Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Book [1952]

Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Story Book [1952] Cover by ‘Mays’ i.e. Douglas Lionel Mays (1900-1991)

The jumping off page for all BBC and Uncle Mac annuals

Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Story Book [1952] – Endpapers art by Mays

So we are looking at the ‘red’ or ‘stage’ cover this time. But how to date the thing? None of “Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Book” or “Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour STORY Book” are dated internally. The quirky labelling of children’s annuals in the UK mean they are published in Year X and labelled Year Y for the coming year but for whatever reason none of these are dated in the title. So for example if the book / annual in question was published in 1951 and for sale – usually in September for the Christmas market 1951-, the title would say “XYZ Annual 1952” – thus projecting the future and therefore the book appears to buyers as new and not out of date. The publishers of all the Children’s Hour Annual, the Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour books and the BBC Children’s Annuals left all the annuals undated – to be fair they aren’t claiming to be annuals!

Now to this particular annual. Raymond Sheppard drew an article in the November 1954 Young Elizabethan magazine which was reprinted in the Collins Magazine Annual 1955, along with other pieces from the year’s run of the Young Elizabethan magazine. What’s this got to do with our red dustjacket above? I worked out that the dustjacket for the annual under discussion is dated copyright 1951 as it advertises the only Collins Magazine Annual I could find with the afore-mentioned W.E. Johns’ story which was in Collins Magazine Annual #4 (1951). The other clues on the dustjacket are too general to help pinpoint anything better. So I’m stating it’s fictitious title is Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Story Book [1952].

I said there’s no internal evidence but actually the story “Summer in the Canadian Arctic” has a signed and dated drawing – “1950” and that’s the only internal evidence.

Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Story Book [1952] – Contents page – by Mays

CONTENTS

• SUMMER IN THE CANADIAN ARCTIC, by PETER SCOTT; Drawings by Donald Watson
• MAGIC, by JOHN KEIR CROSS; Drawings by Batchelor
• THE LUCKY BAG, by ALISON UTTLEY; Drawings by Barbara C. Freeman
• PERIWINKLE HILL, by OLIVE DEHN; Drawings by Valerie Sweet
• NOT SO CLUELESS, by BERNARD NEWMAN; Drawings by S. Van Abbé
• THE ROYAL FEET (A Play), by ANTONIA RIDGE; Drawings by Barbara C. Freeman
• SOME NOTES TO HELP YOU, by ANTONIA RIDGE; Drawings by Barbara C. Freeman
• BIRD-WATCHING, by JAMES FISHER; Drawings by Len Fullerton
• SUMMER IS OVER, by OLIVE DEHN; Drawings by Valerie Sweet
• THE PULBOROUGH PIKE, by OLIVE DEHN; Drawings by G. S. Sherwood
• SIMON AND THE TELESCOPE, by Meryon Vance; Drawings by A. H. Watson
• THE GOLDFISH AND THE PIANO-TUNER, by Barbara E. Todd; Drawings by Valerie Sweet
• THIMBLE, by Noel Streatfeild; Drawings by Hilda Boswell
• THE HARVEST, by OLIVE DEHN; Drawings by Valerie Sweet
• “WELL, I’M BLOWED!” by Geoffrey Dearmer; Drawings by G. W. Backhouse
• SEVEN KINGS, by R. D. Peck; Drawings by Douglas Relf

ART GALLERY and queries and comments

My first query is which “Batchelor” drew the illustrations for the story “Magic”? We have John Batchelor who drew those wonderful cutaways for Eagle comic but other than that I’m stuck. Could this be him? Roland, Bernard and Valerie Batchelor don’t look like candidates, and the more likely candidate Halas John Batchelor’s cartoon drawings don’t match the style. Does anyone want to tell me if they know?

I thought you’d like to see some Barbara C. Freeman artwork so here’s the first page of one story and a beautiful spread within the play “The Royal Feet”, by Antonia Ridge.

Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Story Book [1952] – page 35 drawn by Barbara C. Freeman

Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Story Book [1952] – page 160-161 drawn by Barbara C. Freeman

Next is the artist G. S. Sherwood about whom I know nothing. I’m sure I’ve seen that distinctive signature elsewhere. He drew for Punch (in the 1930s) as well as other magazines – see below , and illustrated books.

Short bibliography

• The pleasure’s yours. A guide to the right and proper employment of the leisure hours … The whole profusely illustrated by G. S. Sherwood by H. F. Ellis, published by Methuen, London, 1933
• Much Ado Mostly About Nothing, published by Methuen & Co., London, 1934
• Mr. Punch’s Limerick Book, published by Cobden-Sanderson, London, 1934
• Thoughts on things, Humorous Essays, by Anthony Armstrong, published by Methuen, London, 1935
• Song Salad, by Laurance Tanner, published by Arrowsmith, 1938
• Second helping, by Laurance tanner, published by Arrowsmith, London, 1938
• Verses from Alice, published by London Collins, 1944
• Edward Lear’s Nonsense Alphabet, published by Collins, London, 1950
• A Pedlar’s Pack, by D. Palmer-Jones, published by Erskine Macdonald Ltd, London, [Undated]

• Pearson’s Magazine July 1913, Oct 1916
• The Royal Magazine October and November 1915
• The Magpie Summer 1924
• Popular Pictorial April 2 1927
• Gaiety July 1927, August 1927, September 1927
• The Passing Show Summer 1929, Christmas 1929, Christmas 1930
• The Merrythoughts’ Magazine June 1932
• Nash’s—Pall Mall Magazine December 1936, January 1937, February 1937, April 1937
• The Strand Magazine August 1939
• London Opinion (Various cartoons)

Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Story Book [1952] – page 76, art by G. S. Sherwood

Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Story Book [1952] – page 77, art by G. S. Sherwood

Moving onto the other artists, here are some examples of their work. The first is 2 drawings by A. H. Watson from page 93 and 95

The next is from pages 99 and 112 and drawn by Valerie Sweet who signs her work ‘valerie’

Then we have two artists whose work appeared in a lot of places: G. W. Backhouse (page 113) and Douglas Relf (page 120)

Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Story Book [1952] – page 113, art by G. W. Backhouse

Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Story Book [1952] – page 120, art by Douglas Relf