., Hnnobester, o.bout the

1 boginning of the contwy, \lhich hos c. cut of Kelly in his 11.rmour ll.lld gives quie a good fuctual account, is one. 'lbe other is NED KELLY; OR, THE

: BUSHRANGER, o. four a.ct plny cy Bernard Espino.sse and H. Leader produced ja.t tho Vaudeville Thea.tre, Strand, London, in 1902 . It was subsequently

toured lls THE BUSHRJiNGER, Ivn ·Harding taking the pnrt of Kelly. Mr. Lnrnach 's cOlll!llent is most disillusioning. I boo reckoned "The

Skeleton Clutch; or, '!he Goblet of Gore" along with Reynolds "'Ibo Greek Mo.iden : or, The Banquet of Blood" end the full. title of ''Varney the Vampitii' o.s excellent ex.o.mplos, c.nd I had noticed that neither this nor· "Sawney i i Berui'' appeared in John Medcraft 1s bibliogrn!ily of the Lloyd ' s bloods, 1

! although I took it thc.t he ho.d not seen a copy, But Summers certa.inly I ! accepted it, for he quotes it c.gain in THE VJ.MPIRE: HIS KITH AND KIN •

• What's more, be gives the date of Bean as l.455, a preciseness not matched

!• e lsewhere, as most references speak vo.guely of the fifteenth century, or, I

ulternativel,y, of the reign of Jam.es VI· (i.e . JOJnes I of Engltllld ) , I ; But it is almost incredible that Prest or some other drec.dful writer I ' c!id overlook the Scottish cannibal. Bean (or Benne) seems to hc.ve first ! I c.;>peured in print in captain Alexnndre Sm1 th' s COMPLETE HISTORY OF THE ' : LiVES AND ROBBERIE'..S OF THE MOST NOTORIOUS HIGHVAYMEN, ROBBERS, ETC., 1719, � ' which 1res freely raided for roma.nces dealine with Gilderoy end other ·

j unusual rogues. Prest •s morbid imagination must have lingered longingly •round the necrophagy in the Scottish tllle � look how glontingly be j �ells � the famou11 :pies Mrs Lovett prepiired from the meat supplied by l oeney Todd. Hov coUl.d he resiet such :" subject? T.H.)

ae

.------�· ·-- THA'l' DREADFlJL.·MR, REYNOLDS' ··-· 1 bl Tom Hopperton I CONTINUED FROM No. l . .

'. Although Stif1' avowed.cy hoped to rUin Reynolds by confusing the ! publi c with REYNOLDS•S MAGAZINE, it was a wretched rag from its spiteful I inception. Reynolds ' exposure would probably have broken oven a good

I I I

magazine issued in such a cause : t.he combined wiitight of obloquy and totsl . absence of merit sank it at the thirteenth number. It went dawn with its

guns atill belching, and Stiff fell back on THE LONDON JOURNAL ns his i vehicle in the quarrel. Although he owned the copyright of THE !.fi'STERIES

OF LONDON, and Vickers was publishing the second series for him, Stiff was · ' so insensate in his pursuit of thEl author tho.t be made yet =other dopc.rt-i

· ure, this time into the columns of his recently-founded WEEKLY TL'!E.S. A I so-called review of THE MYSTERIES slated it in the roundest Billingsgate, I end announced that·when Reynolds' series was completed o. 'lbird Series would begin, which, this timo, would be entrusted to a competont o.uthor.

'Ihis competent person eventually turned out to be Tbomns Miller, whom Reynolds held in some esteem, describing him as highly honoure.ble and . very talented. He did, in fact, frequently cOllll!lission stories from Miller in later years. The agreement between Stiff and Miller 'llll.S drawn up, tho copy delivered and the advertisements printed. 'lbe last of Raynolds'

. instalments ready for tho press, when a lawyer ll!lllled Moss presanted himse . to ReynoJ.ds' solicitor and announced that he wished to negotieto with : him O'l.agreement for Reynolds to resume writing for Stiff.

Reynolds saw that this WD.S �n opportunity to settle with Stiff once : nnd for GJ.1, and on 13th September, 1848, n meeting was held of the two · principals a:od the two attorneys . 'lbo amazing Stiff now made an of for of ! two years employment at least to Roynolda, during which he was to write

104 numbers of the projected third series of THE MYSTlliUES OF LONDON at : £5 a weeltly number, and, in addition, ho was to resume editing THE LONDON 1 JOURNAL at a further £5 a woek. Reynolds, who mo.intained a deceptive

I mildness during the discussion, reminded him that be was undor contract to Miller for a third series, and that the editorial chair was alrec.dy filled Stiff replied that ho would unhesitatingly "throw Miller overboard", and that he had him completely in bis power and could do as he wished with him as he had just purcbsed e. novol, "Godfrey Malvern", from him. J,s for the! editor, turning him a'llll.y was no problem.

t Just why Stiff came crawling to his former wri tar is SOlllSthing of :I ; puzzle. If he really thought that only G.W.M. Reynolds could make a i .1success of the new series, he left it late in tho day to decide, and havin�

to bog llJld pray of tho mo.n he had vilified and striven to ruin must have I been mortifying to such a teJ11persment as Stiff ' s . Knowing tba t temper- ' a.ment, it is at least pos11ible tho.t at the back of hie abaseinent wa11 some I I scheme for crushing Reynold11 once he had him in bis grasp age.in, which his tortous mind would have baulked nt ns little as it did at sacrificing

I Miller. Thill exaJ11Ple was hardly likely to have inspired confidence i.n Reynolds, but as be was mortally weary of Stiff llnd bla tricks, be had

31

..--·�� -��- ----, had no need to agitate his brains ponderin( the pros o.nd cone, S!.runming 1

coyness, �o asked for the propoads to be put in writing, e.nd onzy when 1· tho \/ritoen offer wns Sllf'el,y in his lawyer's hands did he reject it.

There the m.o.tter might have ended, tor Reynolds uisplc.yed 0. lllt.gll(lDim-! ity- few of us could allow undor such 11111levolent o.ttacks. Instead of donounci.ne Stiff to tho world, c.nd it wns not until four months l::.tcr, gouded by further onslaughts in THE WEEKLY TIMES, that he published tho ' details. Frank Richarda i'requentl,y remi.ncla us of the Eastern proverb that! contompt will penetrate the hide ot a. tortoise, and the contompt generated11 by this seemed to penetrate even George Stiff 'a boiler-plated epidermis. If it didn't he must have decided that there ws no change to bo got out of Reynolds . Either way, ho lost heart and retired from tho fray,

Reynolds, no doubt, 'llBS delighted that the distraction 11110 ct an ond. Debarred froo carrying on THE MYS1'ERIES OF LONDON under that title (!o'J.ller being re-instated and actually writing the Third Series for Stiff) ho published the story \lhich had been intended to follow tho Second Series, but calling it THE MISTERIF.S OF THE COURl' OF LONDON, In it tho dregs of tho rookeries rubbed shoulders vi.th George III and his children, the Hanoverian princes and princesses being depicted in murder, seduction, rapo, incest, infa.ntcide, abortion, kidnapping, the perverting of justice and practically every crime in tho calendar bar sheop-atoo.llng. Queen Victoria's 11\ofo are not amused!" froze o. h&rmless anecdote. It is fascinating to speculate if she over read THE MYSTERIES OF THE COURl' o.nd, if so,, how she describod the impression made ey the antics of her aunts and uncles therein.

THE CORAL ISLAND ws still going strong as a sorio.l, while THE PIXY; OR, THE UNBAPTISED aiILD, and ROBERT MACAillE; OR, THE FRENCH BANDIT IN ENGLAND wero being prepared for issue in penny numbers. On top of this litorary work, the Clio.rtist agitation wus at its height, and Reynolds was 1 the chairmD.n of the Chartist executive committee and the loading spokesman of the "Rlyllical Force" Qiartists .

His actual polltico.l creed was ro.ther nebulous. Karl Marx denounced· I him o.s "a boUJBlois adventurer". '!his wns no particular distinction, as '

M:i.rx sco.rifiod all tho English socio.lists and radicals in turn. The Germ.an exile had worked out a comprehensive theoretical basis for � socinl181D1 ' and it naturally galled him to find Reynolds and the like lor.ping on their. horses and galloping off in all directions ss their hearts and easily touched sentiments happenod to dictate. As near as possible, Reynolds'

1 ideas co.n be sUllllled up in his own words 1 "I consider the rich in this i count;y to be too rich, and the poor too poor • • • • If the toil of an agricul;. l tural labourer be productive of throe powids ll. wook to his mastor, 1 do not

11ish him to be forced to bo forced to drag out an existence of semi- · l st4rvation on eight shillings a weok • • • • I do not scy that you should equally share the pro!'its of your employer: I admit that � must be e.dequ-latel,y recompensed for his outla;y of capit<i.l • • interest • • • risks • • bad debts • •

arxi anxiety of mind • • • " Reynolds h11d a pathetic faith in what education I would do to rsgenorate J!hgl..o.nd 1 he ws c.lso willinG to give a hlllld to , almost. o.eything which would aid the levelling ')I) and down of the extremes,

. 81

f Thar: �o. ;��nojs about his h&.trod of roydt,y and the &lgl.ish or;s·��t 'racy, which he regar'!d as e. gigwitic .leech suclcing the life-blood out of 1 !tho country. "That illustrious noodle", Prince Albert, specinl.l.y · roused f .his ire, but he l.&.id his ebillelAgh, about him with illlpartie.l zenl i:;aong i the lesser nobilit,y . REYNOLDS•S WEEKLY NEWSPAPER, which htl foun11ed in 18:; , lwLs open to everyone with i. eooial grievance, and· probubly �chieved i..n i eminence of hc.tred among the upper classes such as no other journal has . I ever known. It w&.s bwmed from a� barracks for =l\Y years but whet aces

its c1:us<.ding count for now? The � encyclopedia to I11ention it confine:i I : it:>clf to tho rEllll&.rk thc.t. it wi..11 first in REY!mLD& 'S that the Birt)- ., . Mc.rrie.ges s.nd Doi.the e.nnouncements were calJ.ed the Hi.tchem, MLtchen r.<:Y.l t Des,;x.tchem Colwun.

Tnis c.ccount of G,W .M. Reynolds I turbulent career, with i... bibl.iogra,lll. ana 6. few notes on his works was intended to run to four inst..Li!ents. The. t is not �ossible, as events have turned out, but '11hether tho bibliogra;.hy is published J.ater or not at ell, I do wish to ex�ress m.y sincere thanks

I to the .Pro,ir:llotors of REYNOLDS NEWS, \Ibo gave me the run of their files nnd, j libri;.ry, and, oven moreso, to l-lr. A.W. Lawson, who due into his collectioni ; for 1.. couJJle of datos which would otherwise huve eluded me, &.nd who l.<n1t ,

I me scraJJbooks c.f most ri;.re .material, . I !"!any, ma.ny col.1.eotors fil;ht shy of Victorian penw-nlll�be1· fiction. They can hE..rdly be blli.med, as collecting dreadfuls can be l<ll cxpen:iive . i hobby, entc..iling much searching, ofton with poor results . SO!!ls1 too, who .

I do dip in their big toes, receive e. shock i:.t the crudity of. whc.t they readl 1 -- not mora.lJ", unless they are h;yporsensitive, but 1..t <ij;E..lling English, ! unofficially SimjJlified spelling, and e. genoral air of being written by I I seilli-illiterates . None of those things apJJ:lieeto Reynolds, who w1..e, boyoru:t: argument, tho king of the Victoriun ,iopu.lur writers (if so 1..rdent 1.. Revubl

I lican will 1J&rdo11_ tho t0rm.) He is not ne1..r.l.y so long-wi.�de� as Dickens, Ainsworth or 3ulw�r, ulthough he did not escape fate.ct fr= t.n.e f:.;shion I

I of his tues: hi:: ill11>gination w1..s superior aey of them in the genre 1 and hb 1 was the plot-s;.inno1· suverb of the century. Becc.uee ho wus so i>O!Jular, . 1 Reynolds' works &re easy to come qy1 even in tho ordincry second-h1..nd bo� 1 shOJJS, t..nd the rei.der who is willing to confine himself to the re.l'rints i� J John Dicks 1 pii.per-bucked series can ,tlJ!ILBS SS volumes for no 1:1orl:! than ho 1 } would pay for 1.. si.Jllilar number of blue ·MAGNETS. Cloth covers wi.i.l cost �

more , but not much. It is hardly possible to go wrong in 5alllpling Raynolds, but I think

th1..t either the First Series of THE MYSTERIES OF LONDON or the Firat Seri of TUE l1Y�TERIES OF THE COURT OF LOifDON m<..ke an ideal starting point . Eu.E runs to 000 p1.1.ges, und never h1..ve aoo pagea been so concentr1..ted in r.<ctio

I and i.mL.ginution. Do you wonder if they can grip you? Weil, there wc.s no one week L� e solid twelve years from 1845 to 1856 in which an instalment�

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of THE ;.fY&TERIES did not ap;.iear . Crowds wc.i ted outside the newsagents fo J COJJies. '!he gross so.lee must he.ve topped tho quc. tor million =rk, i;.nd th I book roused more frenzied vituperation than c.ey before or since. You mus

agree tht.t it hc.d something. No, as a "dreadful ", it hed everything! . � '

FOR fW.E : Cems (all periods, �. ld, l� am 2d issues), Penny Populars,

, Scboolbo)'8 1 Own Libraries, J!o79' Friend Libraries, Modern Boys, Triumsns, 1 � Vw:iguards, Union Jacks (� and 2d issues), Boys1 Realms, Thrill.era, School and Sports, rare early Hamilton stories in The Marvel, lbion Jack, Vanguard, etc, 1 Holiday Aluluals 1 Volume One of the Boys 1 CNn Pa.i;or, : VolUlllessClne and Two or THe aa,s t Journal, Volumes of The Captain, Dc1)'a of i Englund, Beeton ' s BctYs1 Own Magazine, etc., etc.

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Vi ori " looois11 an 11dre&.df "• including Bluesldn, Black Beso, 'Ihe Black HigblleyllWl The Second Series of Black Bess), 'lbe l.fo.niac fut.her; or, Tho Victim of Seduction, Wat Tyler, The Pirate �en, The Blue Dwarf, 'lbe Kill{; of Diamonds, Vidocq • s Life in Paris, Flol'Bnce Grahl.JD, the Pirate 1s Daughter, ottawub, the !Ast Cbief of the Delawares, ' Clifton Grey, Tom Floremall ts Scboold�s, Tom Flore:m&ll in Seb.rcb of His Father, ThG Black Cavalier, 'Ibe Bandit Muleteer, Tom WU.drake's Schoold.l.ys, Young Tom1s School.days, 'lbe Young Ap]Jrentice, or, the Watchwords of Old .London, 'lbe Boyhood Days of Jack Straw, Captain Jack, Jack and Joe; or The Troublesome Twins, l2 volumes of Jack Harke.way, covering -Schooldi.ye, Af'ter Scboo..Ldo.ys, or Ashoro IUld Afloat, Among the Brigands, Round the World, In Chim.., In Austro.lia, In Creece, and His Boy Tinker.

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I NUMBER 0� 1 ll

OFl''ERS INVITED for tho first issues of: ,}d Gem, Newnas 1 Black Bess ,

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