Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Book [1950?]

I started writing about the BBC annuals in a previous post and felt it was getting too big, so have decided to focus on each book separately.

Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Book [1950?] – Cover

Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Book [1950?] – Contents Page

It’s unfortunate that there is no publication or copyright date on this annual. It’s published by Sampson, Low, Marston & Co. Ltd and apparently edited by Uncle Mac himself – Derek McCulloch. I say apparently only because I would think he was far too busy to edit this himself, but I might be wrong! The Contents page has gorgeous artwork decorating the border drawn by Helen Jacobs. The endpapers are by her as well with her wonderful identifying signature in a ribbon.

I’m adding this as text so it’s findable by search engines and future historians!

CONTENTS

• Bill Aylesbury at the Circus Parties by Geoffrey Dearmer
• Parties that go by Derek McCulloch
• Competitions by Derek McCulloch
• A Piano for Jean-Jacques by Antonia Ridge
• The Mystery of Migration by Lt. Cmdr Peter Scott MBE, DSC
• Anna’s Christmas by Harry Farjeon
• With George in the Balkans by Bernard Newman
• Ponds are Wonderful by Jack Lester FZS
• Four Poems by Olive Dehn
• Monday the Rabbit by W. A. Rathkey
• Sketching is Good Fun by W. R. Dalzell
• H.M. Tower of London by Col. E. H. Carkeet-James O.B.E., M.C.
• Lear Cottage by Olive Dehn
• Two Creatures of the Night by Brian Vesey FitzGerald FLS
• Rinloon the Hare by H. Mortimer Batten
• The Yellow Balloon. by Ken Francis
• “Jezebel” by Meryon Vance
• Paddy and His Cat by Alan K. Taylor
• Odds-Bobs-and-Mackerel by George Baker

Illustrators include Helen Jacobs, Weiss, Barbara C Freeman, Alex Jardine, Cicely Steed, Lowell, Gale & Bruce.

Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Book [1950?] – Title Page

I’d love to be certain of who this artist is. This page faces Uncle Mac himself with the artist’s signature If anyone wants to hazard a guess I’d be grateful – it looks like Weiss to me.:

Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Book [1950?] – Title page – Who is THAT artist who has signed their work??

Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Book [1950?] – p.90 illustration by Alex Jardine

I’d never heard of Alex Jardine – or more accurately I remember nothing about this name – and his work, which can be found easily online. He was born Alexander William Jardine (1913-1987) in Essex, where he attended Brentwood School. Jardine studied at St. Martin’s School of Art and in Brussels. He was responsible for a river fish series of stamps for the General Post Office (1983), also completing commissions for Imperial Chemical Industries, Bakelite Ltd, Swedish Travel Bureau and publishers such as Collins, Eyre & Spottiswoode and Hutchinson. He was a member of the Society of Wildlife Artists and Society for Wildlife Art of the Nations and showed widely internationally. Lived in Chislet, Kent.

He appears to have little listed in magazines, although that may be an indexing issue, and many dustjackets for novels, particularly, early on in his career, crime fiction. One wonders whether Ethelind Fearon requested him to do the art for her books as he seems to have illustrated at least seven of her titles

A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF ALEX JARDINE’S PUBLISHED ARTWORK

• The Adventures of a Gadabout, George W. Houghton, London: Selwyn & Blount, 1936
• The Case of the Bonfire Body, Christopher Bush, London: Cassell, 1936
• Mystery at the Rectory, A. Fielding, London:Collins Crime Club, 1936
• Black Cats are Lucky, A. Fielding, London:Collins Crime Club, 1937
• The First Adventure Featuring Woozy, a Thing Found by Jane and Pip lying by the Roadside., F. A. M. Webster, London: Juvenile Productions 1937
• Jewels in the Dust, Joan Conquest, London: Jarrolds, 1937
• Cafe Royal Cocktail Book W. J. Tarling, London: Pall Mall Ltd.,1937
• The Quest for Lost Legend, F. A. M. Webster, London: Juvenile Productions, 1937
• These Names Make Clues, E.C.R. Lorac, London:Collins Crime Club, 1937
• Island of Spies, J. M. Walsh, London: Collins Crime Club, 1937
• The Six Queer Things, C. St. John Sprigg, London: Herbert Jenkins, 1937
• Octagon House, Phoebe Atwood Taylor, London: Collins Crime Club, 1938
• The Red Mirror Mystery, Gret Lane, London: Herbert Jenkins, 1938
• Nine Doctors and a Madman, Elizabeth Curtiss, London: Herbert Jenkins, 1938
• Lessinger Laughs Last, Richard Essex, London: Herbert Jenkins, 1938
• Mrs Warrenders Profession, G.D.H. & M. Cole, London: Collins Crime Club, 1938
• Murder in the Dispensary Jolyon Carr, London: Herbert Jenkins, 1938
• Keep on Dancing, F.E. Baily, London: Odhams, 1938
• The Marrowby Myth, Wyndham Martyn, London: Herbert Jenkins., 1938
• Scotland Yard Alibi, Don Betteridge, London: Herbert Jenkins, 1938
• Figure Away (An Asey Mayo Mystery) Phoebe Atwood Taylor, London: Collins, The Crime Club., 1938
• Freak Museum, R. R. Ryan, London: Herbert Jenkins, 1938
• Raven among the Rooks S. P. B Mais, (Stuart Petre Brodie), London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1939.
• Freedom for Two, Jolyon Carr, London: Herbert Jenkins, 1939
• Secret Errand, Norman Deane, London: Hurst & Blackett, 1939
• Slow Poison, John Rowland, London: Herbert Jenkins, 1939
• Death Visits the Summer-House, Gret Lane, London: Herbert Jenkins, 1939
• The Man who Murdered Goliath, Geoffrey Homes, London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1940
• Stop that Man, Robert ladline, London: Herbert Jenkins, 1940
• Broadcast, Michael Hayes, London: Herbert Jenkins, 1940.
• Murder At Night, James Corbett, London: Herbert Jenkins, 1940
• Dark Nights. Thomas Burke, London: Herbert Jenkins 1944
• Shake Hands For Ever, Edward Woodward, London: John Long, 1946
• Ladysfingers, A. A. Thomson, Falkland L. Cary, London: Herbert Jenkins., 1947
• Murder Too Late, Gordon Ashe, London: John Long, 1947
• The Unfolding Years, Arthur Gask, London: Herbert Jenkins, 1947
• House of Mist, Maria-Luisa Bombal, London: Cassell, 1948
• Dark Mystery, Gordon Ashe, London: John Long, 1948
• “The Story of the Circus”, W. Buchanan-Taylor in Christmas Pie [December 1948]
• “Drink and the Devil” L. R. Burrage in Summer Pie [June 1948]
• The Fairy Tradition In Britain, Lewis Spence Rider and Company, 1948
• The Making of a Garden Ethelind Fearon, London: Macdonald, 1948.
• At Dawn I Die, James Corbett, London: Herbert Jenkins, 1949
• Mascarade: Four Short Stories, Gabriel Chevallier, London: Martin Secker & Warburg Ltd., 1950
• Itchen Memories G. E. M Skues, (George Edward Mackenzie), London: Herbert Jenkins, 1951.
• The Survivor. Jules Supervielle (Translated from the French by John Russell). London: Martin Secker and Warburg Limited, 1951
• Murder Out of School, Miles Burton, London: Collins Crime Club, 1951
• The Wild Swans and other tales based on the ancient Irish. Ethel Mannin, London: Jarrolds, 1952.
• The Reluctant Gardener Ethelind Fearon, London: Herbert Jenkins, 1952.
• The Reluctant Cook Ethelind Fearon, London: Herbert Jenkins, 1953.
• Luron for Angling, Published by I.C.I. Ltd. Welwyn Garden City, Herts. 48 pages with 5 full-page illustrations by Alex Jardine, vignettes & drawings of knots 1953.
• Murder with Roses, Adeline McElfresh, London: Foulsham, 1953
• The Reluctant Hostess, Ethelind Fearon, London: Herbert Jenkins, 1954.
• The Face Of Innocence, William Sansom, Reprint Society, 1954
• Jules Verne, Marguerite Allotte De La Fuye, Staples,1954
• For poachers only, and, the Giles stories. Jack Chance, London: Adam & Charles Black, 1955.
• How we got our flowers. Formerly entitled: The Coming of the Flowers. A. W. Anderson, London: Ernest Benn., 1956
• How to keep Pace with your Daughter Ethelind Fearon, London: Herbert Jenkins, 1958.
• A geography of Canada, Elmer Sager, Toronto: [s.n.], 1960.
• Flower Growing for Ungardeners Ethelind Fearon, London: Herbert Jenkins, 1963.
• A Privy in the Cactus Ethelind Fearon, London: Herbert Jenkins, 1965.
• Shooting Woodpigeons, Published by Birmingham: Imperial Metal Industries (Kynoch) Ltd. 1966.
• A Bird in my hands G. M Glaskin, (Gerald Marcus), London: Herbert Jenkins, 1967.
• Forestry and Pheasants (Eley Game Advisory Station Booklet 15. Shooting booklet.), Fordingbridge: Eley Game Advisory Station. 1967
• Travels in the Balkans, John Higgins, The Travel Book Club., 1973
• Country calendar. Godfrey Baseley, London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1975.
• A country compendium, Godfrey Baseley, London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1977.
• Fishing with Terry and son: from the Daily Express, Conrad Frost. Illustrated by Ronald Embleton and Alex Jardine, London: Express Newspapers, c1987.

Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Book [1950?] – p.28 illustration by Alex Jardine

Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Book [1950?] – p.29 illustration by Peter Scott

Interestingly, this is the only date I could find in this annual – 1948. So we can definitely say it was published after 1948!!

Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Book [1950?] – p.39 illustration by Helen Jacobs

A lovely piece here by Helen Jacobs for the story “Anna’s Christmas”

Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Book [1950?] – p.74 illustration by Unknown

Here again I feel I should know who this artist is. The image accompanies “Lear Cottage” and a lovely focus on the picture – crucial to the story. But who drew it?

Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Book [1950?] – p.120 illustration by “Bruce”

This last image shows our old Children’s Hour favourite Odds-Bobs-and-Mackerel. The artwork is very detailed and signed “Bruce”

They scribbled on their copybooks – Cartoonists from the Daily Mail

Barbara ran March House Books for 20 years but still runs a blog on which she posted a listing of sorts for the contents of the Daily Mail Annuals which is something I’d thought about doing. It’s always interesting to see what people highlight. I’m always on the look out for artists and illustrations, which often get overlooked.

I tripped over a picture on ebay that I thought worth preserving here which, until or if I ever get a copy of the 1947 Annual, can be replaced.

Daily Mail Annual 1947 Cover

Daily Mail Annual 1947 pp.118-119

Here we see various Daily Mail artists: Illingworth, “Trog”, “Spot”, “Neb”, Glenn and Phipps with examples of their work. I’ve written a bit about Leslie Illingworth before and if you want to buy an original self-portrait, The Political Cartoon Gallery have one . “Trog” is of course, Wally Fawkes who created the newspaper strip “Flook”. The next one is “Spot” and the clue here is the mouse, the once famous “Teddy Tail of the Daily Mail” drawn by Arthur Potts in one of Teddy’s later incarnations. Then we have Ronald Niebour “Neb” – who drew a strip in the London Evening News called “Mr. Midge”. Next, William St. John Glenn, signing himself as “Glenn”. Lastly “Phipps” is Julian Phipps, husband of MI5 agent Joan Miller (Mrs. Joanna Phipps).

Educated at Lancing College and Oxford, Phipps started with the Daily Mail straight from university in 1929. At one stage he drew fashion drawings and then a strip ‘Judy’ for the Evening Standard. He was Art Editor of the Daily Mirror from 1949 to 1953, and then rejoined Associated Newspapers as Art Editor. (Information from Richard Ford’s site).

Leslie Caswell – additional piece

I’m always humbled when writing a little piece and sharing images, when I get responses!

Recently I have some correspondence with Peter Jones regarding Leslie Caswell and wanted to share what he said:

I have a fine pencil drawing by their father of the bust of Nefertiti in Berlin dated 1940. It belonged to my father who worked in the Admiralty during the war and the family story was that it was by someone he knew at that time. I found this blog today and it’s the first time I knew anything about Leslie Caswell. Thank you. Peter Jones

and then , after asking him if I could share the image, Peter said:

I have attached a photo of the drawing by Leslie Caswell of the ancient Egyptian sculpture of Nefertiti that is in Berlin. I don’t want to get the drawing out of its sealed glazed frame and it won’t fit on my scanner, so a photo with reflections will have to do for now. Sorry about that. I rather doubt Leslie Caswell could have been behind the scenes in Berlin in 1940 (or is there a story to be told?) so I wonder what prompted the drawing and what model he used. Best wishes Peter Jones

I searched and found Wikipedia has a nice article on this icon and I’ve pointed to the relevant section which tells us the bust was first displayed to the public in 1923 and then stored, during the war, in Berlin but in a secure location to avoid the British bombings. I’ve read The Berlin Diaries 1940-1945 of Marie Missie Vassiltchikov recently and they certainly make the reader feel the oppression of bombings. So the bust was first stored in the vault of the Prussian Governmental Bank (Die Preussische-staatsbank) which was dissolved by the Allies in 1947 (there’s some current speculation regarding the loss of the equity held in the bank at that time) and then moved in 1941 to a Flak Tower bunker – presumably in the Tiergarten. At the end of the war it was moved by the Americans from a salt mine at Merkers/ Kaiseroda to Wiesbaden. In 1956 it was returned to West Berlin.

Now the question is when did Caswell see the bust of Nefertiti? Did he visit Germany between 1923 and 1939 (the start of the War)? In 1937 he was in the Slade School of Art and in the summer of 1938 received his degree at the University of London. Is it feasible that, so close to the appeasement and then declaration of war, he was in Berlin? Then we know from his children he served initially in the Royal Artillery in Burma but “was slightly deafened by the 25 pounder guns under his command. He was reassigned as an official war artist in India recording the actions and personnel in the Burma campaign and also drew and painted many members of the British Forces, African regiments, Gurkhas, Indian scenes, beggars, villagers, Mahrajas and beautiful Tibetan women.” ~Hamilton Caswell

So I suspect it’s more likely Leslie Caswell saw it in a magazine or journal, as it was a ‘recent’ discovery – for the public at least – when he was studying at the Slade. A quick search of the Illustrated London News shows at least 27 articles mentioning the bust during 1930-1939 and the image below appeared in issue dated 6 May 1933 (and no, the image mentions the cover but that’s different from the version Caswell drew above!)

Thanks so much to Peter Jones for sharing this image.

The Women of Peasenhall

The Women of Peasenhall

THE BLURB

“If, as people were saying, the new century was to be the century of the common people, the Peasenhall case was an appropriate overture. The victim was a servant girl, the accused was a workman, the witnesses were, almost without exception, villagers”
This novel is based on a famous real-life murder in Suffolk in 1902. Rose Harsent, a young housemaid, was found with her throat cut in the kitchen of Providence House, Peasenhall, early on a Sunday morning in June.
She was pregnant, and there had been some attempt to set fire to the body. All the evidence pointed clearly to the guilt of William Gardiner, a leading figure at the chapel where she worshipped. There had been strong rumours about Gardiner and Rose.
Gardiner’s little house, where he lived with his expectant wife, Georgina and six children, was only a stone’s throw away from Providence House, and a letter of assignation for the night of her death was found in Rose’s bedroom. Gardiner was put on trial for wilful murder.

To this strange story Mr. White brings the perception and wit that made his earlier novel, The Smartest Grave, so outstanding.
He conjures up the ‘Silly Suffolk’ of a bygone age, its characters and its oddities: such as the ‘pikers’, the ‘bible bangers’ and the ‘proxymater’ (a wife-substitute for a man during his real wife’s pregnancy). And he provides a new and plausible solution to the nagging mystery of who really killed Rose Harsent.

R. J. WHITE has been a Fellow of Downing College, Cambridge, for some twenty years. He has also served in his College as Dean and Librarian. Since the end of the Second World War he has been a University Lecturer in History.

---

This book came to my attention because of its Sixties cover plus the fact I spent some lovely holidays in a cottage in Peasenhall during the early to mid-Eighties. I have to admit we didn’t stay in the village itself much as Aldeburgh, Southwold and Dunwich called. When people talk of ‘sleepy’ Suffolk we totally agreed with this summary. It was wonderful driving at a lower speed limit and sitting on shingle beaches with an ice cream and frequenting secondhand bookshops, such as the one in Yoxford itself, just up the road from Peasenhall.

The cover design was by Bentley, Farrell and Burnett, a rather famous trio, it turns out. For years I have owned another cover by them, the Hunter Davies Beatles biography. Mike Dempsey’s article from Eye (no. 93 vol. 24, 2017) is available and will tell you more on the trio (Mike’s blog is a great read too).

The complete dustjacket

This novel – and it is a novel – recounts “the free reconstruction upon the facts of the Peasenhall crime of 1902”. It is based on William Henderson’s volume “Trial of William Gardiner” (1935) and John Rowland’s “The Peasenhall Mystery” which was published in 1962 and might be why White became interested in the story. Unsolved murders are always intriguing and this one is no exception. A quick search on the Internet for “Rose Harsent”, the victim, shows many hits all regurgitating the few facts. Forensic science was not very well developed at the start of the 20th century and Sherlock Holmes was fictional too, but many others have tried explaining the case – Wikipedia alone has a citation index containing 28 entries. White’s conclusion, put in the mouth of his policeman is interesting and chimes with some people’s view of village life.

FACTS:

Peasenhall is a village on the Yoxford road, 6 miles from Halesworth and 5 from Saxmundham. The night of 31 May saw a typical Suffolk storm arise, soaking all in the village. On the following morning of 1 June 1902 Rose Harsent’s body, a housemaid for the Crisps, was found by her father who always brought her clean linen on a Sunday. She was found at the foot of the stairs in the kitchen with her throat cut and her body partially burnt. A medicine bottle was found which belonged to Mrs Gardiner which had contained medicine until being filled with paraffin. Three letters were found in Rose’s bedroom, all of which were quite obscene. Frederick Davis, confessed he was the author of them, and had written them at Rose’s request as she liked the titillation.

More importantly an unsigned note found, read:
“Dear R, I will try to see you tonight at 12 o’clock at your place. If you put a light in your window at ten for about ten minutes, then you can put it out again. Do not have a light in your room at 12 as I will come round the back way.”

Rose’s character was well known and access to her upstairs room in the Crisps’ house was via a rear entrance which according to local knowledge was well used.

Contrasting Rose, was her alleged murderer, the main suspect throughout, William Gardiner, a father of 7 children and a member of the Primitive Methodists. He worked as a carpenter and foreman for Smyth & Sons in the village, producers of seed-drills and was known to be of good character. William Gardiner’s wife, knew of the allegations made about a sexual encounter between Gardiner and Rose which resulted in a recent inquiry in the chapel, but knew them to be rubbish.

On the night of the storm, at about 10pm, Gardiner was seen outside with neighbour Harry Burgess, discussing a thunderstorm heading their way and sure enough around 11.30pm, it began in force. The Gardiners visited their next-door neighbour, Rose Dickinson, and left her house around 1am to 2am after which Gardiner claimed he slept until about 8.30am Sunday morning. His wife claimed she had been feeling unwell and gone downstairs. A neighbour corroborated this as the walls between the cottages were thin. She returned to bed at 4am.

In terms of evidence, that morning brought firstly the testimony of James Morriss, a gamekeeper who claimed he saw footprints between Providence House and the Gardiners’ home in the rain on the road. This, of course was not able to be verified after the village awoke and the sun came out.
A neighbour backing onto the Gardiner’s property saw the fire roaring smoke early on the morning and the suspicion led to the police wondering if bloodied clothes had been disposed of.
The issue of the candle has been raised. A later voice made out that Gardiner could not see it from his nearby cottage because of the angle of the buildings to each other.
Handwriting experts disagreed about whether the important letter was written by Gardiner and Georgina agreed it looked somewhat like his hand, but no, it wasn’t.

A post-mortem examination showed Rose had been stabbed in the chest, had a bruise on her face and jaw, and had hand injuries that suggested she’d tried to fight off a knife attack and more importantly Rose was six months pregnant.

Gardiner had his knife on him and it had traces of blood – explained by Gardiner simply as obvious, he caught rabbits and skinned them with it. Why did he not dispose of such an incontrovertible clue when he did ‘burn his bloody clothes’? Inconsistency and circumstantial evidence appear to have been the order of the day in these trials. Some people changed their testimonies – maybe having had time to consider what they were doing.

Strangely, or maybe not, when one considers the investigating policeman had never handled a murder before, the police considered this a suicide and neglected to arrest their chief suspect until the 3 June – two days later. His trial began on 4 November that year in Ipswich and the jury returned a verdict of indecision – 11 guilty; one not guilty which led to the re-trial in which, ironically, the jury came back with the reverse: 11 not guilty; 1 guilty! It’s likely that by this time (21-24 January 1903) that poor Rose, being dead and buried, was not as in evidence as the poor man and his wife dragged before the courts once again. The judge decided to issue a “Nolle prosequi” – meaning, although not acquitted of murder, the judge did not feel inclined to further pursue the case against the defendant.

Gardiner and family disappeared afterwards to make a new life in London and Rose was buried in Peasenhall where her grave can still be seen – online too.

I have scanned the photographic postcard I found in the book which, after some investigation is of Providence House – which is not named after the religious concept but after the insurance company.

Providence House, Peasenhall looking East

Fifty [Stories] by Odhams

THE “FIFTY” SERIES by Odhams

On my Raymond Sheppard blog, I’ve published two illustrations I have by Raymond Sheppard which were published in books by Odhams. Both start with the title “Fifty…”. I was intrigued and couldn’t find anywhere listing them all so here’s my attempt to bring together disparate sources in one place.

I  have only ever seen one of these books with a dustjacket – that had only text – no illustrations on the front. However most of those I have seen have embossed images on them either on the spine and/or on the front. The majority appeared around 1936-1938 as far as I can see but the hook “Fifty” was used by Odhams before these dates and in the 50s and 60s. They appear to form a series which I’ve attempted to list below. The illustrators are interesting as they feature work by Ronald Lampitt, E. S. Annison, Dudley Cowes, J. Harris, Cyril Holloway, T. Grainger Jeffrey, H. Charles Paine, Eric Parker, Pisani, Tony Royle, James Short, A. Sindall, E. B. Thurstan, S. Tresilian, Gilbert Wilkinson, S. van Abbe, Norman Howard, Clive Uptton, Dudley S. Cowes, De Mornay,  and Yates Wilson. If anyone wants me to show them these, let me know

• Fifty Adventures into the Unknown 1938 [Starts: The Mystery of the Matto Grosso – Denis Clark. Includes: He Gave Britain a Continent – Owen Rutter. Flowers from the Roof of the World – Hugh Broadbridge. The Yukon Trail – W.G.C. Shebbeare. The Crankiest Expedition in History – Charles J. Seymour. Ends: Alone on a Pacific Island – Anon].
  
• Fifty Amazing Escapes
• Fifty Amazing Hairbreadth Escapes 1937 [The windjammer film / A.J. Villiers — When Al Capone was ambushed / J. Bilbo — The fever ship / Anonymous — Shipwreck and a stabbing / Dare Dubois-Phillips — An Afghan raid / Achmed Abdullah — Escape / Francesco Nitti — The crash in the mountains / Lowell Thomas — Called out to be shot / Prince Tuganoff — Cannibal gymnastics / F.H. Law — Gales in the hurricane zone / Alain Gerbault — Escape from the Foreign Legion / M. Donovan — Journey to the Forbidden City / M. Huc — Escape from the Soviets / T. Tchernavin — The madman in the desert / Ex-Legionnaire 1384 — Adrift in an open boat / Sir J. Barrow — The flight to Varennes / Madam Campan]
• Fifty Amazing Secret Service Dramas [Authors include: Sir Basil Thomson, Marthe McKenna, Dr A K Graves, Lord Baden-Powell, S T Falsted, E T Woodhall, Bernard Newman, Charles Lucieto] 
• Fifty Amazing Stories Of The Great War 1936
• Fifty enthralling stories of the mysterious east – see contents here
  
• Fifty Events that Amazed the World
• Fifty Famous Detectives of Fiction 1948 – see Goodreads for contents
• Fifty Famous Detective Stories 1948
• Fifty Famous Fights in Fact and Fiction Hardback 1932
• Fifty Great Adventures that Thrilled the World 1937
• Fifty Great Sea Stories 1937
• Fifty Greatest Rogues, Tyrants and Criminals
• Fifty Great Disasters and Tragedies that shocked the world
• Fifty Masterpieces of Mystery
  
• Fifty Mutinies, Rebellions and Revolutions
• Fifty Strangest Stories Ever Told
• Fifty Thrilling Wild West Stories [Why the Wild West Was Wild by F E Sutton. The Borrowed Brand by Paul Evan Lehman. The Long Arm of the Mounted by Harry Sinclair Drago. Bully of The Town by Tom Roan. Blue Eyes and Blue Steel by Charles H Snow. Bill Latimers Tree by W D Hoffman. In the Mexican Quarter by Tom Gill. Without Fear or Favour by William MacLeod Raine. Battle,s End by Max Brand. Grub Delayed by Archie Joscelyn. Horseshoe Law in Misty Sink by William A Todd. Thief! by Will Jenkins. The Treasure of Iron Dome, by Charles H Snow. The Sheriff Was a Runt by Will Jenkins. Broken Courage by Charles Wesley Sanders. Reward for an Outlaw by Herbert Sullivan. The Reverend Chawles by George Goodchild. The Sheriff of Crevasse County by George Brydges Rodney. Ghosts of the Cimarron by Harry Sinclair Drago. The Killers by George Brydges Rodney. He Belonged West by Christopher Culley. The School Maam of Selwood Flats by Paul Evan Lehman. Fighting Fool by Tom Roan. A Reason for Wrath by Johnston Ma C ulley. Three Little Calves by Frank C Robertson. Change of Name by George S Surrey. Death badge by Lee Bond. The Cave of Death by James Denson Sayers. Singing Lead by Eugene Cunningham Texas Ranger by Lester Gregory. Rustled Herd by Lester Gregory. The Whip Hand by George Brydges Rodney. The Marquis and Miss Sally by O Henry. Kid Cyclone by Leo Grex. This Worm Has Fangs by James Denson Sayers. Six Gun Justice by Louis Gray. Million-dollar Burros by H C Wire. A Mounties Code by Canon Risdon. Man of Ice by Claude Rister. When the Coach Was Held up by George Thorne. El Roded by R B Cunninghame Graham. Warrior Woman by Frank Roland Conklin. A Vengeance by Proxy by G S Wallington. A Doubtful Experiment by Gerald Sussex. Vigilante Vengeance by Joseph F Hook. Two Snakes and a Man by Lloyd Eric Reeve. Maverick Water by David Lavender. Riding With the Mail by Clarence E Mulford. The Phantom of the Rio Grande by Jay Allen Dunn. Gunsmoke in Raimondo by Denver Bardwell] – For Illustrators see below
  
• Fifty True Love Stories [Horace Theaker, Mrs Magdalene Roff, Mona Scanlon, Arthur Jones, Douglas Howarth, RF Gosney, Mrs Alice Ford, Mrs Mary Charles, Mary Brady, Irene Ballington]
• Fifty True Stories: Stranger Than Fiction 1936 [Authors include P.C. Wren, Rt. Hon Winston Churchill, H. Rider Haggard, Mrs Belloc Lowndes, Lord George Sanger Twenty Four Hours in the Foreign Legion – P.C.Wren. Includes: The Circus People Take Revenge – ‘Lord’ George Sanger. The Luck of an Earthquake – Fred Walker. The Forest of Illusion – Roger Courtney. Ends: The Man Who Snatched a Throne – Amir Habibullah].
• Fifty world famous heroic deeds – see contents here
  
• The Fifty Most Amazing Crimes Of The Last 100 Years 1936

Fifty Amazing Hairbreadth Escapes

Fifty Amazing Stories Of The Great War

Fifty Amazing Secret Service Dramas

Fifty Great Sea Stories

Fifty Thrilling Wild West Stories – illustrators list

William Timym

A puma drawn by William Tymym

What do the statue of Guy the Gorilla, Blue Peter and Woman magazine have in common? I expect you’ve guessed the name which connects these three things!

I used to have in my possession the TV Times Rolf Harris Safari Album from 1972 from when it was first published. I can’t remember whether it was free inside the TV Times or I sent off for it but I loved the wildlife drawings and artwork. It was a while into collecting the series of pictures, which were free in the TV Times, that I found the artist’s  name – which does not appear in the whole 30 page album! One would think Harris had done all the work  but some initials and finally a signature told me something amazing.

William Timym was that artist. While searching around I found he also illustrated something else I liked as a kid: “Bleep and Booster” on Blue Peter. But little did I know the very statue that my son climbed in London Zoo, was created by none other than William Timym in 1982! (Side note: I was sure, until I checked the date, that I saw the Guy the Gorilla statue in 1969? And I’m not thinking of the Crystal Palace Park one either as I was there for the first time only a few years ago!)

BIOGRAPHY of William Timym: Born Vienna October 5 1902; Died London May 31 1990

‘Tim’, as he signed himself was actually William Timym, born in 1902 in Austria, he moved from Vienna to England in 1938, escaping Nazi occupation and became a naturalised British citizen in April 1949. A search of the National Archives show he was a renowned portrait painter during the war, and painted royalty, Prime Ministers and military people amongst many.  His comic strip “The Boss” was seen all over Europe and Britain whilst he was still living on the continent and he was soon syndicated in the UK in the Sunday Dispatch, where he drew “Caesar“, an Afghan hound who gets into all sorts of mischief. His “Humphrey” strip of black and white panels appeared in Woman magazine. Because I couldn’t find many online, for your pleasure, I looked through the four Woman magazines I own!

Humphrey by Timym (Woman 25 May 1957 p.61)

 

Humphrey by Timym (Woman 5 October 1957 p.57)

“Wuff, Snuff and Tuff”, can easily be found on the Internet – especially at the National Library of Australia’s Trove database, follow the link. The three puppies’ adventures were very popular and saw publication in books and annuals as well as weekly. Then Timym also illustrated “Oh Johnny!” the adventures of a down-beaten husband and his wise wife, in John Bull in the Fifties. Another children’s strip apparently appeared in the Daily Express, “Bengo the Boxer”. I say apparently because I can’t find a single reproduction of one from the Daily Express although there were books published.  Susan Brewer’s article on Bengo collectables is exhaustive. The idea was actually developed for a BBC Children’s TV programme and began on Monday 22 June 1953 as “Bengo the adventures of a boxer puppy”. In 1962 it became part of Blue Peter (according to the Guardian obituary and BBC Genome). In the Sixties I remember the “Bleep and Booster” cartoons for “Blue Peter” the children’s programme on the BBC.  Jeremy Briggs has listed all Timym’s characters’ appearances in Blue Peter books via Steve Holland’s Bear Alley blog This is also where you’ll find Briggs’ article on “Bleep and Booster”.

I made passing reference to Timym’s sculpture and he designed such famous pieces as the “TV Times Top Ten award”, Guy the Gorilla, as mentioned and Petra, the Blue Peter dog, whose statue is now at Salford Quays.

As my addition to Timym on the Internet I have transcribed some of the Chicago Sunday Tribune article on Tim which appears on the Classic comics section of a manga website of all things in Spain! Hopefully this will show up on Google and help others researching his life.

At 11 he competed with 150 other boys and girls to enter the Academy of Arts in Vienna. Most came loaded down with paintings and busts they had done. Tim brought nothing. Professor Cizek [?] asked them all to return the next day and bring nothing. They did. With a wave of his arm the Professor told them to take their choice of the great diversity of materials he had there for them and to do something out of their imagination.

“Fifty percent of them were helpless” Tim recalled. “They were bound to the model. For me it was a walkover, I sketched a trotting horse and driver in full movement and the Professor took me on”.

In 1929, Tim won a Vienna poster contest with his drawing of a group of animals. The Viennese public fell for the poster. The evening newspaper Der Abend asked Tim to do its sketches  – for theatrical stories, political cartoons, and short stories. In 1934 Tim started his first comic strip, called “The Boss.” There were some small animals in it. Vienna hailed it as a novelty, because it was a pantomime comic strip – with no balloon conversations, nor even captions, all silent. At first , the editors worried about the silence.

“But if I draw them so that people understand them, they will look at them.” Tim told them. They needn’t have worried. Within three months, people were calling at the paper’s office to buy back numbers.

 *   *  *

Another newspaper asked Tim to do a strip. By this time he owned a dog himself – a boxer. Tim created a Dalmatian hound that he called Sniff, and did the strip about him.

Sniff was a success. By 1937, both “Sniff” and “The Boss” were appearing not only in Vienna, but also in other continental newspapers and in Britain. Tim was established. In 1938, Hitler came to Vienna. Tim left.

Tim went to England, where “The Boss” was appearing in the Sunday Graphic and “Sniff” in several out-of-London papers. Tim brought with him to Britain, his boxer dog, Cito.

The continental newspapers ceased carrying his strips. Tim began living  where he does now in a house not far from Hampstead Heath. The war started. Tim was interned, as all others classified because of their nationality as enemy aliens. But he was in camp for only three months.

Upon his release Tim found himself professionally as unoccupied as he was when he, at two, was scratching the brown paper [supplied by his mother and father] spread out on the floor. The paper shortage ended both “The Boss” and “Sniff”. Tim started out all over again.

He did portraits. He went into commercial advertising and in 1943 he joined the Cooper syndicate. He did political cartoons for the weekly John Bull.

Then, in 1944, the Sunday Graphic editor asked Tim to start another comic strip. He did and called it “Uncle George.”

“I don’t like Uncle George but I do like his dog,” Tim was told. “Do a strip about the dog.”

The dog? he was something like Sniff, but different. Tim had added a few points of an English setter.

“I liked Sniff’s muzzle and his spots,” Tim explained, “but I added a setter’s long hair and big flappy ears to make a contrast to Sniff.”

Faced with making Uncle George’s dog the star of the strip and doing away with Uncle George, Tim immediately decided the dog had to be more imposing. To help, Tim sketched him larger, gave him more glorious ruffles and christened the dog “Caesar”

Ceasar now had earned his full fledged personality. In 1949 Tim became a naturalized Briton. One woman yearly buys Caesar a dog license and pays his dues at the Tailwagger’s club, the London club of British dogdom.

Citation: Gwen Morgan, (1952), “Growing up with Caesar”, Chicago Sunday Tribune, 7 December 1952, p.8

There does seem to be discrepancies about his birth date. On Stripper’s Guide Allan Holtz shows  a transcription from an article that appeared in November 1951 in which it states ” Timyn, who is 52, has been a professional cartoonist more than 27 years” which means he is likely to have been born in 1899 and began his “professional cartooning” at the age of 25.

His death is not in doubt as his family placed an announcement in the Death Notices of the Times (Friday, June 1, 1990, p.15) in which they state “On May 31st, peacefully at home in London. William Timym M.B.E., affectionately known as Tim, Artist and Sculpter [sic], in his 88th year”.  So it would appear he was born in the 20th Century not the 19th. Monday 11 June’s Guardian has a long obituary in which it states: “[…] has died at the age of 87” – and “Born Vienna October 5; died May 31 1990” so I’d say that makes his birthday 1902

---

I have scanned a copy I owned of the Safari Album and show here the pages that contain Timym’s line work as well as colour work.

LINKS:

• Lambiek biography
• The Dusty Box with “Wuff, Snuff and Tuff” illustrations
• Monumental Adventure‘s feature on Guy the Gorilla [Youtube]
• Photo of William Timym with his bust of Sir Malcolm Sargent (in the Royal Albert Hall)
• Statue of Petra on Waymarking.com
• Dorothy Oxford, Tim’s niece reminisces on Whirligig

 

Terence Cuneo

In my research for Frank Bellamy and Raymond Sheppard artwork I kept coming across Cuneo’s work . This is one piece I felt deserved highlighting as his story is so interesting. Wikipedia has a biography and also a listing of his works , which includes Wide World Magazine. His daughter states (on a website set up dedicated to her dad’s work):

My Father, Terence Cuneo, left no records of his work, either written or oral. I therefore took it upon myself to trace and record for posterity his brilliance, in order to keep alive his name and image.

The article appearing here was published in a TV Times special called Christmas with the Stars [1969], pp.38-41

 

 

 

 

“A brush with royalty” from TV Times Christmas with the Stars [1969]

 

ICI Magazine and illustrators

September 1947 ICI Magazine – Unknown artist

In browsing through issues of ICI Magazine online for Raymond Sheppard artwork, thanks to the generosity of the Catalyst Science Discovery Centre (Mersey Road,  Widnes, Cheshire WA8 0DF Telephone 0151 420 1121), I came across some lovely artwork and some well known illustrators which surprised me. I must say thank you specifically to Paul Meara who not only told me of the re-vamp to the webpages which broke a link to the online ICI magazines, but did some photos for me of various editions

I suspect there’s so much to be seen here that I’ll stretch this out over a few articles with little commentary. For a bit of background to the in-house magazine for ICI see the Sheppard blog. The magazine took in reports from various parts of the organisation and included Reports from the Alkali Division, Dyestuffs Division, General Chemicals Division, the Nobel Division, Metals, Paints, Plastics, and Salt Divisions. They also wrote about the overseas divisions such as Egypt and New Zealand amongst others

But what pleasantly surprised me and occupied a few of my evenings  was the artwork that was sourced from employees and also commercial artists (such as Raymond Sheppard) – some well-known and others now forgotten.I have to confess that I’ve selected according to my curiosity and taste and should you want to check these out, the link is above. Also it’s worth saying here, credits for artists are rare and some signatures are hard to read, but I’ll have a go!

Advice to Amateur Artists by “Spike” February 1929

 

 

“Pielou” is the signature in this design from January 1947 ICI Magazine. is this Florence Pielou (1884 – 1959)?

 

Frontispiece from March 1947 is by H Emmett F.R.P.S – a relation of the famous Rowland Emett?

 

All three of the above by “Rix” are from March 1947 ICI Magazine

 

ICI magazine January 1947 with art credited to “Neave”

 

H. C. Geelan (of the Central Publicity Department of ICI) in ICI Magazine November 1947

 

Miss B. K. Reeve’s work for ICI Magazine January 1948 (she also was in the Central Publicity Department).

 

R. Pink (Paper Goods Manufacturing Company Limited) in July 1948

 

September 1948 – W. Bowen (Central Publicity Department). Stop and look at this and you’ll see a face!

 

January 1949 – R. J. Beeching (Kynoch Press Studio, London). The printer/publisher of the ICI Magazine

 

Supermoose chocolate bar and Peter Ford

Countdown  #6 27 March 1971, p.24

A recent email prompted me to look into Supermoose, as I was investigating whether Frank Bellamy produced some advertising for the chocolate bar.  I remember the milky chocolate bar (from Cadbury Limited) which I thought more substantial than Milky Way (Mars Limited). It appeared in 1970, as far as I can ascertain, and was “a chocolate covered nougatine whip”, perhaps explaining why I liked it better than Milky Way!

It appears that the cartoons are by Peter Ford, who has an interesting, but brief history on the Internet.

Steve Holland points out his realistic artwork in Commando comics and John Freeman’s DowntheTubes lists a few of the reprinted stories he did. Peter Gray’s comic and art blog mentions his work on “Dad’s Army” in Countdown‘s later incarnation as TV Action and ComicsUK Forum shows he also illustrated “Motormouse and Autocat” strips too. He has also illustrated some “Bewitched” strips which appeared in Lady Penelope in the second half of the 1960s.

Matthew Emery (on the above mentioned forum) says:

Mick Anglo described him in his book on the fifties as, ‘a stocky Maori who used to draw adventure strips in which Aeroplanes often featured.’

Gerry Embleton shared the following, “Peter Ford was a very dear friend of mine when I was in my very early twenties. He was a wonderful character, he sang in amateur opera, played the guitar, was a talented cartoonist and comic strip artist, a paratroop instructor, a judo third Dan and ran a school, and was a school teacher. These separate worlds rarely had contact with each other and when he died representatives of his different interests gathered at his funeral and were amazed to discover how wide his interests were. He was quite a formidable character having a Polynesian anatomy, very big and powerful, a fierce warrior look when angry and a huge white toothed smile.”

From what I’ve researched he very likely grew up in Poplar.

Shaqui on the above Forum mentions that: “[Regarding] “Perils of Parker”, [i]n fact Gerry Embleton did the first 20 or so, then there was a ‘crossing over’ period as Embleton and Ford shared a studio, before Ford took over the strip entirely.”

and later states

“…[H]aving corresponded with his close friend Gerry Embleton, Peter Ford sadly died of a heart attack in the 1970s.”

If you follow Matthew emery’s pursuit of information at Rootschat.com you’ll see, he was an expert in Judo as well as an artist!

Anyway back to the Supermoose series. It surprised me when I researched a bit further as it started in issue 6 (27 March 1971) of Countdown and continued until issue 31 (18 September 1971) without a break. Most appeared on the back page, but sometimes moved inside in order a special feature appear in its stead.

If anyone can add anything, let me know

And the last strip that I have found was published in Countdown issue 31 (18 September 1971)

Norman Thelwell

My wife and I visited Hampshire recently in order to see the Norman Thelwell exhibition (16 January to 10 April 2016, 11am – 5pm)at the National Trust property, Mottisfont House. I was really pleased to see that the captions, which were excellent, stated that all the artwork on display was “On loan from the Thelwell Family Archive”. I hope they won’t mind me sharing these crude photographs all taken by me, and thus including reflections!

It was wonderful to walk round a few rooms and find older people than me laughing out loud. The cartoons still work so well and as one caption stated:

“In some ways Thelwell was out of step with conventions for cartoons in post-war Britain – these were often political and urban in outlook and acerbic in tone. […] Thelwell’s approach was completely different. His style was always naturalistic  and he included a great deal of descriptive detail. […] Although he said that politics bored him, Thelwell did produce cartoons that used humour to protest against environmental issues.”

Instructions pencilled onto the art for Thelwell to make corrections

River Test by Thelwell

Mottesfont House by Thelwell

Four local studies

First version of “Point to point”

Published version of “Point to point”

Northumberland Hamlet by Thelwell

St. Andrew’s Church, Timsbury by Thelwell

Bird sketches by Thelwell

River sketch

“Come along girls, playtime is over!”

“Hello! You’ve left the gate open in the safari park again”

Preliminary drawing

Published drawing

“Henry! Please! They’re our bread and butter!”

Thelwell Merchandise

Thelwell Merchandise

The Pheasant Shoot – cover for Punch

Defending the Test Valley

“Why couldn’t they have built these houses on good agricultural land?”

 

The following are borrowed from the Mottisfont website (All Thelwell material is © The Estate of Norman Thelwell, and the official website has great stuff that I have no need to reproduce here!):

 

Romsey Abbey by Norman Thelwell