BBC Children’s Annual [1960]

BBC Children’s Annual 1960 – dustjacket – The photographer of the front cover (Eamonn Andrews behind the scenes on Crackerjack) was Roynon Raikes (1912-2007), who was a photographer with the BBC’s Picture Publicity department. He also did the front cover of the Radio Times Annual from 1954 (Thanks to Glenn Reuben for this)

I’m now going to look at the last of the BBC Children’s Annuals that hold my interest – the one which is labelled inside as 1960 – so I’m assuming published in 1959 if British labelling conventions apply here. It was edited by Ursula Eason (Assistant Head of Children’s Television) who also edited the previous annual. Published by Burke Publishing Company Ltd and the full title should be “BBC Children’s Annual Radio and Television” but that’s a bit cumbersome!

BBC Children’s Annual 1960 Cover, endpapers, title page

As we will see the artists in this annual are listed but I have had a hard time matching them up. But before we dive in here are the contents

CONTENTS

• Duel In The Sun by Ronnie Noble [photographic feature]
• Zodiac Quiz; Capricorn; Drawing by Leslie S. Haywood?
• The Wings Of The Morning by Rosemary Sutcliff; Drawings by ‘Sax’ i.e. Frederick Roberts Johnson
• Zodiac Quiz; Aquarius
• The Importance Of Parliament by Commander Sir Stephen King-Hall [photographic feature]
• Zodiac Quiz; Pisces
• The Grey Monarchs Mystery by Angus Macvicar; Drawings by Mike Noble
• Zodiac Quiz; Aries
• Spies Museum by Bernard Newman [photographic feature]
• Pan Beaters And Ping Pongs by Russ Henderson [photographic feature]
• Captain Pugwash by John Ryan (written and illustrated by John Ryan)
• Professor Foster Investigates Chinese Angels by John Foster [photographic feature]
• The Organ Grinder of St. Pauli by Margaret Potter; Drawings by Terence Freeman?
• Zodiac Quiz; Gemini
• Wells Fargo – End of the Trail; Drawings by unknown , one photograph
• Television: Before The Programme Begins [photographic feature]
• Flight To Freedom; Drawings by Edward Osmond?, 2 photographs, one map
• Filming Zoo Quest by Charles Lagus [photographic feature]
• Jack Ford Finds Gold by Constance Cox; Drawings by unknown, one photograph
• Zodiac Quiz; Cancer
• Football by Danny Blanchflower; Drawings by unknown
• Diving To Adventure by Hans Hass [photographic feature]
• Zodiac Quiz; Leo
• Courier by John Darran; Drawings by unknown
• Zodiac Quiz; Virgo
• Netball Notes by Rena B. Stratford; Drawings by unknown
• ‘Professor’ Stanley Unwin Explains Television by Stanley Unwin [photographic feature]
• Candy Bar by Joanne Symons; one drawing by unknown, [photographic feature]
• Up And Over by Rex Hays
• Zodiac Quiz; Libra
• Filming In Five Languages by Trevor Hill [photographic feature]
• Zodiac Quiz; Scorpio
• Man On The Move by Miles Tomalin; Drawings by Tony Hart?
• Zodiac Quiz; Sagittarius
• Answers To Quiz

“With Drawings by”:

• PETER CHADWICK,
• TERENCE FREEMAN,
• TONY HART,
• LESLIE S. HAYWOOD,
• NORMAN C[lifford] JAQUES,
• [Mike] NOBLE,
• EDWARD OSMOND,
• SHEILA ROSS,
• SAX,
• A[lfred]. BURGESS SHARROCKS,
• E[ric]. TANSLEY,
• GEOFFREY WHITTAM
• and STANLEY SMITH

The acknowledgements in this title reflect the fact that photographs were being used more and more, just like in magazines of the late 50s (see Lilliput and Boys’ Own Paper for example) but we do have a listing of the artists represented in this Annual (see above). However I wish they’d been in alphabetic order – or even better – in the order of stories they illustrated. If they are in order of appearance, then the one after Mike Noble – whose identity I’m sure of, would be Edward Osmond – and he did NOT illustrate Captain Pugwash; if this is an A-Z, why is Stanley Smith alone and added as an ‘and’?

I can’t even begin to guess who drew the endpapers or the figures on the title page. So I’ll start with “Sax” – thankfully he signed one illustration here and that led me to discover the nickname was due to his love of “the American Essex automobile” (Thanks to the Court Gallery). He drew for Punch, Everyman and Time and Tide amongst others and here drew “The wings of the morning” story by Rosemary Sutcliff here, the famed historic novelist for children.

BBC Children’s Annual 1960, p.16 – art by “Sax”

However when I looked at his other images for this story I began to wonder if there are 2 artists at work here. What do you think? Page 11, the opening image, yes, looks like Sax. But page 13 looks cruder to me, but it’s unlikely two artists were given the same small story.

page 11

page 13

BBC Children’s Annual 1960, p.16 – art by “Sax”?

The next artist that’s easy for me to identify is Mike Noble, who I had the privilege to interview for a book. Here he is in full flow and must have created these images during his run on “The Lone Ranger and Tonto” in Express Weekly. Angus MacVicar was, among other things, the author of the “Lost Planet” series of boy’s sci-fi tales.

BBC Children’s Annual 1960, pp 24-32

Next, I think I can identify Edward Osmond as having drawn the two illos for “Flight to Freedom”. His washes are fairly typical of his work and I hope I don’t get caught out here with my identification, but having seen his work in many 50s magazines, I think I’ve got him.

BBC Children’s Annual 1960, pp. 70-71

BBC Children’s Annual 1960, p.73

Next I’ve scanned these Wild West illustrations, but who drew them? The figures are rather stiff.

BBC Children’s Annual 1960, pp 57, 59, 61

That leaves me with some other illustrations which are so hard to identify.

Tony Hart (1925-2009) was well known to children of my age in the late 50s and 60s -especially with his TV programme “Vision On”. I suspect his work here is the following four page article of which I’m showing two.

BBC Children’s Annual 1960, pp 121 and 124 – Art by Tony Hart?

Leslie S. Haywood (1902?-1977?) drew diagrams and maps for various publications including several for “The Sphere” magazine. Examples online show his linework to be confident without any distinguishing style that I can see, so which story did he illustrated here? The “Zodiac” quizzes mentioned in the Contents listing have illustrations accompanying some of them, and Haywood seems to use a linear stippling style on occasions and I can see this here. But…

Norman Clifford Jaques (1922-2014) has a John Piper look about him when I see his illustrations on the Internet. He was born, and lived in Manchester. He attended the College of Art and Technology from 1937-42, and was Senior Lecturer in Printmaking at Manchester Polytechnic from 1950-82. He won the Proctor Award and Giles Bequest Award for block printing in 1954 from the V&A. He was an illustrator and book designer and utilised woodcut, lithography, etching and linocut mediums in his expressive printmaking. (Thanks to PaperElephant for the details).

But I have no idea what he did in this title!

Sheila Ross, I am completely stuck with. I found that she illustrated The Children’s Pinocchio as retold by Roy Brown (published in 1960) but nothing helped identify her style

Alfred Burgess Sharrocks 1919 – 1988, was a painter, writer, ornithologist and teacher, born in Stockport, Cheshire. He attended Stockport College School of Art, 1933-7, the College of Technology in Manchester, 1937-9, then after World War II Naval service and a short period teaching at Stockport School of Art was at Royal Academy Schools, 1946-51. Held a number of teaching positions, including lecturing from 1967 at Llandrillo College of Technology. He was well known as a writer and artist concerned with birds and was in 1957 president of the Cambrian Ornithological Society, in 1962-7 being president of RCAmA. Mixed shows included RCAmA and NEAC and he had several solo exhibitions. National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, holds his work. Lived near Conway, Gwynedd (from David Buckman, Dictionary of artists in Britain since 1945). Of course one commission he is famous for in terms of children’s books is that between 1956-1963 where he drew illustrations for Enid Blyton’s Secret Seven adventures. But again I’d rather not hazard a guess as to which illustrations he drew in this book.

Eric Tansley (1916-1979) had work in lots of places where Raymond Sheppard’s work appeared. One example of which is in The Children’s Own Treasure Book (1947) where the ROUND THE YEAR articles (parts 1-4) are drawn by Eileen Mayo (In pond and marsh); Eric Tansley (In stream and river), Raymond Sheppard (In sea and on the seashore) and James Lucas (In field and hedgerow). Steve Holland has featured him on his blog – follow the link. If I’m pressed to state which artwork(s) he drew in the BBC Children’s Annual 1960, I’d say it was this one of a ‘candy-wallah’

BBC Children’s Annual 1960, p. 110, art by Eric Tansley?

Geoffrey Whittam (1916-1983) You can see from this first link that Whittam drew extensively and JaneBadgerBooks (specialising in pony books) state that his “horses and ponies are sometimes awkward, with oddly foreshortened necks and inaccurate legs. […] A Whittam pony will always have a thick thatch of mane […] be on the stocky side, and have an immensely wide forehead.” Does this help to identify which his work is in this book?

Stanley Smith (1893-1981) appears to have been a landscape painter from the results online – a few very much like Ronald Lampitt – in that they are almost orthographic in nature, and again I’m stumped.

Peter Chadwick’s work I found online shows a basic illustrator but competent at various subjects. Unfortunately that’s all I can say.

Terence Freeman has a style which matches a lot of this period’s artwork for children, using swirls for hairstyles and rather small eyes for characters. Could “The Organ Grinder of St. Pauli” be by him? All those curly figures and hairstyles, but the fourth illo here – the street scene – looks different in style once again. Can another artist have drawn this? It looks like Beryl Irving‘s work there, to me (she appeared in Swift Annual 1961, as did “Terry Freeman”) but she’s not listed here.

BBC Children’s Annual 1960, pp. 45-51

The next group of illos accompany “Jack Ford finds gold” and there’s a distinctive type of hair-do here plus heads seem to be drawn to minimise perspective difficulties. But who drew them? Is it Geoffrey Whittam?

BBC Children’s Annual 1960, pp. 82-85

Lastly for now a group of very stiff looking figures for the story “Courier”, but who is the artist from the names listed in the Annual?

That’s it for now – please let me know if I have missed someone obvious and I’ll correct this article

BBC Children’s Annual 1960, pp. 96-102

Children’s Hour Annual [1936, ©1935]

The photographic cover – which I don’t own! – of Children’s Hour Annual [1936, ©1935]

Here’s another BBC Children’s Annual looked at in some depth to preserve primarily the artwork but I’ve also added authors so they can be found by searchers. The first three annuals ( ©1935-1937) annuals might have had the titles The Children’s Hour Annual 1936, 1937, 1938 if they followed the British convention of labelling for the new year. So these were published in 1935-1937.

The history of this first title is interesting in itself. The Bookseller magazine, used by…booksellers for 1935 shows the pre-publicity for Hutchinson’s title which was to be published at 6/-. By the time of 4 September, I would have expected sales to have started in anticipation of Christmas, with the title being pre-sold into the bookshops months before.

Various pages from The Bookseller 4 September 1935 – note the error in price (5/- sic) quoted under the photograph of Stephen King-Hall and “Uncle Mac”, but the increase from 5/- to 6/- explained in the advert shown here! Confused? Me too.

And here’s where it gets interesting as there was an alternative cover to the one shown above and we get an explanation as to why, but not why, if you see what I mean.

The Bookseller 2 October 1935

We see the advert is still priced 6/- but notice the cover – here’s this image cropped;

Children’s Hour Annual [1936, ©1935] – unpublished cover at 6/-

Then we get the explanation – of sorts – the price will be reduced to 3/6.

That’s a substantial change in my opinion and having been a bookseller myself I suspect I will have bought a lot more at the latter price. If you look at the other titles on offer from Hutchinson, that 6/- stands out.

Children’s Hour Annual [1936, ©1935] Front endpapers by Barbara Grace de Riemer Sleigh

Children’s Hour Annual [1936, ©1935] Back endpapers by Barbara Grace de Riemer Sleigh

So let’s get started on the book itself. Firstly we get a lovely image on the endpapers by Barbara Grace de Riemer Sleigh (B de R. S.) who I mentioned in the previous blog article. Here the pieces are signed very clearly and the artist and write appears elsewhere in the annual – see below. The endpapers run from front to back and suggest how good children should be – but confusingly, to my mind, they show the boy damaging the wireless set and the girl flinging her book in the air! The drawings are lovely though.

Art by Joyce Mercer

• Foreword by Compton Mackenzie
• The Naughty Traffic-Signal by Joyce Bissell Thomas; Drawings by “HMS”
• Behind The Children’s Hour by Derek Mcculloch
• Do You Want To Win A Book Prize? by Anon [Closing date: 31 Jan 1936]
• The Tale Of The Woeful Whatnot by Barbara De R. Sleigh; Drawings by the author
• Reminiscences Of A Midshipman by Commander Stephen King-Hall; Drawings by “F”
• My Closest Call by H. Mortimer Batten; Drawing by Frederick Cockerton
• Mr. Gianopoulos Keeps His Appointment by Major Sir George Dunbar; Drawing by Frederick Cockerton
• The Faithful Kipper by Hugh E. Wright; Drawings by “HMS”
• The Swan Of Avon by Dr. L. Du Garde Peach; Drawings by Barbara De R. Sleigh
• The Floating Lamps by Major J. T. Gorman; Drawings by ‘Unknown’
• Wild Life In Western Australia by David Seth-Smith; Drawings by L. R. Brightwell
• Napoleon, The Walking Oak by Denis Vincent; Drawings by Joyce Mercer
• In Quest Of A Monster by Lieutenant-Commander R. T. Gould; Figure by the author?
• Dub And The Pot by Mary Grant Bruce; Drawings by Ernest Noble
• The Great Air Race by Flight-Lieutenant Geoffrey Shaw; Drawings by Kenneth Brookes

Art by Joyce Mercer

• “Uncle Mac”—A Photogravure Portrait Frontispiece
• The River Avon – IN COLOUR
• “Ye Red Lyon” – IN COLOUR
• Costume Designs For “The Swan Of Avon” – IN COLOUR
• He Held His Bound Wrists Over The Tiny Flame – IN COLOUR
• Down Through The High Street He Slid – IN COLOUR
• For Once He Roamed As A King – IN COLOUR
• The Children’s Hour Studio – IN HALF TONE
• “The Family Party” Rehearse – IN HALF TONE
• Flight-Lieutenant Geoffrey Shaw With His “Eagle” – IN HALF TONE
• Lined Up For The Start Of The Great Air Race – IN HALF TONE
• San Feliu De Guixols – IN HALF TONE
• David Seth-Smith With A Friend – IN HALF TONE
• Commander Stephen King-Hall; David Seth-Smith; H. Mortimer Batten; L. Du Garde Peach; Compton Mackenzie; Flight-Lieutenant Geoffrey Shaw; Mary Grant Bruce – IN HALF TONE
• Hugh E. Wright; Major J. T. Gorman; Major Sir George Dunbar – IN HALF TONE
• Joyce Bissell Thomas; Denis Vincent; Lieut.-Commander R. T. Gould; Barbara De R. Sleigh – IN HALF TONE

DETAILS and Norman’s COMMENTS

I loved reading Compton Mackenzie’s introduction in which he bemoans “modern” youth’s lack of appreciation of reading! His reasoning is that in his day the youth read “Boy’s Own Paper” and other magazines and “it is significant that middle-aged people are now apt to complain that children do not know how to amuse themselves”! Yet he goes on to say he noticed the decline in the “Boy’s Own” during his own time! Lovely dated yet current words!

As I did with the 1936 annual I have scanned all the author information that appears added to the bottom of this article – plus photos! There may be some duplication but I felt you might want all the info provided! I have not shown all photos / drawings.

Children’s Hour Annual [1936, ©1935] – Art by “HMS”

I’ve added this image because it’s clearly initialled “HMS” but beyond that I have no clue who this was. I browsed all “S” entries in Alan Horne’s Dictionary (and other places) but got nothing matching. Let me know if you know who this was. Below I’ve added two more images if this helps!

Children’s Hour Annual [1936, ©1935] – Art by Barbara De R. Sleigh

Children’s Hour Annual [1936, ©1935] – Art by “F” – note the initial is encircled – but who was this?

The next example shows a signature clearly saying Cockerton. Looking around the Internet and some of my notes, I believe this is Frederick Cockerton who drew illustrations for the 1964 Girl Annual and The Third Enid Blyton Holiday Book (some of which are reprints from Sunny Stories nos. 45,170, and 179). His work also appears in Blackie’s Boys’ Annual, 1937. If searching on the Internet you’ll see a lot of horse and hunting oil paintings with the distinctive signature.

Children’s Hour Annual [1936, ©1935] – Art by Frederick Cockerton

Children’s Hour Annual [1936, ©1935] – Art by the elusive “HMS” – please do let me know if you can identify this artist

As you’ll read below ‘The Swan Of Avon’ by Dr. L. Du Garde Peach was just one of many plays he wrote for Children’s Hour and the illustrator here is again, Barbara Grace de Riemer Sleigh (B de R. S.) who drew the endpapers too.

Children’s Hour Annual [1936, ©1935] – Art by Barbara Grace de Riemer Sleigh

Children’s Hour Annual [1936, ©1935] – Art by Barbara Grace de Riemer Sleigh

Children’s Hour Annual [1936, ©1935] – Art by L. R. Brightwell

I’ve featured Brightwell’s lovely cartoonish work before on this blog, and I first discovered him in Boy’s Own Paper.

I know Joyce Mercer has a following for her wild and whacky art so enjoy the next two images from the Annual and in case you’re wondering that’s an oak tree leaning towards the house!

Children’s Hour Annual [1936, ©1935] – Art by Joyce Mercer

Children’s Hour Annual [1936, ©1935] – Art by Joyce Mercer

Children’s Hour Annual [1936, ©1935] – Art by Ernest Noble (1881–1958) – see the initials “EN” and compare to the next full colour signed image. famous for illustrating humorous postcards in WWI as well as ‘Larry the Lamb’

Children’s Hour Annual [1936, ©1935] – Art by Ernest Noble

Before we move onto the author information provided in the annual, there are also photos which I thought might be of interest. I just wish artists were treated as well as I’d love to know more about “HMS” and “SBL” and all the other mysterious initials I trip over, let alone a photograph!

AUTHOR INFORMATION

Joyce Bissell Thomas

Barbara De R. Sleigh

Commander Stephen King-Hall

H. Mortimer Batten

Major Sir George Duff-Sutherland-Dunbar

Hugh E. Wright

Dr. L. Du Garde Peach

Major J. T. Gorman MBE

David Seth-Smith

Denis Vincent

Lieutenant-Commander R. T. Gould

Mary Grant Bruce

Flight-Lieutenant Geoffrey Shaw

That’s all for this annual. More to follow!

Children’s Hour Annual [1937, ©1936]

Here’s another BBC Children’s Annual investigated and it’s a long one! Fortunately for me, when the first three (1935-1937) annuals were published, their dates are published within – thus saving any confusion (beyond the usual dating/naming of UK annuals). So normally the one dated 1936 might be labelled ‘1937’ so let’s call this The Children’s Hour Annual [1937, © 1936]

The Children’s Hour Annual 1937 – cover by Keith McKay Edmunds, or Kay Edmunds(?)

This annual was advertised in The Bookseller on 2 September 1936 at 3/6d for its 168 pages. The Blackie’s Boys’ Annual of the same year was 228 pages and sold for 5/- and D.C. Thomson’s Wizard Book for Boys was 2/6d, so as a friend said to me “you pays your money; you takes your choice”!

CONTENTS with artists added by me!

• Hullo Children ! – Derek McCulloch
• Foreword – A. J. Alan
• The Secret Of Longwater -Franklyn Kelsey; Drawings by Norman Hepple (?)
• Red Knight – Olive Dehn; Drawing by ‘PBL’
• The Twisted Tale Of Mop And Mow – Hugh E. Wright; Drawings by ‘Sleigh’ and a colour illo by Jacynth Parsons
• Steve Talks! – Commander Stephen King-Hall; Drawing by ‘Unknown’
• Kimpie Plays For Tillingfold – Hugh De Sélincourt; Drawings by Raymond Sheppard
• The Breaking In of Herr Rittmeister Bams – Olive Dehn; Drawing by Douglas Lionel Mays
• Memories Of Mooween – H. Mortimer Batten; Drawings by Raymond Sheppard
• The Common Tern – Olive Dehn; Drawing by ‘PBL’
• At 5-15 – Derek McCulloch; Drawings by ‘Unknown / “The Stippling artist”
• “Hey, Dittle Dittle” – Carey Grey; Draings by Jacynth Parsons
• A Farewell To Flowering – Olive Dehn; Drawing by ‘PBL’
• Joe Rabbit’s Party – George C. Nash; Drawings by Ernest Aris
• Some Of My Hobbies – Lieutenant-Commander R. T. Gould; Drawings by author?
• Queen Brigid’s Choice – Norah Holloway; Drawings by Gladys Peto
• Bird-Watching In Australia – David Seth-Smith; Drawings by Harry Rountree
• The Pirate Who Wept – L. Du Garde Peach; Drawings by René Bull
• “The School Technician” – J. D. Strange; Drawings by ‘Unknown’
• How To Practice Catching, Bowling And Fielding – P. G. H. Fender; Drawings by Thomas Heath Robinson
• All Round The Bay – Barbara Euphan Todd And “Klaxon”; Drawings by H. M. Brock
• The Duke’s Button – Peter Roberts; Drawings by L. Sterne Stevens

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS – i.e photographs and drawings

• Derek McCulloch—Uncle Mac of the B.B.C. . . . Frontispiece (Photograph by courtesy of the B.B.C.)
• “We tied them both up and sent for the local police” [COLOUR ILLO by Norman Hepple]
• “Mop stopped opposite Jim, and Mow stopped opposite Jane” [COLOUR ILLO by Jacynth Parsons]
• B.B. Studio (Dance Band), general view. (Photograph by courtesy of the B.B.C.)
• Broadcasting House Dramatic Control Room No. 3, December 1934. The D.C. Panel showing Talk-Back Microphone (Photograph by courtesy of the B.B.C.)
• P. G. H. Fender punishes a loose ball in the game, Middlesex versus Surrey, at Lord’s Ground, London (photo)
• Zoo Broadcast—The Cockatoo (Photograph by courtesy of the B.B.C.)

“Uncle Mac” tells us on the flyleaf as well in his introduction that “In presenting the second Children’s Hour Annual, I find it difficult to realize that twelve months have gone by since “No. 1″ appeared.” thus confirming this is the second under his reign. Each story or article has an introduction – which I have scanned for you below as researchers might find this to be the only information on some authors etc. If only artists had had the same treatment, I’d be happier, but nevertheless as usual I’ll have a go at filling out as many details as I can in the hope search engines guide researchers here.

Let’s start with what the lovely drawings for the title, contents and illustrations pages. They are signed “Fitz” but I have no clues to follow who this is. Any ideas anyone?

The Children’s Hour Annual 1937 – art by Fitz

I think the next artist is Norman Hepple – and surely this must be Robert Norman Hepple (1908-1994). Take a look at the signature =- clearest in the first image from page 15

The Children’s Hour Annual 1937 Pages 15, 17 and 22 showing a signature “Norman “Hepple”?

Alan Horne (p.244) in his excellent The Dictionary of 20th Century Book Illustrators shows an illustration from “Gone to Earth” which has a very similar signature, so I think that corroborates my thinking!

Olive Dehn wrote a few verses in this book – illustrated by ‘PBL’ but who that is, I don’t know. The problem is I need somewhere to start. I like his/her illustrations and their initials are clearly present here. Anyone?

The Children’s Hour Annual 1937, pages 23, 68 and 84 – all drawn by ‘PBL’

The next artist is “Sleigh” which I guessed might be S. Leigh, but I can’t imagine it’s Stanley Howard Leigh of Biggles fame as he signed his name Howard Leigh, but stranger things have been known. The artwork has a woodblock look to it, in my opinion, and accompanies “The Twisted Tale Of Mop And Mow” by Hugh E. Wright, where ‘Sleigh’ does three illustrations. The earlier Children’s Hour Annual (more in a future article on this blog) has a story by Barbara Grace de Riemer Sleigh (1906–1982), the author of the Carbonel series about a king of cats but she didn’t illustrate any of her own stories to my knowledge. However there is an illo in the previous annual where she signs her work “B de R. S”, so ‘Sleigh’ remains a mystery. Coincidentally (or not?) her attached surname comes from her being the daughter of Bernarad Sleigh (the artist famed for “An Ancient Mappe of Fairyland, Newly Discovered and Set Forth”). I can’t see this work being his, but again, I’m putting this here in case others can solve the mystery.

The Children’s Hour Annual 1937 Page 26 by ‘Sleigh’, could this be Barbara Grace de Riemer Sleigh?

The next, by Jacynth Parson (1911-1992) is a lovely colour illustration to accompany the same story – which I found strange. Parsons was a renowned illustrator in her time and drew for various books – her father was an expert in stained-glass. Her art is easy to find on the Internet. and I’ve scanned two other illustrations below from the story “Hey Dittle Dittle!” It’s an interesting style which I like.

The Children’s Hour Annual 1937 Page 32 by Jacynth Parsons

The Children’s Hour Annual 1937 Pages 79 and 82 by Jacynth Parsons

The next artist I’d like to highlight is an old favourite – or at least I hope I’ve got this right. “The Breaking in of Herr Rittmeister Bams” by Olive Dehn, looks to be drawn by Douglas Lionel Mays. Look at the signature – his familiar spread lettering.

The Children’s Hour Annual 1937 Pages 52 and 55 by Douglas Lionel Mays

And then we come to another mystery artist. I love the excessive stippling in these illustrations which appear on pages 70, 72 and 75. The style is so familiar and distinctive but I can’t place the artist who I shall call “The Stippling Artist” until I find a name.

The Children’s Hour Annual 1937 Pages 70, 72 and 77 by “The Stippling Artist”!

The next artist conveniently signed their art: G. E. Peto (which rather looks like C. E. Peto to me!) Gladys Emma Peto was born in 1890 in Maidenhead and died at 86 in 1977 – an obituary appearing in the Times newspaper. Her first illustrations appeared in the works of Louisa M. Allcot in 1914 and her name became a brand in the 20s and 30s – with books like Gladys Peto’s Storyland, Gladys Peto’s Holiday Stories, Gladys Peto’s Girl’s Own Stories etc. She produced illustrations for The Sketch, many books on travel and posters etc. She moved to Northern Ireland in 1939 and had several successful exhibitions and as her obituary writer states: “in the twenties and early thirties it was the ” in” thing to wear a Gladys Peto dress.”

The Children’s Hour Annual 1937 Pages 105, 108 and 111 by Gladys Peto

The very well known Harry Rountree illustrates some animal pictures and I suspect Ernest Aris may also appear here illustrating “Joe Rabbit’s Party” but the next two I want to show are the very popular René Bull (1869 – 1942), who was born in Dublin on 11 December 1869 and died 14 March 1942 in Hampshire. He was known as a founder member of the London Sketch Club, and my interest was his wonderful children’s illustrations. The two here show his talent for pen and ink.

The Children’s Hour Annual 1937 Pages 124 and 127 by René Bull

Lastly I loved these three images by L. Sterne Stevens – surely not the same artist as the American who drew many artworks for science-fiction and adventure pulps in America? They both do lovely linework but I can’t see the similarity and my artists dictionaries have no clues. However the American pulp artist did live in Belgium in 1910 – is it too far-fetched to think he might have drawn for the BBC publication?

The Children’s Hour Annual 1937 Pages 161, 164 and 167 by L. Sterne Stevens

AUTHORS BIOGRAPHIES / INTRODUCTIONS

I’ve added the people’s names below in the hope anyone searching will find these entries and here are the endpapers showing the various authors

Franklyn Kelsey

Hugh E. Wright

Commander Stephen King-Hall

Olive Dehn

H. Mortimer Batten

Derek McCulloch / “Uncle Mac”

Carey Grey

George C. Nash

Lieutenant R. T. Gould

Norah Holloway

David Seth-Smith

Dr. L. Du Garde Peach

John D. Strange

P.G.H.Fender

Barbara Euphan Todd

Cyril (Peter) Roberts

I hope to cover the other two annuals soon!

Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Story Book [1948], 1947

My fascination with the BBC annuals has been told in a previous post and here we continue and having dated the books, I want to present the evidence for the dating and also the contents of this particular book.

Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Story Book [1948], 1947, artwork by Bruno Kay

This book was published by Sampson Low at 7s 6d as can be seen above in 1947 – thus my labelling of the annual as 1948. The cover shows various tales to entice the reader in. Because of the difficulty in dating these Uncle Mac books I call this one the ‘pirate one’. However, adverts in The Bookseller show a book with the same title was published for the Christmas 1947 market along with Uncle Mac’s Fairy Tale Book. The article also mentions Enid Blyton’s Second Holiday Book which the Enid Blyton Society confirms was published in 1947. The book listing when published states it has 126 pages – which this one does.

Interestingly one dustjacket I’ve seen (see below) shows an Uncle Mac line drawing with space for “This Book Belongs to…” and “A gift from…” and in the corner with the 7s 6d price it says “If this book is intended as a gift, the price can be snipped off by cutting along this line”. So we can see here and in other annuals they were reprinted during their sales period as this text is missing from my copy, which I find interesting – why not just reprint the dustjacket as it was? Or have I got this the wrong way round and the plain dustjacket was first?

The endpapers for this book aren’t worth showing (the left hand page can be seen here), but the title page and Contents are.

Dustjacket with price plus text

Uncle Mac’s Children’s Story Book [1948], 1947 – Title page – Art by Helen Jacobs?

Uncle Mac’s Children’s Story Book [1948], 1947- Contents Page – Art by Helen Jacobs?

But who drew the two images above? They certainly look like Helen Jacobs’ work to me but usually she would sign her work as she does for one story in this book..

Compare the two title pages below. The first from a later title in this informal annual series (Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Book [1949, 1948] with the ‘balloons’ cover) – and the second from this (Uncle Mac’s Children’s Story Book [1948], 1947) – the ‘pirate’ cover). Look carefully – Bruno Kay drew the left hand page of the latter but both editions have used Emil Weiss’ art on the right hand page – the signature’s there for all to see – as is Kay’s on the left hand page! Strange goings on!

No artists are credited in this particular book but fortunately some have signed their work and others are already known to me. Where I have ANY doubt I have added question marks after their credit but this has been one of the worst for lack of credits both by the publisher and myself!

CONTENTS

• THE CREAKY CARAVAN, by KEN FRANCIS; Drawings by Norman Meredith
• CHRISTMAS IN OTHER LANDS, by DEREK MCCULLOCH; Drawings by ?
• LUCY, by MERYON VANCE; Drawings by ?
• SELINA THE SWISS COW, by NORAH LEWIS; Drawings by ?
• WATCHING BIRDS FROM A HIDE, by ERIC HOSKING, F.R.P.S., AND CYRIL NEWBERRY; Drawings by J. N. A. Rignall
• PUZZLES, by LIEUT.-COMMANDER R. T. GOULD; Drawings by ?
• THE CHAMELEON, CAMOUFLAGE AND ALL THAT, by DR. VEVERS; Drawings by ‘Willett’
• THE GREEN VEIL, by OLIVE DEHN; Drawings by ?
• MISCHIEVOUS MICHAEL, by EDWARD D. DICKINSON; Drawings by ?
• THE MOUSE ON THE SCROLL, by DAPHNE LEA; Drawings by ?
• NANKI, by MERYON VANCE; Drawings by ?
• MORE PUZZLES, by LIEUT.-COMMANDER R. T. GOULD; Drawings by ?
• BILL AYLESBURY GOES ON THE STAGE, by GEOFFREY DEARMER; Drawings by ?
• A TREAT FOR MRS. TOLLINGTON, by GERALD BULLETT; Drawings by ?
• MISS BUSHMAN-CALDICOTT, by ROSEMARY TONKS; Drawings by Helen Jacobs
• ANSWERS TO PUZZLES, by LIEUT.-COMMANDER R. T. GOULD; Drawings by ?
• ANSWERS TO MORE PUZZLES, by LIEUT.-COMMANDER R. T. GOULD; Drawings by ?
• THE CROCODILE WHO HAD TERRIBLE TOOTHACHE, by EILEEN POYNDER; Drawings by Anne Anderson?

ART GALLERY and Norman’s comments!

A drawing by “Astrid” on one of the introductory pages – but who is he or more likely she?

The first story in this book is signed very helpfully by Norman Meredith and is dated 1947 which helps me with dating this book. He is remembered for his cute animal art and the Chris Beetle Art gallery has a short biography plus examples of his artwork

Uncle Mac’s Children’s Story Book [1948], 1947- Page 10 – Art by Norman Meredith for the “Creaky Caravan”

There aren’t many others who have signed or are credited, so here goes.

Uncle Mac’s Children’s Story Book [1948], 1947- Page 20 – Art by ? – “Christmas in Other lands”

Uncle Mac’s Children’s Story Book [1948], 1947- Page 24 – Art by ? – for the story of “Lucy”

Uncle Mac’s Children’s Story Book [1948], 1947- Page 32 – Art by ? “Selina the Swiss Cow”

Uncle Mac’s Children’s Story Book [1948], 1947- Page 46 – Art by ? This accompanies the first puzzle page

Uncle Mac’s Children’s Story Book [1948], 1947- Page 56 – Art by ? “The Green Veil”

Uncle Mac’s Children’s Story Book [1948], 1947- Page 64 – Art by ? “Mischievous Michael”

Uncle Mac’s Children’s Story Book [1948], 1947- Page 72 – Art by ? “The Mouse of the Scroll”

Uncle Mac’s Children’s Story Book [1948], 1947- Page 76 – Art by ? for “Nanki”

Uncle Mac’s Children’s Story Book [1948], 1947- Page 88 – Art by ? “Bill Aylesbury goes on the stage”

Uncle Mac’s Children’s Story Book [1948], 1947- Page 96 – Art by ? “A treat for Mrs. Tollington”

Uncle Mac’s Children’s Story Book [1948], 1947- Page 108 – Art by Helen Jacobs for “Miss Bushman-Caldicott”

Uncle Mac’s Children’s Story Book [1948], 1947- Page 119 – Art by ?

So as you can see I’ve not had much success with this early “Uncle Mac” book. The single colours overlaying the art doesn’t help clarity but if you can hazard a guess and help me out, I’d be grateful for any identifications. Artists need crediting for their work and not be forgotten! Thanks, Norman

Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Story Book [1953]

Amended with slight addition February 2015

This is the Uncle Mac’s Children Hour Story Book, which I call the ‘roller-coaster one’ as it’s so hard to date these. Have a look at the ‘jumping-off’ page for a list of all the others.

Uncle Mac’s Children Hour Story Book [1953] art by Reginald Heade

The roller-coaster cover appears to me to be a bit worrying in the light of developments concerning Uncle Mac’s behaviour, but being more positive, Glenn Reuben pointed out to me who the artist above is. Surprisingly, considering the material he is most known for, it’s Reginald Heade and I should have spotted his signature bottom right! Steve Holland tells us about his sad life on Bear Alley blog, and the fact that Heade signs this cover with his ‘proper’ name (and not the post-1954 method of ‘Cy Webb’) – and died in 1957 brings the expected date of this volume to pre-1954.

Uncle Mac’s Children Hour Story Book [1953] – Endpapers; art by Reginald Heade

“Uncle Mac” as in Derek McCulloch had moved on from the BBC at the end of September 1950 as Sidgwick & Jackson announced in an advert for McCulloch’s novel “Cornish Mystery” in the Bookseller advert – (Bookseller 23 September 1950, p.699). Various regional papers echoed the fact of his “resigning to write more”.

Dear Bookseller
As you know ‘Uncle Mac’ has left the B.B.C. after twenty-five happy years’ work on Children’s Hour, and is now editing the children’s section of the ”News Chronicle,” a paper which has a circulation of nearly 1,500,000.

Also I notice the words “Uncle Mac” are omitted from the headers on each page of this particluar annual which merely state “Children’s Hour Story Book” – but this could be due to space (I know it was a feeble thought!). But the clincher is complicated.

Following adverts and other bibliographic details in the press for the books using “Uncle Mac” and “Children’s Hour” titles, we can map exactly which years books were expected to be published (bearing in mind even announcements didn’t mean actual publication as sometimes books didn’t happen at all. I was a bookseller and knew that too well!). But let’s assume – especially as I have seen entries for the same number of books I own, or have seen online, that if I can match dates to specific titles then any ‘stray’ book is likely to have to be mapped to a Bookseller magazine entry. Well that’s the case here. I’ve accounted for the rest so this stray only maps one advert.

On the 5 July 1952, Collins paid for a full page advert in the Bookseller advertising, not only for this title but also Collins Magazine Annual [No.5] – see my previous logic on this – and this Uncle Mac title has “5 colour plates” as you’ll see below, listed in the Contents. [February 2025: I’ve had correspondence with Steve Walker – who with Steve Chibnall has written the most authoritative work on Reginald Heade (from Telos Publishing). He mentioned their initial thorough research gave them a date of publication for 1951. Unfortunately he couldn’t remember where this came from. But later he wrote: “Just to add a further thought, I’d be surprised if it was as late as 1953, as Heade didn’t really do any children’s book work for Collins after 1951”. Until I see the accession dates in the British Library I’m placing this here for anyone else who wants to chip in! Thanks Steve W.

Uncle Mac’s Children Hour Story Book [1953] – Title page; art by Reginald Heade

Uncle Mac’s Children Hour Story Book [1953] – Message; art by Reginald Heade

Notice above that Uncle Mac’s name is being used AND the cover uses his image, so I wondered if this is the earliest Uncle Mac’s Children Hour Story Book? But no, I’ve come to the conclusion it’s printed in 1952

Uncle Mac’s Children Hour Story Book [1953] – Contents Page; art by Unknown but not Heade

Whoever drew the Contents page, they took an easy way out for the Contents page by drawing children’s activities and not elements of the stories within, as others have done in other volumes.

CONTENTS

• THE BRITISH PRIVATE, by SHEILA STEEN; Drawings by Jeanne Farrar
• THE MISSEL-THRUSH, by OLIVE DEHN; Drawings by Valerie Sweet
• THE LAST WOLF, by JOHN KEIR CROSS; Drawings by [Artur?] Horowicz
• OPERATION AVOCET, by JAMES FISHER; Drawings by Len Fullerton
• GLOVE-PRINTS AND OUSTITI, by BERNARD NEWMAN; Drawings by Leslie Otway
• THEY CAN BE FRIENDS, by BRIAN VESEY FITZGERALD; Drawings by Douglas T. Duncan
• THE DISAPPEARING DOG, by MARY CAMPBELL; Drawings by Valerie Sweet
• MOTHER MICHEL AND HER CAT, by ANTONIA RIDGE; Drawings by Barbara C. Freeman
• THE FROG AND THE CIGARS, by KEN FRANCIS; Drawings by G. W. Backhouse
• SIX O’CLOCK, by OLIVE DEHN; Drawings by Valerie Sweet
• THE GREAT EXHIBITION, by ALISON UTTLEY; Drawings by Geoffrey Whittam
• WINDOW-BOXES AND MINIATURE GARDENS; Drawings by Geoffrey Salter
• THE GOOD PENNY, by GEOFFREY DEARMER; Drawings by Gilbert Dunlop
• THE KITE, by OLIVE DEHN; Drawings by A. H. Watson
• “WHAT’S THAT CATERPILLAR?” by L. HUGH NEWMAN; Drawings by Len Fullerton
• THE CAT THAT LOST FACE, by MERYON VANCE; Drawings by Pauline Baynes
• THE ELEPHANT AND CASTLE, by R. D. PECK; Drawings by Haro

ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

• A LEAD SOLDIER TAKES SHAPE, by Jeanne Farrar
• GILBERT USED HIS FAMOUS UPPER-CUT, by Leslie Otway
• PLAYMATES, by Douglas T. Duncan
• ARRIVAL OF THE EXHIBITION SPECIAL, by Geoffrey Whittam
• HE RUSHED IN PURSUIT … by Geoffrey Salter

HALF-TONE ILLUSTRATIONS: “WHAT’S THAT CATERPILLAR?”

ART GALLERY and my comments and queries

The first two images are by Jeanne Farrar who is a new name to me – but Enid Blyton fans will know her. More of her work can be seen on this Italian blog on illustrators. I’ve included these here in case she has fans looking for her work and also to ensure I remember I have now come across her work!

The next two are from the story that takes place in Medieval Britain. I think the art is by Artur Horowicz (1898 – 1962). If it is indeed him, he studied art in Warsaw, his birthplace, before exhibiting in Berlin and then London where he illustrated for such magazines as The Illustrated London News and The Sketch.

Uncle Mac’s Children Hour Story Book [1953] – p.26; art by Len Fullerton

Now with the following I have recognised this artist’s work for many years – having seen it first in my sister’s comic Princess Tina. Leslie Otway (1902-1979), drew “Alona the Wild One” for that comic, but his work appears in all sorts of books, comics and magazines and his style is endearing. His work can be identified through his use of heads which appear angled and he does wonderful dynamic figure work.

Douglas T. Duncan’s art doesn’t appeal to me but the best piece here is this colour portrait – and even here, I dislike the cat portrait, but the cocker spaniel is drawn far better than any of the other illustrations!

Uncle Mac’s Children Hour Story Book [1953] – p.48; art by Douglas T. Duncan

We’ve already seen some art by Valerie Sweet in the article on Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Book [1952?], but I thought I’d add this sweet(!) image where she breaks the border with the characters involved.

Uncle Mac’s Children Hour Story Book [1953] – p.49; art by Valerie Sweet

Barbara C. Freeman’s work appears in several children’s books such as this one (and Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Book [1952] ), and again she produces some lovely work. My friend Steve Holland has written a brief overview of her life (29 November 1906 – 6 May 1999).

Uncle Mac’s Children Hour Story Book [1953] – p.56; art by Barbara C. Freeman

The next artist I want to highlight is the versatile Geoffrey William Backhouse (16 November 1903 – 1 August 1978). I have known about him because of his work in the Swift comic, where he drew ‘Tammy the Sheepdog’ in the mid-1950s. He is predominantly a nature/animal artist, but here, I was drawn to the stippling in the second illustration, a technique used by many artists to show a gradation from one area to another – in this case the shadow thrown by the candle.

I don’t want to write anything about Geoffrey Whittam, as Steve Holland has done an extensive bibliography (plus biography) on his blog but the colour illustration accompanying “The Great Exhibition” story by Alison Uttley is worth my reproducing here.

Uncle Mac’s Children Hour Story Book [1953] – p.81; art by Geoffrey Whittam

Gilbert Dunlop needs no introduction as he will be familiar from many children’s books especially the “Barney” books by Enid Blyton – or the ‘R’ Books as I called them as a kid – The Rockingdown Mystery; The Rilloby Fair Mystery; The Ring O’ Bells Mystery; The Rubadub Mystery; The Rat-a-Tat Mystery; The Ragamuffin Mystery. However, knowledge of details are hard to come by.

The major offline sources tell me he was a prolific artist active between 1949-1966 – I can widen that to 1935-1965 One art site mentions his dates as 1901-1984 but how authoritative this is, I don’t know. I’ve add a bibliography of his work at the end of this article to help other researchers but should anyone have any further information on this wonderful artist, not only would I like to know, but so would the Enid Blyton Society!

The next artist to show you is A. H. Watson – Alice Helena Watson (1896-1984). In the second picture below you can see her signature and her lovely biography on Stella and Rose’s Books website. I’d love to see more of these articles by the bookseller. And if they listed all artists they could find in their stock, I’d be over the Moon, and I think they’d increase sales – as I, for one, would come running for a single illustration by Raymond Sheppard, if I don’t own it already!

Next we have the very famous Narnia illustrator par excellence, Pauline Baynes

Uncle Mac’s Children Hour Story Book [1953] – p.113; art by Pauline Baynes

The last one I want to feature is “Haro”, (Haro Hodson (9 February 1923 – 19 January 2021)), – there’s a nice photo on the Guardian website as he illustrated so many cartoons for them and the Observer. His signature is very distinctive.

Uncle Mac’s Children Hour Story Book [1953] – p.119; art by Haro

GILBERT DUNLOP BIBLIOGRAPHY of his artwork

[All data gathered from various sources – so please check before buying anything on spec, as I have tried very hard to get the dates and appearances of Dunlop’s art right]

• Science in Wonderland by  A. M. Low L. Dickson & Thomson, London 1935
• Alison Temple Prefect by  Winifred Darch,  Oxford University Press, Geoffrey Cumberlege,  London 1938
• Missing Bank Manager by  Michael Poole,  Oxford University Press, Humphrey Milford, London 1938
• Grey Men by  C Hamilton Ellis,  Oxford University Press, Humphrey Milford, London 1939
• Mystery At Merrilees by  Michael Poole,  Oxford University Press, London 1939
• New Girl At Graychurch by  Winifred Darch,  Oxford University Press, London 1939
• Browne of the Secret Service by  Michael Poole,  Oxford University Press, London 1940
• Bunty Brown – Probationer by  Barbara M. Wilcox,  Oxford University Press, Geoffrey Cumberlege,  London 1940
• Gwythen Clay Mystery by  Michael Poole,  Oxford University Press, London 1940
• Lucy and her Friends by Dinah Pares Harrap, London 1940
• Little Mr. Huffy-Puffy by  Adelaide Makower,  Collins, London 1946
• Semolina (first helping), by  Buster Brown (AKA Arthur Miles Weber-Brown),  Collins, London 1946
• Adventures with Rosalind by Charlotte Austen Hutchinson’s Books for Young People, London 1947
• Baby Elephant by  Gilbert Dunlop,  Collins, London 1947
• Semolina (second helping), by  Buster Brown (AKA Arthur Miles Weber-Brown),  Collins, London 1947
• Marjorie & Co. by  Lorna Hill,  Art & Educational Publishers, London 1948
• Semolina (third helping), by  Buster Brown (AKA Arthur Miles Weber-Brown),  Collins, London 1948
• Stolen Holiday by  Lorna Hill,  Art & Educational Publishers, London 1948
• Camp Christopher by  Pat Arrowsmith,  Blackie & Son Limited, London 1949
• Guest Castle by  Kathleen Fidler,  Lutterworth, London 1949
• Rockingdown Mystery by  Enid Blyton,  Collins, London 1949
• Semolina Grunbles by Buster Brown (AKA Arthur Miles Weber-Brown),  Collins, London 1949
• Semolina Moves, by Buster Brown (AKA Arthur Miles Weber-Brown),  Collins, London 1949
• “The Ring O’Bells Mystery” in Sunny Stories in 29 Parts #492-520 (29 September 1950-16 November 1951) by Enid Blyton,  George Newnes, London 1950
• Collins Children’s Annual [cover] Collins, London 1950
• Rhodesian Adventure by  Mollie Chappell,  Collins, London 1950
• Rilloby Fair Mystery by  Enid Blyton,  Collins, London 1950
• Sooti by  Gilbert Dunlop,  Collins, London 1950
• Alison’s Poaching Adventure by  Sheila Stuart,  Blackie & Son Limited, London 1951
• Christmas at Cowleaze Farm (in B.B.C. Children’s Hour Annual) by  Ralph Whitlock  Burke Publishing Co. Ltd, London 1951
• Little Shop on the Corner by Monica Backway Blackie & Son Limited, London 1951
• Nine on the Trail by  Heather Prime,  Blackie & Son Limited, London 1951
• Ring O’ Bells Mystery by  Enid Blyton,  Collins, London 1951
• They Called Her Patience by  Lorna Hill,  Burke Publishing Co. Ltd, London 1951
• Alison’s Kidnapping Adventure by  Sheila Stuart,  Blackie & Son Limited, London 1952
• Boy Next Door by  Enid Blyton,  Collins, London 1952
• Cormorant Ahoy! By George E Haley,  Blackie & Son Limited, London 1952
• It was All Through Patience by  Lorna Hill,  Burke Publishing Co. Ltd, London 1952
• Merry Minstrel  by  Haydn Perry,  Blackie & Son Limited, London 1952
• Nine Afloat by Heather Prime,  Blackie & Son Limited, London 1952
• Prince Dynamite: The Story of Lawrence of Arabia by  John Kennett, Blackie & Son Limited, London 1952
• Rubadub Mystery by  Enid Blyton,  Collins, London 1952
• With Powder, Shot and Sword : the Story of Sir Francis Drake by John Kennett, Blackie & Son Limited, London 1952
• The Good Penny in Uncle Mac’s Children Hour Story Book [1953] by Geoffrey Dearmer, Collins, London, 1952
• As Simple as ABC by  Phyllis Helen Saunders Blackie & Son Limited, London 1953
• Castle in Northumbria by  Lorna Hill,  Burke Publishing Co. Ltd, London 1953
• Family Adventure by  Pamela Mansbridge,  Thomas Nelson and Sons, London 1953
• Good-bye Uncle Simon! by  Pat Arrowsmith,  Blackie & Son Limited, London 1953
• Mad Martins by Reginald Taylor Blackie & Son Limited, London 1953
• Penny Foolish by  Jane Gillespie,  Thomas Nelson and Sons, London 1953
• Wonderful Adventures Of Snowball (Kingfisher Book # B2) by  Irene Gass,  Blackie & Son Limited, London 1953
• Alison’s Island Adventure by  Sheila Stuart,  Blackie & Son Limited, London 1954
• Blackie’s Prize Book of Stories,  by Various Blackie & Son Limited, London 1954
• Cormorant’s Commandos by  George E Haley,  Blackie & Son Limited, London 1954
• Exploration in the Antarctic by  Nina Langley,  Blackie & Son Limited, London 1954
• Jimmy and Janet on the Farm by  W. Kersley Holmes,  Blackie & Son Limited, London 1954
• The Magic Ear-Rings, and the Free Willows by  Monica Backway Blackie & Son Limited, London 1954
• Marigold Becomes a Brownie (Kingfisher Book # B8) by  Susan Jolly,  Blackie & Son Limited, London 1954
• Piper’s Cave by  Isobel Knight,  Blackie & Son Limited, London 1954
• Queen’s Rescue by  Agnes Ashton,  Blackie & Son Limited, London 1954
• Riverside Adventure by  Pamela Mansbridge,  Thomas Nelson and Sons, London 1954
• Secret of the Screes by  Thomas Francis Maher,  Blackie & Son Limited, London 1954
• Wright Brothers-the Story of the Conquest of the Air by  Dorothy King,  Blackie & Son Limited, London 1954
• Twopence Coloured by  Jane Shaw,  Thomas Nelson and Sons, London 1954
• We went to live in Scotland by  Cecilia Knowles  Blackie & Son Limited, London 1954
• Alison’s Spy Adventure by  Sheila Stuart,  Blackie & Son Limited, London 1955
• Andy takes the Lead by  Freda M. Hurt,  Thomas Nelson and Sons, London 1955
• Beginning to read: a picture-reading book for the youngest children by  E. R. Boyce Macmillan, London 1955
• Children in the Square by  Pamela Mansbridge,  Thomas Nelson and Sons, London 1955
• Happy Story of Wallace the Engine by  Henry Donald,  Thomas Nelson and Sons, London 1955
• Scott of the Antarctic by  Bertie Webster Smith,  Blackie & Son Limited, London 1955
• Story of Hal 5 and the Haywards by  Henry Donald,  Thomas Nelson and Sons, London 1955
• Threepenny Bit by  Jane Shaw,  Thomas Nelson and Sons, London 1955
• Fourpenny Fair by  Jane Shaw,  Thomas Nelson and Sons, London 1956
• Magic Sleigh-Ride by  Jay Wallace,  Blackie & Son Limited, London 1956
• Rat-A-Tat Mystery by  Enid Blyton,  Collins, London 1956
• Andy in Danger by Freda M. Hurt,  Thomas Nelson and Sons, London 1957
• Andy in Trouble by  Freda M. Hurt,  Thomas Nelson and Sons, London 1957
• Annabella and the Smugglers by  Mary Fitt,  Thomas Nelson and Sons, London 1957
• “The Ragamuffin Mystery” in Enid Blyton’s Magazine by Enid Blyton,  Evans, London 1958
• Alison’s Riding Adventure by Sheila Stuart,  Blackie & Son Limited, London 1958
• Alison’s Pony Adventure by  Sheila Stuart,  Blackie & Son Limited, London 1958
• Andy Keeps A Secret by  Freda M. Hurt,  Thomas Nelson and Sons, London 1958
• Blue Storybook – A Blackie Bumper Book, by various including Elizabeth Gould, Barbara Freeman and others   Blackie & Son Limited, London 1958
• Charles Darwin Naturalist by  Dorothy Laird,  Blackie & Son Limited, London 1958
• Crooked Sixpence by Jane Shaw,  Thomas Nelson and Sons, London 1958
• Fivepenny Mystery by Jane Shaw,  Thomas Nelson and Sons, London 1958
• Mystery at Queen’s by Sylvia Little, (AKA Eric Leyland),  Thomas Nelson and Sons, London 1958
• Red Storybook – A Blackie Bumper Book, various including Elizabeth Gould, Barbara Freeman and others   Blackie & Son Limited, London 1958
• Shifting Sands by  Mary Fitt,  Children’s Book Club 1958
• So Much To Win by  Stephen Mogridge,  Thomas Nelson and Sons, London 1958
• Thirteen for Luck by  Freda M. Hurt,  Thomas Nelson and Sons, London 1958
• Willow Green Mystery by  Jane Shaw,  Thomas Nelson and Sons, London 1958
• Andy Finds A Way by  Freda M. Hurt,  Thomas Nelson and Sons, London 1959
• Cross Channel by  Sylvia Little, (AKA Eric Leyland),  Thomas Nelson and Sons, London 1959
• Inn of Mystery by  Ivy Russell,  Thomas Nelson and Sons, London 1959
• Lively Expression (Books 1-4) by  Denis Wilfred Barker Macmillan, London 1959
• Looking after Thomas by  Jane Shaw,  Thomas Nelson and Sons, London 1959
• Ragamuffin Mystery by  Enid Blyton,  Collins, London 1959
• Andy Goes Abroad by Freda M. Hurt,  Thomas Nelson and Sons, London 1960
• Holiday in London by  Pamela Mansbridge,  Thomas Nelson and Sons, London 1960
• Ice on the Lawn by  Jill Stevens (AKA Stephen Mogridge),  Thomas Nelson and Sons, London 1960
• Long Garden by  Jill Stevens (AKA Stephen Mogridge),  Thomas Nelson and Sons, London 1960
• Tall Man by  Jane Shaw,  Thomas Nelson and Sons, London 1960
• Venture to South Africa by Jane Shaw,  Thomas Nelson and Sons, London 1960
• Andy wins the Prize by  Freda M. Hurt,  Thomas Nelson and Sons, London 1961
• Circus Comes to School by  Sylvia Little, (AKA Eric Leyland),  Thomas Nelson and Sons, London 1961
• Creek Street Jumble by  Pamela Mansbridge,  Thomas Nelson and Sons, London 1961
• Golden Path Pets by  Mary Gervaise,  Thomas Nelson and Sons, London 1961
• House by the Shore by Ivy Russell,  Thomas Nelson and Sons, London 1961
• Julia’s Swiss Smuggler by  Jill Stevens (AKA Stephen Mogridge),  Thomas Nelson and Sons, London 1961
• Mystery That Never Was by  Enid Blyton,  Collins, London 1961
• New Girl at Minster by Sylvia Little, (AKA Eric Leyland),  Thomas Nelson and Sons, London 1961
• Dutch Painting by  Jill Stevens (AKA Stephen Mogridge),  Thomas Nelson and Sons, London 1962
• Green Umbrella by  Jill Stevens (AKA Stephen Mogridge),  Thomas Nelson and Sons, London 1962
• Highway to the Bible (Books 1-4) by  Donald M McFarlan Blackie & Son Limited, London 1962
• No Medals for Guy by  Lorna Hill,  Thomas Nelson and Sons, London 1962
• Newcomers at the Cray by Pamela Mansbridge,  Thomas Nelson and Sons, London 1962
• Red Peppers by  Stephen Mogridge,  Thomas Nelson and Sons, London 1962
• Andy and Her Twin by Freda M. Hurt,  Thomas Nelson and Sons, London 1963
• Poems for you (Books 1-4) by  Val Sibley, Raymond Sibley Collins, London 1963
• Vigorous Verse by  W. R. S. McIntyre,  Macmillan, London 1963
• Battle tunes at Bindleton by  Pamela Mansbridge,  Thomas Nelson and Sons, London 1964
• April Gold by  Viola Bayley Dent, London 1965
• Intruders at Pinetops by Freda M. Hurt,  Thomas Nelson and Sons, London 1965
• Semolina lends a hand in Crackerjack Treasure Book by Various Children’s Press, London 196?

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

Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Book [1949]

UPDATED NOVEMBER 2024

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 which gives me a chance to look in more detail and correct/amend things.

Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Book [1949] – Cover by William Gale

Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Book [1949] – Back cover by William Gale

Glenn Reuben told me that “The front cover was drawn by William Gale, born 1894 (not sure about his death), not to be confused with an artist of the same name from 1823 to 1909.” I had a look in various art dictionaries and drew a blank too. Can anyone say more?

Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Book [1949 ] – Endpapers by Helen Jacobs

Helen Jacobs was a very prolific children’s illustrator who lived from 1888-1970. Chris Beetles has a longer biography plus original artworks for sale.

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! BUT I do have a bit more confirmation of the date of this annual. Checking the Bookseller for any instances of Uncle Mac’s works I found the following in July 1948 – working in advance of Christmas 1948.

Now, of course we don’t know WHICH Book they are talking about but fortunately they boasted later of having supported the trade by doing some advertising in Picture Post and the Illustrated magazines. My good friend and librarian Theresa C. found the advert in Picture Post:

Picture Post 11 December 1948, page 5

Now look at the other Uncle Mac book – Uncle Mac’s Own Story Book published at the same time – the design is unique with that long ribbon. This is a title not re-used at any later date. Now look at the annual in question: Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Book. Can you see the bubble / balloons? There is only one such looking book, in my opinion. So we can be sure – based on the British way of labelling annuals using the following year – this should be called Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Book [1949]. The date is not used in the title – thus square brackets, but now I am certain of the dates -© 1948 – title 1949. None of the other Uncle Mac titles for Children’s Hour are that easy(!) but follow along later posts and see if I can pin them down more.

Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Book [1949] – Title page – Art by Emil Weiss

The page facing Uncle Mac himself has an artist’s signature and Glenn Reuben suggested this might be Czech illustrator Emil Weiss (1896-1965). Looking at examples of his art online, I agree. Emil Weiss has a Wikipedia entry which makes interesting reading.

Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Book [1949] – Contents Page – art by Helen Jacobs

As usual with these outline of Annual contents. I’m adding this as text so it’s findable by search engines and future historians and whilst doing that trying to identify artists – my primary interest! But as the Contents page here has gorgeous artwork decorating the border drawn by Helen Jacobs, I’m adding that too. The endpapers (see above) are by her as well with her wonderful identifying signature in a ribbon.

CONTENTS

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

ART GALLERY and comments

Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Book [1949] – 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 [1949] – p.28 illustration by Alex Jardine

Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Book [1949] – p.29 illustration by Peter Scott

Interestingly, this is the only date I could find in this annual – 1948. So we can definitely take that too as corroborative evidence it was published after 1948!!

Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Book [1949] – 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 [1949] – 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? Is it Eileen Soper??

The next one is a puzzle too, and I’ve decided to add all the art for this story, Odds-Bobs-and-Mackerel.

Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Book [1949] – p.120 illustration by “Bruce”

This last images show our old Children’s Hour favourite Odds-Bobs-and-Mackerel. The artwork is very detailed and signed “Bruce” and I have not been able to track down who this artist is, or whether this is a first name or surname! Notice how forthright their signature is, even appearing at the top space of an illustration – no hiding here! But who is this? Please do let me know if you find out.

BBC Uncle Mac and Children’s Hour in books

INTRODUCTION

I’ve completely re-written this page [December 2024] as I had some assistance identifying covers and annual dates – see below for further information. In re-writing this page I took the opportunity to list contents pages separately from this page, and in more detail for each annual. It’s ongoing work but keep an eye out for further articles.

Firstly, let’s get out of the way the fact that there was a Children’s Hour in America (“The Children’s Hour With Uncle Arthur” #1-5, published between 1947-1955,) and in Australia – both saw Annuals published; the latter saw four annuals that I can find for the Australian Broadcasting Commission’s programme – 1956-1959 (#1-4).

This article is about the BBC production which started on radio and transitioned to TV. I have trawled the Internet and used details – only after checking and double checking facts about contents and dates – but please forgive me if I have erred and do get in contact so I can make corrections – as I’m sure there will be mistakes! I have included these details because, just like with Blackie and Son story books from this era it can be hard to date them and they have a wealth of lovely illustrations – many of whose artists are not remembered these days so I’m doing my bit to help keep their work and memory alive!

The Children’s Hour Annual 1928/1929, art by Stanislaus Soutten Longley, published by Partridge

The first annual I have found with the name of the BBC radio programme was published in 1928  – The Children’s Hour Annual: A Book of Stories and Poems for Boys and Girls (above) contained work by E. F. Benson, Desmond MacCarthy, C. Fox Smith, L. Du Garde Peach, Madeleine Nightingale J. C. Stobart, Christine Chaundler, Hugh Chesterman, Eric Parker, C. E. Hodges, C. A. Dawson Scott, Ralph De Rohan, Antonia White, Philip Carmichael and others, published by Partridge, London. This earliest Children’s Hour Annual had 127 pages and the artists include C. T. Nightingale, A. H. Watson,  Ernest Aris, H. J. Ford, Marian Allen, Hugh Chesterman, Joyce Dennys, John Dixon, Eleanor Lambert, A. E. Horn and simply “Johns”.  Glenn Reuben confirms the cover is by Stanislaus Soutten Longley (1894-1966) and the British Library copy has an accession date of “February 1929” so I have gone for 1928/1929 as the date.

The Children’s Story Book, 1933, published by Thomas Nelson [Thanks to “TipTruck” of “Collecting Books and magazines”]

Glenn also mentioned to me a reference to a 1933 “The Children’s Story Book (Children’s Hour Series)” on the Enid Blyton website, published by Thomas Nelson and I managed to find the above..

The Children’s Hour (1944)

Lilian Rowles’ “The Children’s Hour”, 1944

Then we have the 1944 Lilian Rowles (1893-1953) book (Rowles is famous for her softly lit portraits of sleeping babies) and the book is indeed about the radio programme.

The Children’s Hour Picture and Story Book [1951?]
Published by Juvenile Productions Ltd.

“The Children’s Hour; Picture and Story Book” book published in London by Juvenile Productions has 61 pages and significantly its first story is “The little whiner” by Enid Blyton, as later we have evidence that Blyton was not welcome on “Children’s Hour”. The other stories include:

• Little Whiner
• High House
• The farmer’s Little Pigs
• The Little Spotty Pup
• The Best Easter Egg
• Dumpty had a big fall!
• The Absent-minded Aunt

There are also verses, Puzzles, “How-to-makes”, Fun and games, and Picture Strips (Peter the Panda, The Bunny and the Bung, Tommy and the Apples, Bertie Bear’s Balloon) – all of which are 4 panels on one page. I can’t find any identifying signatures for any of the art, but the bulk is by one artist.

There are many older books with “Children’s Hour” in the title, (ironic as apparently the programme never reached a full 60 minutes!) after all it comes from Longfellow. Here the poem as published in from The Children’s Golden Treasure Book 1939 by Odhams

I can’t find any evidence of another ‘annual’ before ‘Uncle Mac’s’ time. He joined the BBC in 1926 and Children’s Hour  in 1930. So let’s get started, trying to map out when these titles were published and check their titles- and I should say this is not a list of all Uncle Mac’s / Derek McCulloch’s output, only the ones related to the Children’s Hour and BBC Annuals.

1935

1936

• The Children’s Hour Annual [1936] – Edited by Uncle Mac of the B. B.C. [© 1935] with a photographic cover
• The Children’s Hour Annual [1937] – Edited by Uncle Mac of the B.B.C. [© 1936] with a clock face cover by Keith McKay Edmunds, or Kay Edmunds
• The Children’s Hour Annual [1938] – Edited by Uncle Mac of the B.B.C. [© 1937] with cover art by Raymond Sheppard

DEREK MCCULLOCH – “UNCLE MAC”

The 13 October 1940  broadcast by Derek McCulloch (which is no longer archived) stated “the 14-year-old Princess Elizabeth sends her best wishes to the children who have been evacuated from Britain to America, Canada and elsewhere. Princess Margaret joins her to wish all children goodnight. This is the earliest recording of the future Queen in the BBC archives.” Duration 4 minutes 18 seconds. This was one of ‘Uncle Mac’s’ proudest moments apparently.

“Children’s Hour ran on BBC Radio from 1922 to 1964, […] Derek McCulloch took charge of Children’s Hour in 1933, and as ‘Uncle Mac’ presided over the show on air, giving it its famous sign off ‘Goodnight children, everywhere’ – from a defunct BBC page

Derek McCulloch / “Uncle Mac”

McCulloch’s full name was Derek Ivor Breashur [performing name “Uncle Mac”] (1897–1967). McCulloch lost his left eye at the Battle of the Somme and a leg as the result of an unfortunate coach accident near his home. He joined the BBC in 1926 (and wrote Nonsericks for Methuen, as “Uncle Mac” in 1928) and was second-in-command (1931) and took over Children’s Hour 1933. It was in 1950 that he gave up the Children’s Hour role to dedicate more time to writing and to become Children’s Editor for News Chronicle – a fact widely advertised at the time – and later he broadcast again on Children’s Favourites until 1964. Martin Parsons (on a now defunct website) spoke at the Winchester Archaeological Rescue Group after researching Children’s Hour. His special interest is the way in which war has affected the lives of children, with special reference to the evacuation process in World War II.  He found, from his research, that the “curmudgeonly old geezer” was very autocratic in his role, but felt this might be due to the constant pain he was in from his wounds. The significance to children scattered far and wide during the war, of his sign-off (“Goodnight children…everywhere”) with that most important pause cannot be exaggerated. You’ll find a fascinating piece called “A Day in the life of the chief Radio “Uncle”- Radio Pictorial April 26, 1935″ here  (Archived page). It would be remiss of me to not mention that ‘Uncle Mac’s’ name has now been besmirched.  The least sensationalist article I’ve found on the matter is by Andrew O’Hagan in the London Review of Books  and makes very depressing reading. You’ve been warned!

Back to the Annuals.

• Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Story Book [1948, 1947] with pirate cover, Art by Bruno Kay (1910-?), Published by Samspon Low at 7s 6d
• Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Book [1949, 1948] with balloons cover, Art by William Gale, Published by Sampson Low
• Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Book [1950, 1949] with orange cover, Published by Sampson Low [printed by Purnell]
• Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Book [1950, 1949] with yellow cover, Published by [No publisher within] at 7s 6d [printed by Purnell] – simplified shaded colours from the ‘orange’ cover above
• Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Story Book [1952, 1951] with red stage cover – Art by Douglas Lionel Mays (1900-1991), Published by Collins at 7s 6d
• Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Story Book [1953, 1952] with roller-coaster cover. Art by Reginald Cyril Webb / Reginald Heade (1901-1957), Published by Collins at 7s 6d

1948

1949

• Uncle Mac’s Fairy Tale Book [1948, 1947] Art by ‘Kay’ – i.e. Bruno Kay (1910-?), Published by Sampson Low at 7/6d
• Uncle Mac’s Own Story Book [1949, 1948] Art by Mary Kendal Lee, Published by Sampson Low at 7/6d

1952

1953

1954

1955

1956

1957

1958

1959

1960

• BBC Children’s Hour Annual [1952] Edited by Peggy Bacon (; assisted by May E. Jenkin (London)) with an elephant leading a crowd on an ice slide, drawn by Sam Fair (1909-1985) Published by Burke, [© 1951]
• BBC Children’s Hour Annual [1953] Edited by May E. Jenkin (Elizabeth) (Head of the Children’s Hour assisted by Freda Lingstrom Head of Television Children’s Programmes) with a central point with radiating circles and various figures. Art by Gilbert Dunlop (1909-1984) Published by Burke, [© 1952]
• BBC Children’s Hour Annual [1954] Edited by Elizabeth (May E. Jenkin) with 5 character cameos on a red grid background with art by various artists.
• BBC Children’s Annual [1955] Edited by Freda Lingstrom, (Head of BBC Children’s Television) with children in the snow running home at 5pm. Art by Joanna Curzon
• BBC Children’s Annual [1956] Edited by Freda Lingstrom with children in the snow pushing a log on a sled. Art by Joanna Curzon
• BBC Children’s Annual [1957] Edited by Freda Lingstrom with a snow outside broadcast near Nelson’s Column(?)children in the snow playing with a sled. Art by Joanna Curzon
• BBC Children’s Annual [1958] Edited by Freda Lingstrom with a circle of characters around a Christmas tree (with black background). Art by Trefor Jones
• BBC Children’s Annual [1959] Edited by Ursula Eason (Assistant Head of Children’s Television) with a red background and various characters seating on a Chinese dragon. Art by Dick Hart (1920-1990)
• BBC Children’s Annual [1960] Edited by Ursula Eason with a photographic cover of a TV studio

FOOTNOTES

1. I must say an especial thanks to Glenn Reuben who was also researching “the dust jackets of all the publications that come under the “Children’s Hour” umbrella, either including the BBC or their host “Uncle Mac” (Derek McCulloch) in the title” and he had help from Alison Bailey, Lead Curator, Printed Heritage Collections 1901-2000 at the British Library who made notes about accession date stamps which covers most of the above
2. Jeff Walden, ‘McCulloch, Derek Ivor Breashur [Uncle Mac] (1897–1967)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/53647, accessed 23 Feb 2014].