EAGLE-TIMES

Eagle Times Vol 24 No 4

2011-12-12T17:03:00.000Z

Winter 2011 Contents

From Under the 1950s Christmas Tree, Pepys Card Games - a seasonal look at the numerous Pepys games, which included some based around characters from Eagle ('Dan Dare' and 'Jeff Arnold') and Girl
The Case of Christmas Presents - PC49 appears in a seasonal short-story
A Look at 'Luck' - part 2 of a continuing series examining the French Foreign Legion strip by Geoffrey Bond and Martin Aitchison, that ran in Eagle from 1952 - 1961
Working with David Hunt, part 2 - memories of working on 'Dan Dare' projects for the "New" Eagle editor in the 1980s
Rivals of Eagle, takes a look at The Boy's Own Paper, the long-running boys' story paper, which lasted 88 years - from 1879 - 1967
The first part of a series on Visual Memories of Eaglecon 80 - the only London comics convention ever held solely for Eagle enthusiasts
PC49 and the Case of the Frightened Flower Girl - the conclusion of a new adaptation of one of Alan Stranks' radio plays
Rivals of Jeff Arnold - the 9th in the series takes a look at 'Happy Daze', a comedy western strip drawn by Bill Holroyd for D.C. Thomson's Topper comic
'Dan Dare' Figures (from the 1950s to the present day) - begins by taking a look at those produced in the 1950s by the Crescent Toy Company and Eaglewall Plastics/Kentoys
Ron by Ron - a lighthearted look at some of Ron Embleton's appearances in some of his own artwork
L. Ashwell Wood, Cutaway Maestro - an addendum to the article in Eagle Times Vol 24 No 3, covering the Inside Information series, Odhams Books and the reprinting of Eagle cutaways in foreign publications
Eagle Annuals 1971-1975 looks at the annuals that continued to appear after the original Eagle's demise as a comic
'Sammy' in colour - a strip from Eagle's companion paper, Swift, which was translated and reprinted in colour in the Dutch paper Arend - shown for the first time in English and colour
A short biographical piece on David Motton, the 'Dan Dare' writer of the 1960s, who recently retired
A report and photographs from the Eagle Society Annual Gathering at Midgham, Berkshire, 6th - 8th September, 2011

Spaceship Away - Part 25

2011-12-07T15:49:00.001Z

It's been a while since we featured Spaceship Away on this blog, but the recent arrival of Part 25 on my doormat prompted me so to do. Spaceship Away is a three times a year, full colour, 40-page A4 glossy magazine that publishes new "old-style" 'Dan Dare' strip stories and articles along with other science fiction strips. With three issues a year, Part 25 marks the beginning of Spaceship Away's 9th year of publication, albeit the Autumn issue and therefore the last of 2011.

The issue sports a Christmas-themed cover by veteran 'Dan Dare' artist Don Harley, with Dan, Digby (laden with Christmas presents) and Stripey arriving back at a snowy Spacefleet HQ as a group of Spacefleet carollers sing in the background. The cover picture heralds, inside, a two-page 'Dan Dare' Christmas story, 'Missiles and Mistletoe', written by Sydney Jordan and drawn by Don Harley, and which opens with an almost identical scene to the cover. Further on the 'Dan Dare' strip content continues with the sixth episode of 'Parsecular Tales' (written and drawn by Tim Booth) and 'Dan and Digby's Happy Landing'; a two-pager by Don Harley.

Other content includes the articles 'Desmond Walduck: "A Worthy Earthman"' by Alan Vince and 'Spacefleet Headquarters' by Charles Evans-Gunther. There is a new piece of artwork by Don Harley, featuring Dan Dare and the four Spacefleet cadets from 'Prisoners of Space', and the centrespread, by Ian Kennedy, features the Mekon and three varieties of Dan Dare that Kennedy drew for the "new" Eagle in the 1980s. Oh, and there's a board game: 'Dan Dare's Race in Space' - provide your own dice and counters. The back cover features a new painting by Bruce Cornwell of the Anastasia space-plane flying over Spacefleet HQ.

Plenty, then, for the Dan Dare fan, and the non-'Dan Dare' strip content includes the second episode of 'Finality Factor', which is a 'Garth' story by Jim Edgar and Martin Asbury, originally drawn by Fank Bellamy, and (now) coloured by Tim Booth; and episode 4 of 'Shadow Over Britain', the 'Journey into Space' story written by Charles Chilton and drawn by Ferdinando Tacconi and Bruce Cornwell, that first appeared in Express Weekly in 1957.

Spaceship Away is available from some specialist outlets (comic shops) but for further details, including how to subscribe, please go to the Spaceship Away website.

John Ryan Retrospective

2011-10-11T15:05:00.002+01:00

John Ryan in 1993

A retrospective exhibition showing about 50 works of the late John Ryan will open at the Stormont Studio, Rye Art Gallery, Rye, East Sussex at 2 pm on 19th November, 2011. The exhibition is planned to run until 12th February, 2012 and celebrates John's life and work through his art. If planning a visit, however, please check the Gallery Opening Hours (see below) as it is not open very day and closes for lunch.

John Ryan is unforgettable to Eagle readers as the creator of 'Captain Pugwash' (which first appeared as a comic strip in Eagle in 1950) and the longer running strip cartoon series 'Harris Tweed', which ran for twelve years.

During his long career, he created many characters and produced a large body of work including numerous books and artworks. 'Captain Pugwash' he turned into a very successful series of illustrated books and an animated series on BBC television. A cartoon strip of 'Captain Pugwash' ran in Radio Times for eight years. He created 'Lettice Leefe' for Eagle's companion paper Girl, and 'Sir Boldasbrass' for Swift. He also devised 'The Adventures of Sir Prancelot' and 'Mary, Mungo and Midge'.

More information on the exhibition is available on the Rye Art Gallery website.

More biographical information on John Ryan can be read in his Eagle Times obituary.

Gallery Opening Hours:

Monday to Wed inclusive - Closed.
Thurs 10:30-13:30 and 14:00-17:00
Fri 10:30-13:00 and 14:00-17:00
Sat 10:30-13:00 and 14:00-17:00
Sun 12:00-16:00

Thanks to the curator, John's daughter, Isabel, for letting us know about the exhibition.

The picture of John Ryan was taken during the Eagle Society's visit to Rye in 1993.

Eagle Times Vol 24 No 3

2011-09-30T00:00:00.001+01:00

Autumn 2011 Contents

A Look at Luck - the first in a series examining 'Luck of the Legion', the French Foreign Legion strip written by Geoffrey Bond and drawn by Martin Aitchison, that ran in Eagle from 1952 - 1961
The XCH-4 Hydrofoil - the real-life flying machine that inspired Frank Hampson's futuristic designs for the Turmoil and the Poseidon, which appeared in the 'Dan Dare' strip, 'The Man From Nowhere'
Wulf the Briton conquers them all - a close look at the Palace Books' reproduction of the 1950s strip from Express Weekly, drawn (or, rather, painted) by Ron Embleton
PC49 and the Case of the Frightened Flower Girl - the beginning of a new adaptation from one of Alan Stranks' radio plays
Eagle Times Window, taking a look at The Dan Dare Space Journal, Orion Books' latest Eagle-inspired publication
L. Ashwell Wood - Cutaway Maestro, taking a look at the life and career of Eagle's most prolific Cutaway artist
Journey into Space with Auntie's Charlie - a report on the combined Book Launch for Charles Chilton's autobiography and the first of his Journey into Space novels.
Working with David Hunt, memories of working on 'Dan Dare' projects for the "new" Eagle editor in the early 1980s
Rivals of Jeff Arnold - Kit Carson part 8 of an ongoing series looking at the real and fictional Wild Western characters that appeared in British comics in the 1950s
The David Pugh 'Dan Dare', part three: continuing an examination of the 'Dan Dare' stories drawn by one of the artists who took on the resurrected "original" Dan Dare in "new" Eagle 1989-1994
Spotted in the Press - "Now I'll Never be Dan Dare": on the the demise of the Space Shuttle
Remembering 'Reign of the Robots' - a re-look at Dan Dare's adventure on a Mekon-subjugated Earth, after the return from Cryptos
Eagle's Wanderers: an examination of two fictional football strips that appeared in Eagle. Part 2 The Circus Wanderers

Charles Chilton's Autobiography

2011-07-28T18:18:00.000+01:00

Charles Chilton, MBE:
Journey into Space
Riders of the Range
Oh, What a Lovely War!

The eagerly anticipated autobiography of Charles Chilton, MBE, is to be published soon by the media company Fantom Films.

Titled Auntie's Charlie (which is an appropriate title considering its author's 46-year career with "Auntie", as the BBC is affectionately known in some quarters), the book will be published coincidentally (though not by chance!) with a new reprint edition of Journey into Space: Operation Luna. The latter is Charles Chilton's own novelisation of the first of his famous British 1950s science fiction radio serials, which has been out of print for 40 years.

Although most famous as the creator/writer/producer of Journey into Space (which he also wrote as a comic strip for Eagle's rival publication, Express Weekly, Charles is also remembered by Eagle's readers as the author of the western strip 'Jeff Arnold and the Riders of the Range', which he wrote weekly for Eagle for more than twelve years - see our earlier post on Eagle writer Charles Chilton. Another of Charles' accomplishments was his research and writing contribution to the musical Oh, What a Lovely War!, a critique of the First World War, which was famously first staged and produced by Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop in 1963.

Auntie's Charlie (ISBN: 978-1-906263-72-0) is to be published in August 2011 in a hard-back Limited Collectors' Edition of 200 copies, priced at £24.99 (UK) or £27.99 (abroad). Details are available at the Fantom Films website. Those pre-ordering before 15th August will receive an invitation to the Charles Chilton Book Launch where their copy can be personally signed by the author.

Journey into Space: Operation Luna (ISBN: 978-1-906263-73-7) is also to be published August. The second and third Journey into Space novels, The Red Planet (ISBN: 978-1-906263-74-4) and The World in Peril (ISBN: 978-1-906263-75-1), are due to follow in November 2011 and February 2012, respectively. All three books will be published in hard-back Limited Collectors' Editions of 200 copies each, and priced at £12.99 each (UK) or £14.99 (abroad). Again, details are available at the Fantom Films website. Those pre-ordering Journey into Space: Operation Luna before 15th August will receive an invitation to the Charles Chilton Book Launch where their copy can be personally signed by the author.

Alternatively, a subscription can be taken out for all three Journey into Space books at £34.99 (UK) or £39.99 (abroad). Subscribers to the Journey into Space books will receive a limited edition postcard signed by Charles and a pin-badge, as well as an invitation to the Book Launch.

The Charles Chilton Book Launch will be held from 4pm - 6pm on 20th August 2011 at the George IV Public House & Comedy Club, Chiswick (London).

Eagle Times Vol 24 No 2

2011-06-29T16:28:00.001+01:00

Summer 2011 Contents

Frank and the Newspaper Cuttings: a look at the use by Frank Hampson, throughout his career, of images of newspapers and newspaper cuttings, as a powerful visual aid to storytelling
'Daan Durf - Piloot van de Toekomst': on the 1980s Dutch reprint editions of the 'Dan Dare' adventures: De Mans Van Nergens (The Man From Nowhere) and De Woeste Planeet (Rogue Planet)
Keith Watson - Drawing from Life: the use of live and photographed figures to achieve realism of the clothed human form
Frank Bellamy's Pictorial Journalism: a look at some of Bellamy's illustrative work for newspapers, magazines and posters
Dan Goes Back to College: a report on the unveiling of the bronze bust of Dan Dare at the Southport College of Art, following its recent restoration
Rivals of Jeff Arnold - Buffalo Bill: part 7 of an ongoing series looking at the real and fictional Wild Western characters that appeared in British comics in the 1950s
Eagle's Wanderers: an examination of two fictional football strips that appeared in Eagle. Part 1: 'Home of the Wanderers'
Kemlo - the 'Spaceworld' books of E.C. Eliott: the life and work of Robert Martin, a prolific children's writer of the 1950s-1960s (who wrote the 'Joey' series under his own name, the 'Kemlo' and 'Tas' series as E.C. Elliott and the 'Pocomoto' western series as Rex Dixon), taking a close look at three of the 'Kemlo' series
PC49 in the Case of the Crying Clown - part 2: concluding another adaptation of one of Alan Strank's famous BBC radio police adventures
The David Pugh 'Dan Dare', part two: continuing an examination of the 'Dan Dare' stories drawn by one of the artists who took on the resurrected "original" Dan Dare in "new" Eagle 1989-1994
Sammy, Swift's Space Fleet Cadet: Stripography - part 2, concluding the summary of the Space Fleet stories that appeared in Eagle's companion Paper
'The Final Frontier': an extract from Arnie Wilson's Big Name Hunting, in which he relates an interview with Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin

Andrew Skilleter

2011-04-11T20:28:00.000+01:00

This post comes as a result of a request from its subject! The illustrator Andrew Skilleter has asked if we would be willing to post something relating to his new website, www.andrewskilleter.com, on the basis of his involvement in Dan Dare over the years. Consider this a "Yes", Andrew!

Although better known for his work illustrating (among other things!) 'Doctor Who', Andrew was, in the lifetime of Eagle (that is, in the mid-1960s) one of the founders of the original Dan Dare Club, which through several metamorphoses led to today's Eagle Society. In 1985 he published the first edition of Alastair Crompton's story of the then recently deceased 'Dan Dare'-creator, Frank Hampson: The Man Who Drew Tomorrow. He also published a book of ex-Eagle artist Frank Bellamy's Radio Times 'Doctor Who' illustrations, called Timeview. Appropriately Andrew called his publishing venture Who-Dares Publishing! More recently, his Homage painting depicting Frank Hampson and some of the 'Dan Dare' characters was included as a frontispiece to Alastair Crompton's Tomorrow Revisited (published by PS Publishing). Since late March this year, Andrew has a Facebook Fan Page.

Andrew says the site has "multi-genre galleries and the SciFi one includes a couple of Dan Dare related pieces". One is the homage painting that I have linked to above. Another, a commission for Spaceship Away magazine can be seen via This Link. I'll leave another, a private commission, for you to find on Andrew's site.

There is also a blog within Andrew's site, which, he says "aims to cover a variety of subjects and certainly comic strip related subjects". He adds: "I’ll be blogging re the new Wulf the Briton (Embleton) reprint for example, and I will be doing Dan Dare, Keith Watson etc". There is already a piece about Tomorrow Revisited.

Andrew also mentions (in passing!) the original 'Dan Dare' art he has for sale via his ComicArtFans site. There six art boards from 'The Ship That Lived' and also a spread by Keith Watson for 'Give Me the Moon'.

Eagle Times Vol 24 No 1

2011-03-31T00:00:00.003+01:00

Spring 2011 Contents

PC49 in The Case of the Crying Clown - beginning a new text story adaptation from one of Alan Stranks' famous BBC radio play police adventures
Spaceship Awaaaaaaaaay! - Eagle Times presents a transcript of one episode from a Dan Dare radio adventure serial, first broadcast in 1954 on Radio Luxembourg sponsored by Horlicks
In search of "Redmill" - a look at what is known of the life and work of Hubert Redmill, Eagle's sixth-most prolific Cutaway artist who, between 1952 to 1960 drew around 40 cutaway drawings for Eagle's centre pages.
The David Pugh 'Dan Dare' - the first part of an examination of the 'Dan Dare' stories drawn by one of the artists who took on the resurrected "original" Dan Dare in "new" Eagle 1989-1994
Rivals of Jeff Arnold - the sixth of the series takes a look at 'Gun Law', which started as an American radio series called 'Gunsmoke', became a long-running TV series shown initially in the UK as 'Gun Law', and then appeared as comic strips in Express Weekly and the Daily Express, drawn by Harry Bishop
Tomorrow Revisited - a review of Alastair Crompton's recently published celebration of the life and works of 'Dan Dare' creator, Frank Hampson
The Life of Another Brian - part 2, recalling memories about illustrator Brian Lewis, who drew 'Home of the Wanderers' and 'Mann of Battle' for Eagle in the 1960s
Yesterday rewritten - some personal recollections on the background to Alastair Crompton's Tomorrow Revisited
Phonetic Phant - phantastically lighthearted wordplay, relating to Dan Dare's enemies on Cryptos
PC49 on the stage - reproductions of advertisements for the visit of the stage production of PC49 to Manchester's Hippodrome theatre, Ardwick Green, in April, 1950
Ron Embleton's Lovely Ladies - an illustrated article covering the many glamorous female characters Ron Embleton created during his prolific career.
Sammy, Swift's Space Fleet Cadet: Stripography - part 1, summarising the Space Fleet stories that appeared in Eagle's companion paper, drawn by 'Dan Dare' artists Desmond Walduck and Bruce Cornwell
Obituary of the renowned Spanish artist, Victor de la Fuente who contributed 'Blackbow the Cheyenne' and 'Can You Catch a Crook?' strips to Eagle in the early1960s.
Spotted in the Press - the story of a "real life Tintin" who may have inspired Hergé's famous character (who was created in 1929 in Belgium, but appeared translated for the first time in English in Eagle in 1951-952).

Dan Dare: Trip to Trouble

2011-02-09T18:28:00.001Z

Trip to Trouble is the thirteenth in the Titan Books series of reprints of 'Dan Dare' from the original Eagle magazine. The volume contains four 'Dan Dare' adventures, two from Eagle in 1959-1960 and two which first appeared in Eagle Annual in 1957 and 1958.

The title story, 'Trip to Trouble', continues directly from 'Terra Nova' (which appears along with 'Safari in Space' in Titan's previous volume, which I reviewed on 19th December 2009) and thus concludes the trilogy that began with 'Safari in Space'. 'Terra Nova' ends on a cliff-hanger as Dan has a bright idea that will put him back on the trail of his missing father. Here, in 'Trip to Trouble', he continues the quest, along with Digby and Lex O'Malley, travelling across Terra Nova by raft to Lantor, where he intervenes in a war between the Lantorites and the invaders from Gaz, finally learns the fate of his father and is able to return home.

'Trip to Trouble' was an appropriate title, in light of the editorial changes happening at Eagle when it was first published, and although 'Project Nimbus' followed it there was more than just a break in the continuity of storyline. Readers of Eagle were surprised when the issue for 19th March 1960 took a new look (and a price hike). The Eagle masthead had been changed and the world of 'Dan Dare' had been totally redesigned by Frank Bellamy (under editorial orders). Although some of Dan's Spacefleet colleagues were still around everything else had changed - architecture, uniforms, spacecraft - with no explanation for the reader! Some time before, the Eagle's new executive had decided on a revamp of Eagle and its lead strip. They called for the story arc started by Frank Hampson in 'Safari in Space' to be wound up. Without Hampson, the story had already diverted from the path in which he might have taken it, and it is unlikely Hampson would have brought his characters back to the Solar system so soon.

In 'Project Nimbus', Dan has returned to Earth - and a very different Spacefleet - from where he is soon heading into space in the Nimbus Two in search of Nimbus One, a protoype photon-drive spaceship that has mysteriously disappeared on its maiden voyage. This leads him and Digby, Hank Hogan and Pierre Lafayette to the moons of Jupiter and an encounter with non-humanoid aliens.

Frank Bellamy had taken over from Frank Hampson as lead artist during 'Terra Nova', and continued to work "with" the remaining studio team members, who included Don Harley, Keith Watson and Gerald Palmer along with Eric Eden, who provided the script. Palmer is not credited on the title page, although he remained with the team for 'Terra Nova' and most, if not all, of 'Project Nimbus'. I believe Watson departed somewhat earlier in 1960, around the end of 'Trip to Trouble'(?), when he went off to draw 'Captain Condor' for Lion. Throughout his one-year tenure as lead artist, Bellamy produced about 50% of the boards himself, and the rest were produced separately by the rest of the team under his general direction.

Under the new editorial management, and without Hampson's creative input, the 'Dan Dare' stories became much less epic in scope. So the two Eagle stories included in Trip to Trouble only fill about two-thirds of the volume. To fill the remainder, Titan have included two 'Dan Dare' stories from Eagle Annual. Both are from the time when Hampson was still working on 'Dan Dare'. The first, 'Space Race', is from Eagle Annual No. 7 and was drawn by Desmond Walduck, presumably from roughs provided by Hampson or members of his studio team. 'Operation Moss' is from Eagle Annual No. 8 and visually is so much better, being a "Frank Hampson Production" drawn by Frank Hampson and Don Harley. It is in my view the best of the annual strips, and shows Hampsom and Harley at their collaborative best.

An addition to the book is a text article by Jeremy Briggs, 'Dan Dare's Solar System', which reflects on the differences between Dan Dare's imaginary universe and what has been revealed about the solar system since the 1950s by real space probes.

I note that I pre-ordered Dan Dare: Trip to Trouble from Amazon over a year ago, soon after the publication of Dan Dare: Safari in Space. I believe the publication date was put back (possibly twice), although the reason for the delay is unclear. If it was to make sure of the quality, then it was worth the wait. Like the previous volume, the artwork, although inevitably reproduced from printed copies of Eagle (rather than from original artwork) benefits again from the loving restoration of Des Shaw (of the Spaceship Away team).

Let's hope in these austere times that this series continues, and Titan can complete the whole series of strips from Eagle. The previous venture by Hawk Books was spoilt by missing out a large portion of the strips that appeared in the 1960s.

Eagle: The Space Age Weekly - review

2010-12-30T13:46:00.001Z

Eagle: The Space Age Weekly was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 23rd December 2010.

My earlier post found cause to criticise the text the BBC put on its website in advance of the programme, and I expressed the hope that the programme would be better informed than whoever wrote the "blurb". Sometimes hopes are fulfilled; and in this case they were. The programme proved to be an excellent, if all too brief, account of the Eagle magazine and the people who created it, explored enthusiastically a former reader, Sir Tim Rice, and including the voices of the late Frank Hampson and Marcus Morris.

My intended review has been delayed by Christmas activities. In the meantime, Bear Alley has beaten me to it with an (almost) excellent review by Steve Winders. Steve makes the mistake of mis-titling the programme Eagle: the Space Age Comic. This might not be considered so important were it not that the programme emphasises that the creators of Eagle avoided the description "comic" for their weekly magazine! Nevertheless I recommend you read Steve's review, as I would have to work very hard to find anything else to disagree about.

As I post this, the programme has ceased to be available to hear again on the BBC's iPlayer - but hopefully we can expect a repeat broadcast soon?

Eagle Times - Back Issues

2010-12-19T15:49:00.005Z

We have received a number of requests from Members* about the availability of back issues (back numbers) of Eagle Times. Although it is difficult to maintain a fully up to date list, those listed below were available mid-December 2010.

Vol 2 (1989) No 2
Vol 3 (1990) No 4
Vol 4 (1991) Nos 2, 3, 4
Vol 5 (1992) No 2
Vol 6 (1993) No 2
Vol 10 (1997) Nos 3, 4
Vol 11 (1998) Nos 2, 3
Vol 14 (2001) No 3
Vol 15 (2002) Nos 2, 3, 4
Vol 16 (2003) Nos 2, 3, 4
Vol 17 (2004) Nos 1, 2, 3, 4
Vol 18 (2005) Nos 1, 2, 3, 4
Vol 19 (2006) Nos 1, 2
Vol 20 (2007) Nos 1, 2, 3, 4
Vol 21 (2008) Nos 1, 2, 3, 4
Vol 22 (2009) Nos 1, 2, 3, 4
Vol 23 (2010) Nos 1, 2, 3

For Members of the Eagle Society, back issues are priced at a quarter of the current Annual Subscription (ie £5.75 each for UK subscribers or £8.50 each for non-UK). If paying by Paypal, please add £1 to your total order. All payments in £ stirling, please.

Some issues of Eagle Times, particularly earlier ones, are in very short supply. I will endeavour to keep the list updated, but as your blogger is not the stock holder there may be some delay. Members are advised to contact the Eagle Society to check availability/reserve a copy before placing an order.

* Although Eagle Times (the Journal of the Eagle Society) is supplied to Members on an Annual Subscription basis, prospective or non-members wishing to see a Sample Issue may now do so. Please see our post Eagle Times - Sample Issue.

Eagle Times - Sample Issue

2010-12-19T15:41:00.001Z

Eagle Times is provided on an Annual Subscription basis to Members of the Eagle Society. However, we are sometimes asked if we can provide a Sample Issue to prospective subscribers, who may be unsure of the quality or typical content of the Eagle Times magazine, or whether they want to join the Eagle Society.

Here is the good news: prospective members can now purchase a Sample Issue of Eagle Times

The Sample Issue price is £6 (for delivery to a UK postal address) or £8.50 (for non-UK addresses). These prices include current postal charges. In the event that you subsequently join the Eagle Society (in the year of the Sample Issue) the price may be deducted against your Annual Subscription for that year*. Postal applications can be made to the Membership Secretary's (Keith Howard's) address - see the sidebar of the blog - (cheque payable to the Eagle Society). Applications can also be made to the eagle-times e-mail address, but if you wish to use Paypal, please add £1 to your order. All payments in £ stirling, please.

The Sample Issue sent you will be a recent, not necessarily the latest, issue of Eagle Times and will be subject to availability after all Members issues have been distributed.

*eg. if you pre-order the 2011 Spring Issue and subsequently take out a Subscription for 2011 you may subtract the price of the Sample Issue from the Annual Subscription.

Please note that, while there is no obligation to take out a subscription, Eagle Times has a limited print run based on the Eagle Society's membership numbers and therefore we will not be able to support repeated single issue sales.

Eagle Times Vol 23 No 4

2010-12-13T16:07:00.000Z

Winter 2010 Contents

Not all Lancashire Lads and Lasses - a brief article on the genealogy of ('Dan Dare' creator) Frank Hampson
The Incredible Shrinking Fish - a critical examination of the giant sea creatures that appear in the classic 'Dan Dare' story 'The Man From Nowhere'
Sammy: Swift's Space Fleet Cadet - takes a look at the strip in Eagle's companion paper Swift that was drawn by 'Dan Dare' artists Bruce Cornwell and Desmond Walduck, and drew heavily on the imagery of 'Dan Dare'
From Under the 1950s Christmas Tree - taking a look at the various Eagle and 'Dan Dare' stencil sets that were available for children in the 1950s
'Nightmare on Dreamland', part 2 - continuing an examination of the (1986) story from the "new" Eagle, when the new (great-great grandson) Dan Dare met the original in an encounter with their arch enemy, the Mekon
Dan Dare - The Biography - a review of Daniel Tatarsky's recent book
The Life of Another Brian - memories about the illustrator Brian Lewis, who among his prolific output drew 'Home of the Wanderers' and 'Mann of Battle' for Eagle in the 1960s
PC49 and The Case of the Lone Wolf - part 2 - the conclusion of an adaptation of Alan Stranks' radio play.
Visual memories of the 37th World Science Fiction Convention, Seacon '79, which was held in Brighton in 1979 - with guests who included Frank Hampson and Arthur C Clarke.
The Lion and The Eagle - the text of Steve Winders' humorous monologue, which was presented on the occasion of Eagle's 60th Anniversary at Southport on 14th April, 2010.
Eagle Annuals 1961-1971 - reviewing the second decade of Eagle Annual, and the changes made after the takeover of Hulton Press
Christmas Albums during Eagle times - a look at ten best-selling seasonal LPs back then

The cover shows the emblem from the Christmas issue of Eagle, 24th December, 1952

Tomorrow revisited (review)

2010-12-10T22:00:00.002Z

Standard Trade Edition

Within the space of a few weeks two books related to ‘Dan Dare’ have been published. I have already reviewed the first, Daniel Tatarsky’s Dan Dare - The Biography. The latest is Alastair Crompton’s Tomorrow Revisited, or to give it its full title Tomorrow Revisited: a celebration of the life and art of Frank Hampson. Comparisons between the two books may seem inevitable, but I find their scope and purpose different, and I will avoid making any critical comparison here.

Besides, there is another comparison to be made. In 1985, shortly after the death of his subject, Alastair Crompton had published a book entitled The Man Who Drew Tomorrow, on the subject of “how Frank Hampson created Dan Dare, the world’s best comic strip.” In Tomorrow Revisited, as implied by the title, he returns to the same subject matter. It is inevitable therefore that comparisons of Tomorrow Revisited with the earlier book will be made; indeed, one might ask, “having bought the first book in 1985, why should I buy the same thing over again?” Well, I have, and hopefully I can dispel any reservations other owners of The Man Who Drew Tomorrow might have. There is plenty for you in this book that was not in the earlier book.

In his introduction, Alastair starts with a quote from Oscar Wilde: “Every great man nowadays has his disciples, and it is usually Judas who writes his biography”. He then declares that his book is not a biography, although it clearly has a lot of biographical content, and he states his rationale for revisiting the subject. With 25 years of water under the bridge, by his own admission, he believes now “that the first edition of this book ... was a slightly fourth form hagiography, showing my subject through rose coloured glasses, and allowing him to make claims which in this edition I am forced to question”. But while he might not take Hampson’s every claim with so much credence these days, he also declares that he is “not Wilde’s Judas”. He might have said (though he doesn’t) that he provides no Brutus to Hampson’s Caesar, for he gives no stabs in the back, either. There are many shades, which he tries to fill, and in this edition he is more careful (objective?) about how he spreads the blame and the glory, while remaining sympathetic to his subject. This is, after all, a celebration of the man who created and produced ‘Dan Dare’ for a nearly a decade, and who, in 1975, was crowned by his peers as Prestigioso Maestro - the World’s Best Comic Artist since the Second World War.

The text has been “totally rewritten”, not to imply that everything changed was “wrong”, nor to imply that you won’t find repeated sections of text - you will - but often he finds a different way of telling his, or rather, Hampson’s, story.

Having a similar page-count to the earlier edition, Tomorrow Revisited is slightly larger, with about an inch greater height. (It is also considerably thicker, but otherwise slightly smaller, than the volumes in Titan Books’ ‘Dan Dare’ reprint series.) The Man Who Drew Tomorrow had a dustjacket; this does not, but the Bookshop Edition has a very attractive red cover using black and white pictures of Hampson in his later years. Inside, the front and rear endpapers include in their design the information that would usually be on the fold-in elements of the jacket. The text layout is entirely different, with much use of inset colour, and the most noticeable impact from leafing through the book is the many examples of artwork reproduced from original illustration boards.

The original book had 216 pages of which only 24 contained colour. The latest has a few more pages overall, but this time more than half contain colour. Around 70 pages are full-page colour and, of those, around 35 reproduce artwork from complete original artboards. Other pages have examples of single frames of original art, which really show the detail that went into the drawings. Most of the artwork is from ‘Dan Dare’, but there are also examples from ‘The Great Adventurer’, ‘Tommy Walls’, ‘Rob Conway’ (black and white) and ‘The Road of Courage’.

Since the original artwork reproduced in Tomorrow Revisited is largely from Paul Stephenson’s (the publisher’s) extensive collection, most of these illustrations appear for the first time. They are superbly reproduced. Anyone who has never seen a page of original Hampson-produced ‘Dan Dare’ artwork will be amazed at the detail that went into every frame of each week’s episode - detail that was sadly lost in the printing of Eagle - as can be seen by comparing the examples in Tomorrow Revisited with their counterparts in the Titan Books series of ‘Dan Dare’ reprints (where ‘Dan Dare’ pages from Eagle are reproduced at a similar size).

The book also includes biographical pictures, photographs of the models built to help the Dan Dare Studio to visualize scenes, equipment and characters, photographs of members of the Studio posing for particular frames of the strip, sketches from Frank Hampson’s studio reference sheets and notebooks, and some of the merchandising that spun off the character ‘Dan Dare’. Although, inevitably, some images from the earlier book are reused, a large proportion of the visual content of Tomorrow Revisited is different from the old.

Something not previously published (in book form - some have appeared previously in Eagle Times magazine and/or on Alastair’s Lost Characters of Frank Hampson website) is a collection of “strips that never were”. These, mostly, are strips that Hampson was commissioned to create after ‘The Road of Courage’ but were never developed since he was dismissed by the new management. The original artwork is lost, but they were photocopied by “someone in The Mirror Group” in the 1960s and partial restorations made from copies (of the copies) are presented. The quality of this “lost” artwork only emphasises the genius of Frank Hampson and the tragedy that beset him after Eagle.

For the pedantically inclined (this is after all a critical review, and nothing in this world is perfect!) I did spot a few errors, eg.

A caption below a reprint of the first published ‘Dan Dare’ page (Eagle No. 1) refers to “The first ever page of Dan Dare. At this early stage Hampson wasn’t into his stride and drew all the frames the same size”. Clearly the frame sizes vary on the page, and the caption should refer to the dummy page of ‘Chaplain Dan Dare’, which appears on the opposite page!

Frank Humphris, the (third) artist on Eagle’s ‘Riders of the Range’, is quoted at one point but his name appears as “Humphries”. (A mistake not unknown elsewhere.)

Bruce Cornwell appears at one point as “Cornwall”. (Another mistake not unknown elsewhere!).

Hampson’s ‘Modesty Blaise’ samples are shown, along with the statement that “what you see here is the a row of Hampson’s Modesty, followed by a row of the same strip drawn by Jim Holdaway.” There is no Holdaway art shown (though is can be seen on the Lost Characters of Frank Hampson website!

I suspect that at least one page of artwork (from ‘The Road of Courage’) has been reproduced at slightly the wrong aspect ratio (“squashed” in the horizontal).

The above criticisms aside, for anyone newly interested, or renewing their interest, in Frank Hampson and ‘Dan Dare’, or more generally having an interest in the history and development of sequential graphic art (the posh name for “comics”), Tomorrow Revisited surely is a “must read”, and its illustrations are a “must see”. As I previously commented after first seeing Tomorrow Revisited, it provides a visual treat, being adorned with illustrations including, as I have indicated, many full-page examples that are reproduced from original artwork.

There are two versions of the book, the standard Bookshop (or Trade) Edition, which I have reviewed, and a Limited (to 100 issues) De Luxe Edition, which I believe internally identical with the Bookshop Edition, but is leather bound and comes in a leather presentation case with an original ‘Dan Dare’ illustration by Don Harley, a print by Andrew Skilleter and a Certificate signed by Alastair Crompton, Peter Hampson, Andrew Skilleter and Don Harley.

I said I would avoid critically comparing Tomorrow Revisited with Dan Dare: The Biography, and so I will. They are sufficiently different in scope that any serious student of the story of Eagle and ‘Dan Dare’ should read both books. If you are new to this, I would recommend reading Dan Dare: The Biography first, as a primer, but you might want to steal a look at Tomorrow Revisited before you begin - if only for the wonderful artwork.

Tomorrow Revisited: A celebration of the life and art of Frank Hampson is published by PS Art Books in two hardback editions:

Deluxe Slipcase Edition (ISBN 978-1-84863-122-9) at £299.95

Standard Trade Edition (ISBN 978-1-84863-121-2) at £29.99

Eagle: The Space Age Weekly (BBC Radio 4)

2010-12-10T14:33:00.000Z

As most of our readers will know already, 2010 saw the 60th Anniversary of the launch of Eagle. As the year draws to a close, the BBC is marking the anniversary with a half-hour radio documentary presented by Sir Tim Rice and produced by Stephen Garner. The programme will air at 11.30am on 23rd December.

The BBC provides the following information about the programme:

Eagle: The Space Age Weekly

Sir Tim Rice explores the lasting appeal of British magazine Eagle and the impact of its flagship character Dan Dare.

Eagle ran in two main incarnations between 1950 and 1994. Dan Dare, often referred to as "Biggles in space", is regarded in some circles as the greatest British science fiction hero of the 20th century

In this feature we chart the influences behind the comic, and explore the life of its creator Marcus Morris, a fascinating man who began the publication because of his concern over 'horrific' US comics which presented 'disturbing' storylines which he felt 'corrupted British youth'.

The programme reveals how Dan Dare was originally envisaged as a space chaplain before becoming the popular astronaut. It also examines the work of illustrator Frank Hampson who introduced technology years ahead of its time. Hampson knew the Space Age was on its way while serving in the Second World War and seeing the German VI rockets. He made the Dan Dare strips as realistic as possible by dressing his team in spacesuits and uniforms, basing the look of the fictional characters on his colleagues.

We reveal how the stories had educational value and, along with Dan Dare, we look at other Eagle offerings including Shakespeare's plays and the Greek myths which ran as comic strips.

Featuring contributions from author Philip Pullman, Sally Morris the daughter of Eagle Creator Marcus and Eagle Society member David Britton.

Leave aside the reference to Biggles in Space (Biggles and Co. were much more thuggish in my view), Dan Dare is so imbedded within British culture, that references to other British fictional characters are unnecessary. To most 1950s schoolboys Dan Dare is The Pilot of the Future!

Eagle certainly had an educational value and contained many more features, fictional and non-fictional, than Dan Dare, but I don't think Shakespeare or Greek myths featured much, so it will be interesting to see what the programme has to say on those aspects.

Oh, and Frank Hampson's inspiration was the German V2 rocket, not the V1.

Hopefully the programme will be better informed than whoever wrote the BBC's "blurb"!

News of this broadcast has also been reported on Down the Tubes

Tomorrow Revisited - book launch

2010-12-01T11:35:00.005Z

Alastair Crompton signing copies

The launch of Alastair Crompton's book Tomorrow Revisited took place at the Chris Beetles Gallery in London's Mayfair on 30th November, 2010. A good few people braved the winter-come-early weather and the resulting traffic chaos, the risk from rioting students and the film fans turning out for the premier of the latest Narnia film, to be the first to buy a copy, and to take a look at the original 'Dan Dare' artwork on display, and for sale at the gallery (typically at £5,500 a board!). Alastair and his publisher and collaborator Paul Stephenson were in attendance, Alastair cheerfully signing copies of his book for those who wished to buy. These were advance copies, flown in especially for the launch. The main shipload was due to arrive by sea from China the next day, ready for the publication date of 6th December.

Tomorrow Revisited (as implied by the title) is a wholly updated, rewritten and redesigned version of Alastair Crompton's 1985 book, The Man Who Drew Tomorrow. It is a "celebration of the life and art of Frank Hampson", the creator of 'Dan Dare' and the artistic creator of the Eagle magazine. I hope to provide a full review when I have read the book, but visually it is a treat, being adorned with illustrations, including many full-page examples that are reproduced from original artwork, largely from Paul Stephenson's extensive collection.

There are two versions of the book, the Bookshop Edition at £29.99 and a Limited (to 100 issues) De Luxe Edition, which is leather bound and comes in a leather presentation case with an original 'Dan Dare' illustration by Don Harley, a print by Andrew Skilleter and a Certificate signed by Alastair Crompton, Peter Hampson, Andrew Skilleter and Don Harley. The De Luxe Edition is priced at £299.95.

Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future: A Biography (review)

2010-11-19T21:11:00.000Z

On first seeing the title of this book I was half expecting a biography of the character Dan Dare, written as if the alternate universe created by Frank Hampson, his studio team and their successors, might be real - something along the lines of what Philip José Farmer did (in 1972) for Edgar Rice Burroughs’ famous jungle character in Tarzan Lives! That idea remains for some future project, perhaps, but if the title of this book might be misleading, I am not about to criticize the book for what it is not.

Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future: A Biography (or Dan Dare: The Biography as the dust jacket would have it) is the story of the ‘Dan Dare’ strip in the Eagle - how it was created, developed, produced and eventually (all but) killed when Eagle ended. Although it (rather briefly) continues the story through the further incarnations of ‘Dan Dare’ to the present, and even anticipates a future movie, the overwhelming focus is on those Eagle years (1950 - 1969). It is written by Daniel Tatarsky, the editor of Orion Books’ other Eagle-related publications: Eagle Annual the Best of the 1950s Comic, Eagle Annual of the Cutaways, Eagle Annual the Best of the 1960s comic, and the 2011 Eagle Diary).

The book, hard-covered in red and with a colourful dustjacket, has around 250 pages of text with the occasional black and white illustration, plus another 64 glossy colour pages grouped into themes at intervals through the book and variously adorned with illustrations from archive copies of Eagle, studio photographs, Frank Hampson’s sketchbooks and roughs, and various pictures of ‘Dan Dare’ spin-off merchandising. The text includes an introduction (by Terry Jones), nine chapters, an appendix (summarizing all the ‘Dan Dare’ adventures from the original Eagle) and a bibliography. There is no index, reflecting perhaps that it is not all that mighty a tome.

As well as reading the main published works (Alastair Crompton’s The Man Who Drew Tomorrow, Sally Morris’ and Jan Hallwood’s Living With Eagles etc.), the author has talked (directly in some cases; via letter, telephone or e-mail in others) with a number of people associated with ‘Dan Dare’ and Eagle, including surviving former Dan Dare Studio team members Greta Tomlinson, Don Harley and Bruce Cornwell, plus Margaret Jackson (Frank Hampson’s sister), as well as with other Eagle and ‘Dan Dare’ enthusiasts (Alan Vince, Adrian Perkins, Rod Barzilay, et al) and to a number of people who were influenced by Eagle and ‘Dan Dare’. (At this point, perhaps I should declare that my own name is mentioned in the acknowledgements - though I'm sure my own contribution was quite modest!) He also had access to Alan Vince’s 1974 interview with Frank Hampson, to Penny Spark’s 1978 interview with the same, and talked with Frank Hampson’s son, Peter - so plenty of opportunity to bring something new to the history. While bringing his own voice and thoughts to the proceedings, Tatarsky often quotes his sources directly, letting their voices illuminate the story.

While I have some familiarity with the subject matter, I did not read this book deliberately hunting for errors or discrepancies with other accounts (besides I do not count myself as an expert in the detail). Nevertheless I suspect that the colour section comparing characters drawn by different artists contains at least one error in the artist attributions. Also, the text implies (at the end of the fourth chapter) that Don Harley was the only other artist working on the strip with Frank Bellamy after Hampson’s departure in 1959, whereas (and it is obvious by looking at the strips produced at that time) there were various artists still at work. One artist, Gerald Palmer, doesn’t even get a mention.

Despite the criticisms mentioned above, I found it a very well written book - Tatarsky has a natural, easy style, making for relaxed reading. His book provides a sympathetic account of the story of ‘Dan Dare’ - from conception to resurrection, you might say. It should be an essential primer to anyone with an interest in the 1950/60s Eagle ‘Dan Dare’ and a good read even for those more familiar with the story. For anyone who has come to ‘Dan Dare’ after the 1960s, through 2000AD, the "new" (1980s) Eagle, the Titan Books reprint series, Spaceship Away, or even the Virgin Comics “remould”, the book provides a readily accessible primer on the ‘Dan Dare’ strip and a homage to the creativity, achievement, personal tragedy, influence and legacy of the original creators of an enduring British comic strip hero.

Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future: A Biography (ISBN: 978 0 7528 8896 5) is published in hardback by Orion Books @ £14.99.

Copies are currently available at reduced price from Amazon.co.uk (where I bought mine!) Play.com, and other outlets.

Eagle Times Vol 23 No 3

2010-09-30T00:01:00.245+01:00

Autumn 2010 Contents

A look at the "Realtime" chronology of the original Dan Dare saga, from the birth of Sir Hubert (1943), to Dan's appointment as Spaceship Controller (2022)
Memories of Marcus Morris - the man - provided by former members of the St James Youth Club, which was set up by Marcus in the 1940s.
A summary history of 46 years of Eagle enthusiast publications, from the Dan Dare Club Newsletter (1964) to Eagle Times (1988 to date).
The Case of the Lone Wolf - the first part of another 'PC49' story adapted from an Alan Stranks' radio play
The Name's the thing - a humorous look at the varied and strange names of aliens in the Dan Dare saga.
Measuring Eagle's success - a look at the readership survey instigated by Hulton Press in 1950, which concluded that Eagle then had a readership of 60% of the boys of Britain.
Now you see him - now you don't - how in the early 1980s a flying Dutchman tried, and failed, to publish reprint books of the Eagle strips 'Heros the Spartan' and 'Dan Dare'
'Rogue Planet' remembered - a personal reflection highlighting iconic moments from Dan Dare's 7th Eagle adventure.
Putting Eagle Times together - how the editorial team (and some unsung helpers) put together a 56-page magazine every quarter
'Nightmare on Dreamland' - a look at the 1986 story from the "new" Eagle, when Dan Dare (the great-great-grandson) meets the original Dan Dare in an encounter with their arch enemy - the Mekon
Rivals of Jeff Arnold - the fifth in this ongoing series looks at the impact of western hero Davy Crockett, brought to screen in 1955 by Walt Disney.
Eaglers of the future - a former Eagle reader introduces his collection to his grandchildren
Did You Really Shoot the Television? - a review of the Family Fable by Max Hastings, journalist son of Eagle's Special Investigator, MacDonald Hastings
Bill Dean, Kenneth McDonough and Ray Malstrom - a short illustrated article on the prolific model aircraft and vehicle designers who contributed to Eagle and Eagle books throughout the 1950s and 1960s
Lancastria - a relook at Eagle writer Geoffrey Bond's book (published in 1959 and serialised in John Bull magazine), following the 70th anniversary (in June 2010) of the biggest maritime disaster in British History

The picture on this issue's front depicts the Launch of the Hirondelle by John Yardley (after Frank Hampson studio). It is based on the opening frame from the 4th episode of 'The Red Moon Mystery' first published in Eagle, Vol 2 No 29, 26th October, 1951.

Eagle Diary 2011 (review)

2010-09-20T15:46:00.009+01:00

Here's a fun, but practical item from Orion Books. I've had mine for a little while now, but just got around to reviewing it.

The Eagle Diary 2011 is hard-backed, red-bound and features a red ribbon bookmark and a black elastic closure strap.

This follow-on from the publisher's Eagle Annual: Best of the 1950s Comic, Eagle Annual of the Cutaways and Eagle Annual: Best of the 1960s Comic draws on the same wealth of material - The Dan Dare Corporation's archive copies of the original Eagle.

Measuring a respectable 8½ x 6 inches and ¾ inches thick and with 7 days per page the diary provides plenty of space for the diarist's own entries and features reproduced selections of artwork, advertisements, comic strips, etc. from the original Eagle. Other useful items of included information are: interplanetary dialing codes (though including one for the Sun might seem a little odd - perhaps it's a hot-line!), bank holiday dates, interplanetary flight schedules and a vintage wine chart covering wines from all the major planets, including (from Venus) Mekonta Special Brew.

An additional bonus: the edge of the pages serves for a flick book - whereby a rocket ship takes off (or descends if flipping in the reverse direction!)

As with the former Orion Books' offerings the diary has a "retro look" and there is a one-page introduction from Daniel Tatarsky. Somehow that "retro look" (which before gained criticism from some reviewers, including this one) seems more acceptable this time around.

This is a very attractive nostalgia (but usable) item, and would be an ideal Christmas (or other) present for any 'Dan Dare' fan or former Eagle reader - there should be plenty: a survey by Hulton Press in the 1950s indicated that at that time 60% of British boys read Eagle!

Priced at £12.99, Eagle Diary 2011 (ISBN 978-1-4091-1269-3) is at the time of posting available at reduced price from a number of outlets, including: Waterstones (at £9.09) Amazon.co.uk (at £8.57), Play.com (at £9.99) W H Smith (£8.05)

Eagle Times Vol 23 No 2

2010-06-26T00:01:00.002+01:00

Summer 2010 Contents

A photo-illustrated report on the Eagle Society's April 2010 gathering to celebrate Eagle's 60th Anniversary in Southport
'Scale-face speaks with Thorked tongue' - a look at the ways in which alien languages were treated in the Eagle's 'Dan Dare' saga
'Jim Stalwart' - part 2, covering story synopses and foreign reprints of this "forgotten" strip from 1954, drawn by Bruce Cornwell for Junior Mirror
'Eagle's "No!" to Frank Humphris' - describing how in 1962 the editor of Eagle rejected the idea from Britain's leading western artist for a 'True Stories of the West' series
'I was There' - some third-party recollections of when, in 1980, space artist David Hardy met 'Dan Dare' creator Frank Hampson
'More complaints from the Dustman?' A look at some of artist Ron Embleton's lesser known work
'Rivals of Jeff Arnold' - the latest in this series examines the depiction in films and British comic strip of the masked avenger - 'The Lone Ranger'
'What the papers say' - topical press coverage of Eagle's 60th Anniversary
'Plastic Ship Kits by Eaglewall' - a review of some of the "Authentic Plastic Assembly Kits" made by Eagle/Wall Plastics Ltd in the 1950s
'Haynes Apollo 11 Owners' Workshop Manual' - a review of the recently published book
'The Case of the Begging Girl' - a 'PC49' story adapted from Alan Stranks' radio play
'This is where we came in' - recollections of the origins and activities of the Astral Group 'Dan Dare' Club in the 1970s
'Eagle Annuals' - a fond look back and review of the first ten Eagle Annuals, published between 1951 to 1960
'Frank Bellamy's The Story World War 1' - a review of the book which collects the series written by Michael Butterworth that was originally published in Look and Learn

The cover illustration shows the celebratory Birthday Cake which was cut and consumed by members of the Eagle Society at the Southport on 14th April, 2010 - the 60th Anniversary of Eagle's first publication.

The Eagle Story

2010-06-09T19:15:00.001+01:00

Readers of Eagle Times magazine will be aware that in the Spring 2008 issue, we publicised the existence and availability on DVD of The Eagle Story, a short documentary film, made by Cheshire-based, nonprofessional filmmaker, Frank Baker. The film was more recently seen by members of the Eagle Society who attended Eagle's 60th Anniversary in Southport in April 2010. Since then Frank has kindly made a video copy available on YouTube - and so it can appear here! Thanks, Frank.

In its ten minutes, The Eagle Story covers, briefly but effectively, the history of Eagle and 'Dan Dare', from the beginnings in Southport and the setting up of the studio in Churchtown, through the move to Bayford Lodge in Epsom, the launch of Eagle's companion papers, 'Dan Dare' toys and merchandise, and the eventual unsympathetic take-over of Eagle by Odhams. Also covered are the later lives of Marcus Morris and Frank Hampson, including the latter's breakdown, and his later recognition as 'Prestigio Maestro' at Lucca. Some of the later commentary reflects the fact that this film was made a couple of years ago. For example, comments regarding the expected biography of 'Dan Dare' are somewhat dated - the book by Daniel Tatarsky is currently expected to be published by Orion Books in late October, 2010.

On 10th April, 2008, The Eagle Story took the top prize in the Inter-Club Competition at Southport giving, as I understand it, Swan Movie Makers (Wirral) their eleventh win in the competition. Although the film was submitted with less success to the OSFAF International Film Festival in Skopje, Macedonia, another of Frank Baker's films Knot in Motion saw more success (taking second prize) there. The Eagle Story was also nominated for the fledgling Wirral International Film Festival in November 2008. Frank tells us that after its success in the Inter-Club Competition, The Eagle Story was selected for the North v South Competition, winning the Mermaid trophy. A bit of internet searching tells me that the North v South Competition is run annually by the Institute of Amateur Cinematographers (IAC). The Mermaid Trophy is awarded to the IAC Region whose film receives the greatest number of audience votes.

Eagle Society at Southport - video

2010-04-20T17:02:00.003+01:00

Thanks to Chris Phillips there is a four-part video record of the Eagle Society's three days in Southport, celebrating Eagle's 60th Anniversary.

Part 1 includes the cutting of the Eagle 60th Anniversary cake, Steve Winders' after dinner tribute to Eagle - a humorous rendition entitled 'The Lion and Eagle' (based on the well-known comedy piece, Marriott Edgar’s 'The Lion and Albert'), and Nigel McMurray's introduction over dinner on the first evening.

In Part 2 Jim Ryder and Adam James provide the evening's entertainment on the first night, in the spirit of Jeff Arnold and the Riders of the Range, with 'cowboy' and country and western songs.

Part 3, takes us, among other things, on the 'Eagle Trail' on 14th April, led by local author and artist Peter Dyer, and visiting the places in Southport associated with the creation of Eagle - including the famous 'Bakehouse Studio'.

Part 4 covers the events of the 15th April, including John Swan's review of Portuguese and other "Eagles", and a meeting with some of the Eagle Times editorial team.

Eagle's (and Dan Dare's) 60th Anniversary

2010-04-14T00:01:00.011+01:00

Sixty years ago, on 14th April, 1950, Hulton Press launched a revolutionary new paper for children (aimed at boys, but many girls read it too). The Eagle magazine was a new concept in juvenile publishing and its combination of four-colour photogravure and black-and-white pages presented a mix of fictional and factual material, in both picture-strip and textual form. Eagle was published weekly from 1950 until 1969, and is best known for the picture strip that for much of its history appeared on the front and inside-front pages: 'Dan Dare - Pilot of the Future', created for the Eagle by writer and artist Frank Hampson.

Edited by Marcus Morris, Eagle was destined so to brighten, and in some cases inspire, the lives of children in austere post-World War II Britain that, 60 years on, it is still fondly remembered. The fondness of our memory and our inspiration derive from the ideals and hard work of its creators, which provided a quality of writing and artistry, and a range of content, that surpassed that available in other juvenile publications of the time. Our earlier post Eagle - How it began provides a short introduction to the subject.

As the Eagle Society celebrates the 60th Anniversary of Eagle (in Southport where it all began) it is time to remember the debt we owe to the creators of Eagle, principally its first Editor the Revd. Marcus Morris and its lead artist Frank Hampson, but also the many other contributors (editors, artists and writers) who through their work (and often over-work), inspired Eagle's readers - some to be artists, some to be writers, others to be scientists, engineers, pilots or sportsmen. Though many of Eagle's contributors are no longer with us to hear it, we still say "Thank you".

UniComics 2010

2010-04-06T22:43:00.001+01:00

Via our friends at Spaceship Away and Downthetubes we have learned of a new comics festival, which should be of interest to many Eagle Times readers and fans of Eagle and 'Dan Dare'. The festival will be held at the De Havilland campus of the University of Hertfordshire at Hatfield, Herts. from Thursday 22nd – Sunday 25th April 2010.

According to the Press Release, UniComics "will feature a varied programme of ticketed and non-ticketed events suitable for just about everyone". The festival "comprises a selection of author/illustrator lectures, schools and family events, film presentations and screenings, open mic sessions, theatre performances, art workshops and panel discussions."

It is a panel discussion on 25th April that will be of most interest to Eagle and 'Dan Dare' fans, viz:

Sunday 25th April, 6pm - 8pm: Weekly British Spirit - Sixty Years of the Eagle and Dan Dare
On April 14th, 1950, a new boys' comic called the Eagle vigorously introduced some wonder in to the drudgery of post-war Britain and, with its star strip 'Dan Dare: Pilot of The Future', showcased a profoundly alluring fantasy of a strong and vital Britain in then far-flung 1997 that boldly led the way in the exploration of outer space. One of the most successful comics in British history, at its height, the Eagle remarkably sold just under a million copies a week. In celebration of the 60th anniversary of both this landmark, much-beloved title and its highly-memorable flagship character, UniComics presents a panel discussion to explore what is considered to be one of the high watermarks of British Comics history. The panel includes Pat Mills (founder of 2000AD), Nick Jones (founding editor of Titan Book’s Dan Dare library), Dr. Will Brooker (Kingston University) and Gary Erskine (artist, Virgin Comics’ Dan Dare). Hosted by Danny Graydon.

Tickets are priced £10 (full) £8 (concessions), £5 (students and children).

More information at the Unicomics website or download a pdf of the Programme

UniComics is presented by the University of Hertfordshire in collaboration with Laydeez do Comics, Herts County Council (Libraries), the St Albans Children’s Book Group, the Hertfordshire Film Consortium and Danny Graydon (Film and Comics Journalist).

Eagle Times Vol 23 No 1

2010-03-16T09:59:00.013Z

Spring 2010 Contents

An examination of the career of Sergeant Bruce, whose single-episode exploits ran for nearly four years in the 1960s Eagle, firstly as 'Sergeant Bruce, C.I.D.' and then in 'Can You Catch a Crook?'
A tribute to Geoffrey Bond (1920-2009), best known as the writer of 'Luck of the Legion' in Eagle; also a friend of the Eagle Society, who wrote the 'Justin Tyme' strip for Eagle Times
Complaints from the Dustman? - reminiscences of some of Ron Embleton's "discarded" artwork
A look at the life and career of Paul Trevillion, better known for his sports illustrations and his work on 'Roy of the Rovers' for Tiger, who drew some of the 'Can You Catch a Crook?' and 'U.F.O. Agent' strips in Eagle in the 1960s
The Tales of a Southport Lad - reviewing Peter Dyer's book When I Went a' Walking
Fond recollections of the Space Patrol Official Handbook that was the invention of Denis Gifford in 1952
A revisit to the Eagle connections with Ladybird Books, including some examples of the work of Roy Worvill (writer) and covers by the artists Robert Ayton, Frank Hampson, Frank Humphris and Martin Aitchison
A Frank Humphris 'Ladybird' Rough, showing the sketch which led to one of the full-page illustrations in the Ladybird book The story of the Indians of the Western Plains
The Case of the Shocking Shadow - taking a look at Alan Stranks' PC49 stage play from 1950
A look at 'Jim Stalwart', Bruce Cornwell's "forgotten" Space Captain, whose exploits graced the pages of the Junior Mirror in 1954
'Rivals of Jeff Arnold' examines the history and the myth of Billy the Kid
Same Again Next Week? A review of the issue of The Champion that was published the week before Eagle's debut in 1950
Pop Music in Eagle Times - 1968

The cover of this issue of Eagle Times commemorates the birth of Eagle 60 years ago on 14th April, 1950.

Classic Bible Stories

2010-03-09T17:48:00.016Z

The first of an intended series of books reprinting Classic Bible Stories from Eagle has been published by Titan Books. The first volume collects two stories: 'The Road of Courage', the story of Jesus of Nazareth, written by the Revd. Marcus Morris and illustrated by Frank Hampson, and 'Mark the Youngest Disciple', written by the Revd. Chad Varah and illustrated by Giorgio Bellavitis. 'The Road of Courage' which appeared in Eagle in 1961, was Hampson's last work for Eagle and shows him, arguably at his best, and certainly at his most consistent. 'Mark the Youngest Disciple' appeared in 1954, and has been described as Giorgio Bellavitis' finest work for Eagle.

Although The Road of Courage was previously published as a hardback book by Dragon's Dream in 1981, none of the other Eagle bible stories has previously been seen in book form. A future volume of Classic Bible Stories is expected to collect 'The Shepherd King', the story of David, by Clifford Makins and Frank Bellamy, and 'The Great Adventurer', the story of Saul/Paul of Tarsus, by Chad Varah, Frank Hampson (and team) and Norman Williams.

The format of Classic Bible Stories is very similar to Titan's Dan Dare reprint series; ie, 9" x 12" red covered hardback with dustjacket. As with the Dan Dare series, all the strips in Classic Bible Stories are reprinted from scans of Eagle pages. It is well known that most of the original artboards for strips that appeared in Eagle have been lost, destroyed or dispersed to various collectors, so that most Eagle reprint series cannot be from original artwork. However, Dragon's Dream's 1981 offering of The Road of Courage was almost entirely (ie, with the exception of the third page) from the original artboards of that story, and comparison of the two versions is inevitable.

Whether the artboards were not available to the current publishers, or it was an editorial decision not to use them to achieve consistency of quality with the other stories in the series, or for some other reason, this reviewer does not know. Although a close side-by-side comparison with the Dragon's Dream version shows some increase in image contrast and loss of detail due to line thickening in the Titan Books version, the quality of reproduction is as good as the best of their Dan Dare reprint series, ie excellent. An advantage of reproducing the strip from scans of the published comic strip (combined with some careful restoration) is that the result is a close facsimile to the original published edition. A detraction of the Dragon's Dream issue was that new captions had to be created because they were not present on the original boards. Unfortunately, the captions were produced in an unsympathetic type-face, the size of which often was too small for the boxes in which the captions were placed.

Readers of Titan's Dan Dare reprint series might be surprised that, apart from the two stories, the title and credit pages and some brief information provided on the dustjacket, this volume has no further editorial content. It would seem this book has undergone a few changes along the way, meaning that some of the information on the book (eg at Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com), indicating feature content, is inaccurate. It would have been nice to have seen the article by Frank Hampson that was published in Eagle when 'The Road of Courage' was first published, describing his trip to the Holy Land and the research that went into the strip.

Although pre-publication pictures emphasise the Eagle legacy by use of the Eagle emblem and the name of Frank Hampson on the cover (with no mention of the other contributors!), neither of these elements are present on the front of the published dustjacket (though Frank Hampson is credited on the book's spine), nor does the Eagle emblem appear anywhere in the book. Presumably the book is aimed at a wider audience than "just" Eagle (or comics) enthusiasts.

Inside full credits are given to the creators of the strips including, on the dustjacket front flap, mention of Frank Hampson's assistant, Joan Porter. The rear dustjacket provides some extremely short biographical information on Marcus Morris, Frank Hampson, Chad Varah and Giorgio Bellavitis.

Classic Bible Stories [ISBN 9781848565258] is published by Titan Books at £14.99.

At the time of posting it was available from Amazon.co.uk at £10.74

The Eagle Society Gathering and Annual Dinner, 2010

2010-03-01T16:27:00.007Z

SOUTHPORT (Merseyside)

13th - 15th April 2010

The Eagle Society will be meeting to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the birth of Eagle - the National Strip Cartoon Weekly. The event will follow the format of previous gatherings, the all-inclusive package this time comprising two nights in Southport at the Duke's Folly Hotel (of which we have exclusive use), all meals including the Society's Annual Dinner, and a mix of presentations, talks and visits of interest to Eagle Society members. A break with tradition is that the event will be held mid-week so that we can celebrate on the exact anniversary.

Tuesday 13th April - Arrive at the Duke's Folly Hotel (from 3pm), with afternoon tea and biscuits as you settle in. After a 3-course Dinner, gather "round the campfire" with Cowboy Singer Jim Ryder, who will sing all those songs associated with 'Riders of the Range' and the Old West. Also, relive memories of previous Eagle Society gatherings with an audio visual presentation by Paul Napp.

Wednesday 14th April - Eagle's Birthday! Partake of a full English Breakfast before joining the Eagle Trail led by Peter Dyer and visiting in a private coach the places associated with Marcus Morris, Frank Hampson and the birth of Eagle. Lunch at the Botanic Gardens Banqueting Suite. During the afternoon, a special visit will be made to the Southport Model Railway Club, followed by Compline at St. James, Birkdale, led by Rev. Ian Mainey. In the evening enjoy the Eagle Society's Annual Dinner with the popular After Dinner Speech by Steve Winders, meet the author of When I went A'walking (with a chapter on the Eagle Trail), and be further entertained by our guests, including former members of the St. James Youth Club with their "Recollections of Marcus Morris", Southport Moviemakers and a presentation of Southport, the 1958 promotional film produced by the St. James Film Society.

Thursday 15th April - After another full English Breakfast hear, about Portuguese Eagles from John Swan, and Eagle Economics from Cliff Maddock. Discuss the future of Eagle Times and the Eagle Society. After lunch make a leisurely departure for home.

For Members of the Eagle Society, the inclusive cost for the weekend is £135 sterling per person.

Please note that this event is fully booked through its prior advertisement to readers of the Society's magazine Eagle Times. In the event of cancellations places may become available. If you would like to be added to a stand-by list please contact Nigel McMurray by e-mail.

Frank Hampson Revisited

2010-02-09T09:57:00.023Z

The life-story, career and artwork of Frank Hampson, the creator of 'Dan Dare' and artistic creator of the Eagle, are to be revisited by Alastair Crompton in what is described as a "wholly rewritten and updated" version of an earlier biography. The earlier work, written by Alastair, and published by Andrew Skilleter's Who Dares Publishing in 1985, shortly after the death of Frank Hampson, was called The Man Who Drew Tomorrow.

The new book, to be published by PS Publishing to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Eagle's first publication, is titled (appropriately enough) Tomorrow Revisited, and promises us "the complete Frank Hampson story".

It will be a large format "coffee table" book, with over 200 pages of text and illustrations, including full colour reproductions from original 'Dan Dare' artboards (from the apparently extensive collection owned by Paul Stephenson). Also promised are sketches from Frank Hampson's notebooks and some of the many hundreds of photographs that were taken to help create the strip.

The book will come in three editions:

A deluxe leather-bound hardback in leather-bound presentation case, with an original 'Dan Dare' illustration by Don Harley, an illustrated homage to Frank Hampson by Andrew Skilleter and a certificate of limited availability (signed by Alastair Crompton, Andre Skilleter and Don Harley). This edition is limited to 100 copies and is priced at £295.

A cloth-bound hardback in a foil-blocked slipcase, with an illustrated homage to Frank Hampson by Andrew Skilleter and a certificate of limited availability (signed by Alastair Crompton and Andrew Skilleter). This edition is limited to 250 copies and is priced at £69.99.

Bookshop hardback (unlimited) edition, priced at £29.99.

Note: PS Publishing are currently offering a pre-publication discount of 10% off the above prices for orders taken before 30th April 2010. Full details at the PS Publishing website.

More information about Tomorrow Revisited can be found in a two page pdf at Alastair's Frank Hampson website

Coming soon - Dan Dare Action Figures

2010-01-01T10:24:00.000Z

Scheduled to go on sale in March, 2010 (and just in time for the 60th anniversary of Dan Dare's first appearance in the Eagle), is the first of a possible series of Dan Dare Action Figures from Day2Day Trading.

Thanks to Anthony Jeff for these pictures of what he calls the "first action figure prototype". Anthony has confirmed that the figure has been developed from the concept designs of Chris Weston, and which were featured in an article in Eagle Times magazine in Spring, 2008 (Eagle Times Vol 21 No 1) - however, we understand Chris' designs were for Underground Toys, so some further clarification might be needed?

The figures will be 12" high and feature Anthony's "own design Atom figure body". The March release is waiting for final packaging artwork and sign-off by the licensors.

When we have any further news (such as price, which has yet to be determined), we will let you know. Or keep an eye on the Day2Day Trading site. It's nice to see they are publicising Spaceship Away and Titan Books Dan Dare series under their Dan Dare News.

Eagle writers - Geoffrey Bond (1920 - 2009) aka Alan Jason

2009-12-31T10:00:00.010Z

Geoffrey Bond, who died after a long illness on 27th December, 2009, is best known to Eagle readers as the writer for nearly ten years of the successful picture strip ‘Luck of the Legion’, but his career was far more adventurous than that might infer.

Geoffrey was born in Eltham (in what was the metropolitan borough of Woolwich), in 1920. His father was a bank manager who took an interest in show business and entertainment, and, as Geoffrey took an early interest in music, his father bought him a saxophone. At school he did well at both English and Art. After his father was transferred to Epsom, Surrey, Geoffrey attended the City of London Freeman’s School, Ashstead, where at the age of 15 he had an article, ‘The History of Tiger Rag’, published in the school magazine.

On leaving school at 17, Geoffrey found work in a band and for the next couple of years they toured the country, until the Second World War broke out. He joined the Army, but was invalided out and returned to being a musician with the Sandy Powell Roadshow. As well as playing with the band, he wrote and played in sketches.

In 1947 he went to South Africa where he worked with Alan Dell at the South African Broadcasting Corporation in Durban. He appeared in an Edgar Wallace play, The Ringer. Other acting parts followed, and in 1948 he was asked to take the lead role in a film called The Snake Skin Belt, which was filmed in Rhodesia and showed in UK as a serial at the Saturday morning children’s clubs.

Returning to England in 1949, Geoffrey joined the BBC Drama Repertory Company. He made appearances in radio dramas such as PC49 and Paul Temple. He also wrote radio plays, features and adaptations. His BBC writing credits include a nine month stint on Mrs Dale’s Diary. In 1950 he played the role of a Walsham Bay police sergeant in the Rank/Independent Artists’ film The Dark Man. In another film,The Lady with the Lamp he played an army sergeant.

In 1950 or 1951, his agent, Max Kester, told him the editors of Eagle were looking for ideas for a new strip. After much consideration, he came up with the idea for a French Foreign Legion story and its lead character Sergeant ‘Tough’ Luck. An artist friend produced a dummy of the first episode of ‘Luck of the Legion’. Eagle’s Editor, Marcus Morris, liked it but Geoffrey heard nothing for some time - the dummy was lost in a drawer at Hulton House. When it was rediscovered plans were made to bring ‘Luck of the Legion’ to Eagle’s centre pages for a trial period, which began in the issue dated 9th May, 1952, drawn by Martin Aitchison. The strip was a big success, and it was soon running second to 'Dan Dare' in a Hulton readers’ poll. Other stories soon followed, and the strip ran for nearly ten years: 16 stories comprising 482 weekly episodes. The strip also featured in Eagle Annual and briefly in 1952 as single-page stories in ABC Film Review, all scripted by Geoffrey and drawn by Martin. In 1953 Geoffrey wrote the Eagle Playlet ‘Salem Raschid’s Revenge’, which was offered to Eagle readers at 6d a copy in time for them to put on a play for Christmas. In 1954 he wrote a six-episode 'Luck of the Legion' story which went out as part of Hulton/Eagle’s Spread Your Wings programme on Radio Luxembourg , narrated by Norman Shelley.

Geoffrey suggested writing 'The Baden Powell Story', about the founder of the Boy Scout movement for Eagle’s back page. To avoid the same author’s name appearing twice per issue he wrote it under the pseudonym Alan Jason. It was drawn by Norman Williams. He also collaborated with Cyril Holloway on ‘For Bravery’. The same year, 1954, he played Spada, the evil Vultan leader in the Radio Luxembourg science fiction serial Dan Dare, sponsored by Horlicks and based on Eagle’s by then established front-page feature. After 'The Baden Powell Story', Geoffrey was asked to write the story of 'Lincoln of America', which appeared on Eagle’s back page in 1955, again under the pseudonym Alan Jason, and again drawn by Norman Williams.

Geoffrey wrote three 'Luck of the Legion' novels which were published by Hutchinson (illustrated by Cyril Holloway) and later, two further 'Luck of the Legion' novels for Hulton’s Eagle Novels series. The latter were illustrated by Martin Aitchison. Later, Max Parish published another: The Return of Sergeant Luck.

Beginning in 1957 Geoffrey wrote ‘Claudia of the Circus’, a strip that appeared on the centre pages of Eagle’s sister paper Girl, drawn by T. S. La Fontaine. Later, for the same magazine he collaborated with the artist C. L. Doughty on ‘The Untold Arabian Nights’. He also wrote a number of strips for Girl Annual, and a ‘Claudia of the Circus’ book in the Girl Novels series. For Swift, Eagle’s younger brother paper, he teamed again with Martin Aitchison for a comedy strip ‘Arty and Crafty’.

Geoffrey wrote numerous books for other publishers, including two on Baden Powell, published by Staples, a number of books on historical characters, including Ned Kelly, Geronimo, Kit Carson, Lawrence of Arabia, Evans of the Broke and Chaka the Terrible, all published by Arco, and The Ship’s Little Secret for Max Parish. His book on the Lancastria disaster was published by the Daily Express under their Oldbourne imprint and was serialised in John Bull, beginning in September, 1959, where it was illustrated by John Worsley. Another maritme disaster was Lakonia. He also wrote a novel, Arena, which was published by Macdonald.

In 1965 Geoffrey and his wife Stella emigrated to Rhodesia. He spent three years as a Provincial Information Officer and did some freelance broadcasting, before joining the Rhodesian Broadcasting Corporation full-time as a producer and announcer. For a year he wrote and often played in the first Rhodesian soap opera The Jacaranda People. After a brief stint in New Zealand with the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation, where he had his own programme, Focus, he and Stella returned to to a politically troubled Rhodesia. He wrote a number of scripts for the Rhodesian Ministry of Education, which were sent out on tape to schools across the country, and for a while he joined the army as Public Relations Officer. While in Rhodesia he wrote two books relating to Rhodesian military history, and two series of religious educational books for Longmans.

In 1989 Geoffrey and Stella returned to England. In 1995, after reading an article in the Daily Telegraph about Eagle and the Eagle Society, Geoffrey wrote to Eagle Times. Consequently he was approached for an interview and was invited, along with Martin Aitchison, to the Eagle Society’s Annual Dinner at Sparsholt (1996).

In 1998, Geoffrey, teamed again with artist Martin Aitchison, created a new comic strip called 'Justin Tyme - ye Hapless Highwayman'. 'Justin Tyme' appeared in Eagle Times for over five years, scripted for 3 years by Geoffrey, and latterly by his son, Jim.

Eagle strips (writer)

Luck of the Legion (Vol 3 No 5 - Vol 12 No 37)
The Baden Powell Story (Vol 5 No 17 - Vol 5 No 45)
For Bravery (Vol 5 No 50)
Lincoln of America (Vol 6 No 24 - Vol 6 No 52)

Eagle Annual strips (writer)

Luck of the Legion Eagle Annual No 4 - No 11/1962

Links

Luck of the Legion info at Dan Dare info.com

ET Refs

Harpole, Harold. 'Geoffrey Bond, Part 1 The Early Years' (Eagle Times Vol 9 No1 pp 2-5 & 11)
Harpole, Harold. 'Geoffrey Bond, Part 2 Luck of the Legion' (Eagle Times Vol 9 No 2 pp 16-19)
Harpole, Harold. 'Geoffrey Bond, Part 3 Salem Raschid’s Return - Eagle playlet' (Eagle Times Vol 9 No 3 pp 18-24)
Harpole, Harold. 'Geoffrey Bond, Part 4 Express Weekly, Girl and the Novels' (Eagle Times Vol 9 No 4 pp 30-34)
Harpole, Harold. 'Geoffrey Bond, Part 5 Rhodesia and Back' (Eagle Times Vol 10 No 1 pp8-12)

The picture shows Geoffrey Bond at the Eagle Times Dinner/Weekend at Sparsholt in 1996

Dan Dare: Safari in Space

2009-12-19T12:00:00.000Z

Safari in Space, the twelfth volume in Titan Books' Dan Dare Pilot of the Future series, collects the two 'Dan Dare' adventures 'Safari in Space' and its follow-on, 'Terra Nova'. The scripts are credited to Alan Stranks, Frank Hampson and Eric Eden. The stories first appeared in Eagle in 1959 and mark the 'Dan Dare' swansong for the artist Frank Hampson, and the 'Dan Dare' debut for the artist Frank Bellamy. Other artists on the strip included Joan Porter (who left at the same time as Hampson) and the remaining members of the Dan Dare Studio team (Don Harley, Eric Eden, Keith Watson and Gerald Palmer) who continued to draw about 50% of the pages under Bellamy's general instruction.

After arriving on Venus for a photographic safari, Dan Dare with his companions are abducted to the secret asteroid base of Scottish scientist/engineer Galileo McHoo. Informed that Dan's father who disappeared years ago was the pilot of an experimental spacecraft that set out for a new world, light-years away, Dan and Co. are induced to join McHoo's expedition to find out what happened to the earlier expedition, and to try to discover the fate of Dan's father. On Terra Nova the expedition finds evidence of Dan's father's earlier presence, and help one of the inhabitant populations, the Novads, to combat the Nagrabs, a species of giant man-eating ants which is threatening their existence.

The book is the first to be issued since John Freeman took over editorship of the series. If you've seen any of the previous volumes you will know that the quality of reproduction has been variable - hence the apologia carried in the front of the books:

"Much of the comic strip material used by Titan in this edition is exceedingly rare. As such we hope that readers appreciate that the quality of the material can be variable."

The apologia remains in this book but is, in my view, superfluous. The reproduction quality is consistently excellent throughout. The provision of the comic strip pages from the original Eagle is credited to Des Shaw of the Spaceship Away team. It shows what can be achieved when someone takes the care to obtain the best available source material, and then apply sensitive restoration. The pages look pristine - you might think some were from original artwork, rather than 50 year old comics, though it probably helps that the format is smaller than the original, as this will have had the effect of sharpening the images.

In format the book follows the pattern of the earlier books in the series, with 'Safari in Space' beginning on a right hand page. As the original stories appeared in Eagle on the front and second pages, this is consistent with how the material was originally presented in that publication. However, with a single page separating the two stories 'Terra Nova', possibly controversially, begins on a left hand page. This results in each week's two-page episode being shown on facing pages. It's possible some people might not like this. My personal view is that it is better presented this way. Somehow the Eagle quarter-page masthead, which inevitably is reproduced every other page, seems less intrusive. It gives a freshness to the presentation, allowing each episode to be viewed as a whole (as it has never been before), and it leaves the cliff-hanger ("What will happen in next week's episode?") at the turn of the page.

In addition to the two 'Dan Dare' stories, the book contains 'Dan Dare Abroad', an illustrated text article by Eagle-timer Richard Sheaf, reviewing the history of Eagle's and Dan Dare's syndication and reproduction in periodicals outside of UK .

All in all a splendid publication, and out just in time for Christmas!

Eagle Times Vol 22 No 4

2009-12-14T00:00:00.008Z

Winter 2009 contents

Eagle artists at home - recollections of Eagle illustrators Frank Hampson, RonEmbleton, Keith Watson, Frank Humphris , John Worsley, Peter Jackson and Don Lawrence in the 1970s and 1980s
John Dyke - the third in a series of articles about Eagle's nature artists reveals what is known of the artist of 'Advice on your Pets' and 'Discovering the Countryside'
Treasure, John Worsley and 'Wee Willie Winkie' - the PC49 artist's spot-illustration work for Fleetway's pre-school periodical Treasure
Dimworthy and Co, part 2 - concluding a review of Eagle's school strip stories
Rod Barzilay's Spaceship Away Day - photographs and review from the second gathering of 'Dan Dare' fans at Bournemouth in November 2009
'The Case of the Purple Paint' - a PC49 Christmas story
The Late Jack Daniel - some personal recollections about Eagle's first 'Riders of the Range' artist
Under the 1950s Christmas Tree - some toys Santa might have left for you back in Eagle's times
'Nowhere' is not quite what it seems - a review of the 1956 Pathe Pictorial on Frank Hampson and the 'Dan Dare' Studio
Is there Anybody there? - an address to the Eagle Society at the 2009 Annual Dinner
Christmas Eagles - a look at Christmas issues of Eagle, its some of its companion and rival papers.
Eagle Autographs, part 6 - a post-script covering the Eagle Club's figureheads
What's in a name, part 2 - concluding a look at the career of the multi-talented Gerry Embleton, the artist who brought back 'Dan Dare' in "new" Eagle (1982)
Eagle Annual: the best of the 1960s comic - a review of Orion Books' latest "nostalgia" publication
Pop Music during Eagle times - part 18, covering 1967

The cover illustration is from 'He wants to be a Postman' Eagle, Vol 7 No 52, Christmas issue, 1956

Eagle Artists - Robert Ayton

2009-12-12T17:00:00.001Z

Robert Norton Ayton (1915-1985) was born in Bowes Park, in the London borough of Wood Green. He was the second of four brothers. In 1919 the Aytons moved to Wembley, where Robert attended Park Lane Primary School. As a boy, as well as showing an early interest and capability in art, he loved speed and designed and built model aeroplanes. His nephew Rupert (son of Robert’s younger brother William) later cherished a 12" example of one of Robert’s hand-carved propellers.

In 1928, following the sudden death of his father, the almost 13-year-old Robert was offered an apprenticeship with Adkin and Sons, a branch of the Imperial Tobacco Company. Robert's father and grandfather had both been loyal and successful servants to Adkin. Robert however declined the invitation, and from about 1930 he attended the Harrow School of Art. He may have taken additional courses with the Central School of Art and Design and/or Hammersmith School of Art.

After his formal art training, Robert worked for several advertising agencies, including (possibly) Dorland's, before becoming a freelance artist. In the late 1930s he had an account with Castrol and around this time also undertook substantial commissions from Rolls Royce. His various commissions included aeroplanes and fast cars, including Malcolm (later Sir Malcolm) Campbell’s Bluebird.

In 1939 Robert met Joan Elmes, who would later become his wife. They saw little of each other during the next few years because Robert was called to Army service in the Second World War, but they were married during leave, in 1942.

After the war, in 1945 Robert picked up his freelance artist’s career. He became friends with Norman Williams who, from 1950, would illustrate many of Eagle’s true life adventures. Through Norman Williams, in 1955 Robert was recruited by Marcus Morris to illustrate a new adventure strip set in the times of the Napoleonic Wars. The strip, written by George Beardmore was ‘Jack o’Lantern’. It quickly became one of the most popular strip stories in Eagle, as recorded by the Hulton readers poll at the time.

Soon after starting on ‘Jack o’Lantern’, Robert and Joan moved to Yeovil, Somerset, and over the next five years Robert would draw 250 weekly full-colour episodes. His strips had an air of authenticity aided by painstaking research of his subject matter from uniforms and fashion to the settings for the stories. Joan recalled, when interviewed in 1997, that she and Robert tramped around the village of Bosham taking photographs when Robert was researching the location for the ‘Jack o’Lantern’ story ‘The Moonshiners’.

In 1957, when his friend Norman Williams died, Robert took the news hard but, called on the draw the final episode of ‘The Great Sailor’ (the story of Nelson), he did so, although his artwork was not credited. After he left in 1959 to take a break from weekly deadlines, ‘Jack o’Lantern’ continued, drawn by another artist (C. L. Doughty), but only for another 31 episodes.

After what was to be a two year break from comic strip work, he took on drawing half page illustrations for Girl, and other art work. Then Robert returned to Eagle in 1961 to draw ‘The Golden Man’, the story of Sir Walter Raleigh, in a strip scripted by Guy Daniel and Marcus Morris. It was his final work for Eagle.

Like quite a few former Eagle artists (including Frank Hampson, Frank Humphris and Martin Aitchison) Robert later worked for Ladybird Books, illustrating for them around 50 books on a variety of subjects, from fairy tales to technology. Often he would put himself into his drawings - for example as the Slave of the Lamp in ‘Aladdin’. He taught illustration part-time at the West of England College of Art. He also illustrated for Oxford University Press, drew television background illustrations for BBC Bristol, and from 1980 was a member of the artistic group known as the Bristol Savages. At that time he lived in a large farmhouse outside Backwell, Bristol.

In 1983 Robert and Joan moved to a smaller home, a glass-workers row house, at nearby Nailsea. It was there, two years later and aged 70, that Robert died in Joan's arms after suffering a massive heart attack. He and Joan never had children. As Joan put it, when interviewed for Eagle Times: “There are enough delinquents in the world without bringing more into it.”

Eagle Strips:

Jack o’Lantern (Vol 6 No 4 - Vol 10 No 45)
The Great Sailor - final episode, uncredited (Vol 8 No 11)
The Golden Man (Vol 12 Nos 15 - 37)

Eagle Annual Strips:

Jack o’Lantern Eagle Annual No 6 - No 11 [1962]

Links:

Bibliography at Bear Alley

ET Refs:

Howard Corn. Robert Ayton. Eagle Times Vol 10 No 3 pp 2 - 6 *

* Thanks to Rupert Ayton for corrections and additional information about his uncle Robert

Eagle Annual -the Best of the 1960s comic (review)

2009-10-03T10:44:00.001+01:00

Just published by Orion Books is the latest in their Eagle Annual nostalgia series, which began two years ago with Eagle Annual - the Best of the 1950s Comic (see Steve Winders' review at Bear Alley), and was followed last year by the Eagle Annual of the Cutaways (see eagle-times' previous review). This year's offering is Eagle Annual - the Best of the 1960s Comic. Compared with Eagle Annual - the Best of the 1950s, the price has increased from £12.99 to £14.99 (the same as the Eagle Annual of the Cutaways), though (in this case) the page count has increased, from 176 to 192. As before the books are edited by, and have an introduction by, Daniel Tatarsky.

As Tatarsky says in his introduction, Eagle's creator and first editor Marcus Morris chose to include only selections up to 1962 in his The Best of Eagle, which was published in 1977, for reasons Tatarsky speculates were "more to do with his absence after that date than any genuine feelings about the output under his replacement". While I would agree that much of Eagle's content in the years following Morris' departure could appropriately be included under a "Best of" title, much should not. Many Eagle readers gave up the original Eagle in the mid-sixties as the quality declined following the buy-out of Hulton Press and the later takeover by IPC. There is some good material presented in this book, covering 1960 to 1969, but, not surprisingly, the majority of the content is from the first half of the decade, rather than the last.

Starting with a sympathetic two page introduction, the book proper begins with the first front cover from 1960 (2nd January, 1960 Volume 11 No 1), which as Tatarsky points out, was the last attributed to Hulton Press due to the buy-out by Odhams. After this date the former Hultons became Longacre Press. By then Frank Bellamy was drawing 'Dan Dare', and a full page of his 'Trip to Trouble' artwork is seen. The book closes with the "Great News, Pals!" advertisement that appeared in the last issue of Eagle on 26th April 1969, announcing the "merger" with Lion. In between, the main content consists of various sample pages, articles and "clippings" from Eagle's last decade, presented in almost, but something less than, chronological order. As with the Best of the 1950s, many of the items have no indication of the dates on which they were published, making the book not very useful as a reference volume - but then reference is not its intended purpose.

The format is similar to the previous offerings - ie slightly larger than the traditional Eagle Annual dimensions - but the dull matte finish, and "cloth" spine used previously has been eschewed, appropriately, for a glossy cover more reminiscent of the later 1960s Eagle Annual covers. Where the previous offerings provided an overtly "distressed" look, outwardly at least this effect has been toned down, and the book should look more appealing in the bookshop displays. Unfortunately opening the book reveals a continuation of the "dirty page" approach that has been criticised previously (not just here!) in connection with the earlier volumes. If anything the effect is worse in this book, as even full pages of the original magazine have been trimmed and set within this grubby looking background. The editor provides occasional commentary within the book. It is an unfortunate feature that some of the commentary is superimposed over the original content!

All that said, the book has a lot to recommend it. Take a look. If you weren't put off before, then you should enjoy this book just as much as the first. Lets us know what you think.

As I write, the book can be obtained from Amazon.co.uk for £8.99

Eagle Times Vol 22 No 3

2009-09-29T22:45:00.005+01:00

Autumn 2009 contents

What's in a name? - The first part of a look at the career of multi-talented artist Gerry Embleton, who contributed to the original Eagle as well as drawing the revamped 'Dan Dare' for "new" Eagle in 1982
The Eagle art of George William Backhouse - a review of the career of the artist, concentrating on his work for Hulton Press.
Dimworthy and Co. - an exploration of the schoolboy comic strip series from the 1960s Eagle
The Rivals of Jeff Arnold, part 2 - 'Steve Larrabee' from Lone Star comic
Danny Dare - a review of the 1964 comic strip about "Dan Dare's Number One Fan!", created for Wham! by Leo Baxendale and later drawn in part by Dan Dare artists Bruce Cornwell and Don Harley
Colour Printing in Eagle - a brief account of the four-colour photogravure process used to produce Eagle, with examples of the colour separations and print combinations that led to a page of 'Dan Dare'
Journey into Space: The Host - a review of Julian Simpson's new radio play featuring the latest adventure of Charles Chilton's Jet Morgan and his team of space explorers
John Ryan (1921-2009) - an obituary of the creator of Captain Pugwash and Harris Tweed (Eagle), Lettice Leefe (Girl) and Sir Boldasbrass (Swift), plus John Ryan Remembered
The musical George Backhouse - illustrating Master Melodies of the World for Amalgamated Press in the 1930s
PC 49 and the Case of the Murderous Mouse - the 3rd and concluding part of the story adaptation
Lost Continuity in the Dan Dare strip - commentary on an apparent inconsistency in the fictional Dan Dare timeline
Hulton's Merchandising - an example of an Eagle and Girl merchandising advertisement that appeared in the trade magazine Games and Toys in 1954
Another Eagle dummy?
Pop Music during Eagle Times - 1966

The cover art illustration for this issue is by Gerry Embleton and features 'Dan Dare' from the "new" Eagle, 1982

John Ryan (1921 - 2009)

2009-07-25T12:12:00.031+01:00

John Christopher Gerald Ryan was born in Edinburgh on 21 March, 1921. His father being in the diplomatic service, he spent some of his early life abroad, but he received his education at Ampleforth College, Yorkshire. It was there he first gained an interest in cartooning (writing and drawing for the school magazine was offered as an alternative to a thrashing for a minor offence!)

During the second World War he served with the Lincolnshire Regiment, mainly in Burma, and when not otherwise occupied he sketched and drew caricatures, which were published in army magazines. After the war, he attended art classes in London at the Regent Street Polytechnic, following which, he joined Harrow School as Assistant Art Master. He had met his future wife Priscilla while at the Regent Street Polytechnic, and in 1950 they married. As a wedding present, a friend introduced them to Marcus Morris, then priest and editor of Anvil.

John produced some illustrations for Anvil, and was challenged by Morris to create a humorous strip for a new children's magazine, which would be Eagle. The result was 'Captain Pugwash', "the story of a bad buccaneer & of the many sticky ends which nearly befell him". The black and white strip appeared on the lower half of page 5 of the first issue of Eagle. Although later destined to become successful as an animated television series and a series of books, Captain Pugwash's life in Eagle was short. Deemed too young for the Eagle's target audience, Pugwash sailed away after his 19-episode first adventure. But John Ryan was a talent too good to waste, and Marcus Morris had already asked him to create a new strip, which he did - based on a skit of Priscilla's "ideal man". 'Harris Tweed' began in issue 15 of Eagle and ended, after twelve years of weekly episodes, in 1962. Along the way, John also created, wrote and drew successful strips for Eagle's companion papers, Girl ('Lettice Leefe, the Greenest Girl in the School') and Swift ('Sir Boldasbrass'), and for all three papers' associated Annuals. After Girl folded, John continued to draw 'Lettice Leefe' for Princess - accomplishing a 16-year run of weekly episodes.

Foregoing Harrow School's offer of a job as Art Master, John remained Assistant Art Master until 1955, when he became a full-time freelance writer and artist. Although 'Captain Pugwash' had not been a success in Eagle, John Ryan worked on his beloved character, and drew and wrote the first of what was to become a series of Captain Pugwash books. In 1956, after many rejections, Captain Pugwash found a publisher in The Bodley Head. He also sold the idea for an animated series of 'Captain Pugwash' to BBC Television. His animation technique was innovative, using painted backdrops and cut-out, two-dimensional figures with movable limbs and mouths, made from painted card and held together with paperclips. Levers allowed him and his assistants to manoeuvre the figures and their expressions for real-time animation - and live transmission! A pilot production was so successful that it resulted in 1957 in a series of 58 black and white episodes, and for eight years he drew a weekly 'Captain Pugwash' strip for Radio Times. A 'Captain Pugwash' strip also appeared (briefly) in Swift (1958) and Playland (1974), also written and drawn by John. 'Sir Prancelot' (from another TV series) appeared in Playland in 1972. From 1963, for 43 years he drew weekly cartoons for The Catholic Herald, but it is for his children's publications and programmes that he is most fondly remembered.

In 1969 he created a 13-part series called 'Mary, Mungo and Midge' for BBC Television. He followed this with 'The Adventures of Sir Prancelot' (32 episodes), and in 1974 he returned to 'Captain Pugwash' again, producing a new series of 30 colour episodes. In the 1980s 'The Ark Stories' (on ITV) featured John Ryan in his studio to introduce each of his stories of animals from Noah's Ark with a sketch.

John and Priscilla moved from Kensington to Rye, East Sussex, in 1988, and John continued to work until shortly before his death in Rye hospital on 22 July 2009. It was at Rye that John was an Eagle Society guest of honour for our annual gathering in 1993. John allowed us a visit to is home and studio, provided us with a tour of Rye and joined the "Eagle Society Players" for a play reading of 'Harris Tweed'.

The illustration by John Ryan is from the Spring 1993 edition of Eagle Times

Obituaries:

Steve Holland's Bear Alley (also contains a comprehensive bibliography)
Links to various newspaper and magazine obituaries

Channel 4 newspiece on YouTube:

For other Captain Pugwash clips on YouTube Click Here

For an interactive storybook of Captain Pugwash and the Sea Monster click on the graphic below:

Eagle Times Vol 22 No 2

2009-06-30T10:41:00.006+01:00

Summer 2009 contents

Tom Adams, Fine Art Painter - a review of the work of the illustrator of 'Soldiers of the Queen' and many 'George Cansdale' nature strips which appeared in Eagle from 1954 to 1959
The Rivals of Jeff Arnold, part 1 - 'Rex Keene, Texas Ranger' from Junior Express
Frank Hampson and Ronald Searle - comparisons of the careers of two 1950's "icon makers"
'Operation Saturn' Revisited - commentary on Dan Dare's fourth adventure in Eagle, following the revelations of the story's original outline
An obituary of Giorgio Bellavitis, architect and former comics illustrator, whose work in Eagle included 'Mark the Youngest Disciple'
Report of the 23rd Eagle Society Weekend at Muswell Hill, where the guest of honour was Charles Chilton, writer of Eagle's 'Riders of the Range', and radio's 'Journey into Space'
Eagle Autographs - part 5 (Artists and storytellers, part 2)
PC49 and the Case of the Murderous Mouse - part 2 of the story adaptation
Eagle Club Holidays - a look at the adventure holidays organised for Eagle Club members (and Girl Adventurers) by the Youth Hostel Association
Free Gifts in Eagle, part 5 - the 1964 Olympic Games medals
'Heros the Spartan', part 3, concluding this series by way of the final Eagle story and the Eagle Annual stories
'The Man From Nowhere' remembered - a personal reflection on iconic moments from Dan Dare's 6th adventure in Eagle
The added or missing bar - some observations on changes to Sir Hubert's epaulettes during the 'Dan Dare' saga
Pop Music during Eagle Times - 1965

The cover illustration for this issue is by Tom Adams from the series, 'British Birds by George Cansdale', Eagle, Vol 7 No 39 (28th September, 1956)

Giorgio Bellavitis (1926 - 2009)

2009-05-28T10:05:00.007+01:00

Giorgio Bellavitis (1926 - 2009) was born and died in Venice, though he spent a number of years in England. Starting out as a comic book artist, but changing career to architecture, his reputation in his later years was for his contribution as an architect to the restoration of Venice.

After being held prisoner together by the Nazis during the Second World War, Bellavitis and his friends Mario Faustinelli and Alberto Ongaro later set themselves up as publishers and gathered more artists and writers to form the Grupo Veneziano (Venetian Group). Their first magazine, called Albo Uragano (White Hurricane), was later renamed Asso di Picche, after its lead strip, which was pencilled by Hugo Pratt and inked by Bellavitis and Faustinelli. After drawing the first episode of ‘Junglemen’, Bellavitis then drew ‘The Adventures of Robin Hood’ under the pseudonym George Summers. After 1948, when Asso di Picche folded, and until 1954, when he moved to England, he worked mainly on Il Vittorioso (The Conqueror). His strips in this period included ‘I Cavalieri del Corvo’, ‘Acqua Cattiva’, ‘Il Palio di Siena’, and ‘Amburgo 1947’.

In England, he was instrumental in introducing the Italian illustrator Rimaldo D’Ami (Roy Dami, founder of the Damy Agency) to Britain, and was the first of many Italian comic strip artists to be published in Britain via D'Ami's agency.

Bellavitis’ first English strip was ‘Paul English’ for Swift. He then drew ‘Mark, the Youngest Disciple’ to a script by Chad Varah, for Eagle. Bellavitis stood in for Richard Jennings on two complete ‘Storm Nelson’ adventures (which were was later reprinted in Italy as 'Kid Tempesta'), the first of which was set in his place of birth. He also drew for Eagle Annual and Swift Annual, including the illustrations for a text story ‘The Winged Devils - a tale of the Ancient Vikings’ in Swift Annual No 2. He worked for a short time on Express Weekly, drawing ‘Rodney Flood’, and he is known to have done some illustrations for the Sunday Pictorial Children’s Annual. In 1956 he helped out on Eagle’s ‘Jeff Arnold in Riders of the Range’. His work also appeared in Playhour and Treasure. In 1958, however, he returned to Italy to pursue a career in architecture.

For many years, and until his death, Professor Giorgio Bellavitis was actively involved in the conservation and restoration of Venice, advising UNESCO and other bodies. Giorgio Bellavitis' projects in Venice included the garden design and landscaping for Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, the home of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, and from 1997 to 2005 direction of the restoration of Ca’Foscari. Giorgio Bellavitis wrote and co-authored a number of books and articles, including ‘Venice: a City in the Sea of History’, which prefaces the Heritage Guide to Venice published by the Touring Club of Italy. His death was reported on 21 May 2009 in Venice, the city that inspired him.

A fuller obituary and bibliography can be read on Steve Holland's Bear Alley blog.

Previous posts on eagle-times:

Photo of Giorgio Bellavitis: Il Gazzettino

Dan Dare: The Phantom Fleet

2009-05-16T16:53:00.013+01:00

The latest in Titan Books' reprint volumes of the original Dan Dare series has recently been published. My copy arrived from Amazon.co.uk on 14th May, 2009.

The full list of published Dan Dare titles can be seen at the Titan Books website. Although the 10th story in the Dan Dare series, The Phantom Fleet is the 11th volume in Titan's series since the first (Venus) story and 'Operation Saturn' were each split over two volumes and 'The Ship that Lived' was appended to 'Reign of the Robots'. This book also includes the Dan Dare story 'Operation Plum Pudding', which originally appeared in Eagle Annual No 5. Thers is an Introduction by Jeff Wayne (composer of the award-winning musical version of War of the Worlds), and an article on the life and work of Frank Bellamy (Frank Hampson's successor on 'Dan Dare,), by Paul Holder.

With echoes of the first Dan Dare story, 'The Phantom Fleet' opens with a spaceship awaiting take-off. But, rather than the terrestrial "Headquarters of the Interplanet Spacefleet some years in the future", the scene is now "Spacefleet Base on the Moon, some years in the future...' On board is Dan Dare, Chief Pilot of the Spacefleet, making a routine check flight. Take-off goes well, but the ship has to return to the Moon in an emergency when all Spacefleet communications are mysteriously jammed. Dan and Co. investigate, and discover a race of highly intelligent aquatic aliens, the Cosmobes, who are intent on Earth colonisation. But it turns out the Cosmobes are fleeing a much more aggressive foe, from their dying home world...

Die-hard Eagle fans may already have their collections of original Eagles and the Hawk Book reprints, but that shouln't stop them collecting these too! Beautifully produced in hardback with wrap-around dustjacket and in a convenient size, if you don't know what Dan Dare is about, or came to Dan Dare in one of his later incarnations, this series is the best place to start to find out about the original 1950s Frank Hampson creation.

First published beginning 25th April 1958, the opening episodes of 'The Phantom Fleet' shows some of the Dan Dare production team's best work. It's good to see this series continuing. Although I appreciate there may be formatting issues with some of the later stories, I can only hope that Titan manage to complete the reprints of the whole series, rather than cut it short as the Hawk Books series did.

Although at a reduced size compared with the originals, with pages a little over A4 in size, this does make for a more handleable product. The more observant will notice that picture of Dan on the cover is different from that used for promotion before publication, which recycled an image of Dan from 'Operation Saturn'.

Eagle Society Weekend and Dinner, 2009

2009-04-09T17:55:00.004+01:00

Please note that bookings for this year's previously advertised Eagle Society's Weekend and Annual Dinner at the Guy Chester Centre, Muswell Hill are now closed.

Eagle Times Vol 22 No 1

2009-03-27T11:30:00.001Z

Spring 2009 contents

Operation Saturn - but not as we know it. Details of Frank Hampson's original 1952 story outline for Dan Dare's 4th adventure, revealed and reviewed
Heros the Spartan - a review of EAGLE's popular 1960s sword and sorcery strip, part 2
By a Hair's Breadth - artwork by Frank Hampson, from Ranger, 1965
Prisoners of Space revisited - a new review of the Pilot of the Future's 5th EAGLE adventure
PC49 and the Case of the Murderous Mouse - part 1 of a new story adaptation
Edward Beal - more information about the creator the Railway Page that appeared in EAGLE's dummy second issue
Rick Random, Space Detective - a review of Prion Books' recently published collection of 1950s interplanetary adventures
More memories of Denis Gifford's Ally Sloper magazine
"I was there" - part 5, memories of the Society of Strip Illustration Awards Dinner, December 1976
More Crockett and Krispies - from the series Heroes of the West, drawn by Ron Embleton for Kellogg's Rice Krispies
Eagle Autographs - part 4, the artists and storytellers
Pop Music during Eagle Times - 1964

This issue's front cover features the Valiant spaceship from 'Operation Saturn' (EAGLE, 1953)
superimposed with images of Saturn and the Eagle Nebula (NASA photographs) .

Spaceship Away #17

2009-02-06T10:53:00.001Z

Spaceship Away is a three times a year, full colour, 44-page A4 glossy magazine that publishes newly created 1950’s Eagle style 'Dan Dare' strip stories (licensed by the Dan Dare Corporation) along with other science fiction strips and articles. Issue 17, which is just out, continues the 'Dan Dare' serial strips 'The Green Nemesis' (written by Rod Barzilay; drawn by Tim Booth), 'The Gates of Eden' (written and drawn by Tim Booth) and 'Rocket Pilot' (written and drawn by Keith Page). There is also a new full colour 'Dan Dare' centre-spread by Mike Noble, plus the humorous strips 'Dan Bear' (by Andy Boyce), 'Mekki', 'Our Bertie' (both by Ray Aspden), and 'Dan Dire' (a satire by Eric Mackenzie).

Factual articles include an original story outline for 'Operation Saturn', by Dan Dare's creator Frank Hampson*, and 'Working with Frank Bellamy', by Dan Dare artist Don Harley. The latter is nicely illustrated with a picture by Don recollecting Frank Bellamy delivering a page of 'Dan Dare'. There is also an article by Jeremy Briggs on Dan Dare's personal spaceship Anastasia. The Anastasia article is accompanied by a cutaway drawing of Anastasia's cockpit by Graham Bleathman. An article on 'Eagle and TV21' by Stephen Baxter is illustrated with examples from the Eagle artists who contributed to TV21: Frank Hampson ('Fireball XL5'), Frank Bellamy ('Thunderbirds'), Don Harley ('Thunderbirds'), Eric Eden ('Lady Penelope'), Ron Embleton ('Stingray') and Keith Watson ('Captain Scarlet').

In addition to the 'Dan Dare'-themed material, Spaceship Away includes three other SF strips: a reprint of Charles Chilton's 'Journey into Space - Planet of Fear' serial that originally appeared in Eagle's rival paper Express Weekly (1956), drawn by Ferdinando Tacconi, 'Ex-Astris', a computer-rendered strip by John Freeman and Mike Nicholl, and 'Nick Hazard Interstellar Agent', written by Philip Harbottle, drawn by Ron Turner and coloured by John Ridgway.

For further details of Spaceship Away, including how to subscribe, please go to the Spaceship Away website.

* Further information and comment by David Britton on Frank Hampson's outline for Operation Saturn will appear in the next (Spring 2009) issue of Eagle Times.

Eagle writers - J.H.G. Freeman (1903 - 1972) aka Gordon Grinstead

2009-01-30T14:04:00.014Z

John Henry Gordon ("Don") Freeman was born in Croydon, Surrey, and attended St. Joseph’s College, Streatham. The youngest of three children, all of whom developed an early interest in writing stories and compiling "magazines" from their efforts, he was the only one to actually go into publishing. When he did, the majority of his lifetime output was as a staff writer for the Daily Mirror, which he joined in 1918 at around the age of 15.

Initially taken on by the Daily Mirror as an office boy, his first published work in the Mirror is believed to have appeared on the children’s page in January 1922, although he also worked on the sports page around that time. He became assistant to Bertram. J. Lamb, who as "Uncle Dick" was the editor of the Mirror’s children’s pages, and he provided story lines and many of the rhymed adventures of ‘Pip, Squeak and Wilfred’ in the Mirror and in the cartoon characters’ associated annuals published between 1923 and 1940. Following, or shortly before, Lamb’s death in 1938, he took over as "Uncle Dick". His contributions included stories credited to himself (as J.H.G. Freeman), and other pieces credited to "Uncle Dick" or other pseudonyms. His poems were published daily for at least five, possibly ten, years in the Daily Mirror. In 1930 a collection of his verses, The Rhymes of Merry Andrew was published. Also in the early 1930s a school story by J.H.G. Freeman, entitled Plain Smith IV: the Story of a Fortune was published as part of the Nelson "Red Star" series, reprinted later as part of the same publisher’s "Captain" series.

Gradually the Daily Mirror’s cartoon page became more adult. In 1936, "Don" Freeman (as he was known) adapted Edgar Wallace’s Terror Keep into a comic strip (drawn by Jack Monk). When that strip was "pulled" for copyright reasons he developed a new character, ‘Buck Ryan’, again with Monk as artist. The strip ran from 1937 to 1962. The number of strips he was scripting increased. From 1938 he began to write ‘Jane’ (“the strip that won the war”) for Jane’s creator, the artist Norman Pett, and when Michael Hubbard took over the drawing, Don continued scripting ‘Jane’ until 1953. In 1943 Don also took on ‘Belinda Blue Eyes’ (created by Steve Dowling), recasting it as simply ‘Belinda’ with its new artist Tony Royle. ‘Belinda’ folded in 1959. In the meantime, from 1944 until 1952 he also wrote ‘Garth’, which since its debut the year before had been written and drawn entirely by its creator Steve Dowling, who continued to draw it. Don was responsible for developing many of the characters and plot devices in Garth, including Garth's origin story.

While Don "wrote" many strips, his technique involved more than that might imply, and his contributions were more collaborative. Rather than typing out his scripts, his technique was to "rough" out the story, sketching it in pencil as he visualised it, for the artist to use as a guide.

In 1941 he had married and in 1945 the family, which by then included a son and daughter, moved to East Grinstead in Sussex, where a second son was born in 1946. Shortly after moving to East Grinstead, Don began using the pen-name "Gordon Grinstead", possibly so that he could take on non-Mirror work. Under his new pen-name, he produced a novel, Angela Darling, which was published by Rylee in 1949. Between 1959 and 1963 he wrote seven children’s educational books for Cassell & Co Ltd under their “for Silver Circle readers” banner. His other freelance work included that for Hulton Press: firstly ‘Sally of the South Seas’ which appeared in Girl and then ‘Knights of the Road’ for Eagle.

‘Knights of the Road’, the adventures of “Sir” Ted Knight, a lorry driver and his younger brother Frank, who were partners in a road haulage business (“Go Anywhere – Carry Anything” was their motto), appeared weekly in Eagle for two years from 19th March 1960 until 7th March 1962, drawn throughout by artist Gerald Haylock. It was no coincidence that the character “Lofty” in the ‘Knights of the Road’ story ‘The Grange Street Gang’ looked remarkably like the younger of Don Freeman’s sons. 'Knights of the Road’ also made a couple of appearances in Eagle Annual, once as a text story, and then in comic strip form.

Don was well read, and largely self-educated. All his stories drew on history and geography, which he researched thoroughly, often taking his family on holidays to research the places he wrote about.

In the early 1960s Don moved with his family to Bexhill on Sea. He continued his historical research joining associations in pursuit of his interests, but gradually he wrote less, though he continued with some editing work. It had been his ambition to write a Great Novel, but this remained unfulfilled when he died at Bexhill on 8th July, 1972.

Eagle Strips (writer): 'Knights of the Road'

First story (untitled) (Vol 11 No 12 – Vol 11 No 27)
'The Hoodoo Run' (Vol 11 No 28 – Vol 11 No 47)
'The Grange Street Gang' (Vol 11 No 48 – Vol 12 No 14)
'Pilgrimage of Peril' (Vol 12 No 15 – Vol 12 No 32)
'Carnival of Death' (Vol 12 No 33 – Vol 12 No 51)
'Dutch Courage' (Vol 12 No 52 – Vol 13 No 9)

Eagle Annual (writer):

'Snowbound! But the Knights of the Road get through' (text story) Eagle Annual No 11, 1962
'Knights of the Road in ‘Treat her Rough!’' (strip story) Eagle Annual No 12, 1963

Note: The text story in Eagle Annual No 11 is credited to “George Grinstead”. The strip in Eagle Annual No 12 is uncredited. Illustrations are by Gerald Haylock.

Links:

Pip Squeak and Wilfred Wikipedia
Jane Wikipedia
Jane Toonpedia
Jane Bear Alley
Belinda Wikipedia
Garth Wikipedia

ET Refs:

Gould, David. Eagle Scriptwriters No 4: J. H. G. Freeman (Gordon Grinstead) Eagle Times Vol 2 No 2 pp 16 - 18.
Sheaf, Richard. A Weekend at Ely: The Society’s 15th Annual Dinner Eagle Times Vol 14 No 2, pp 32 – 35.
Gittens, John Mortlock Biography of John Henry Gordon Freeman - dictated to Tom Rawlinson. Eagle Times Vol 15 No 3 pp 2 - 4.
Gould, David. Recollections of J.H.G. Freeman (aka Gordon Grinstead) - as told by his sons Richard and Nick in April 2002. Eagle Times Vol 15 No 3, pp 5 – 9.

The Eagle Society Weekend and Annual Dinner, 2009

2009-01-14T08:30:00.009Z

The Guy Chester Centre

Muswell Hill

24th - 26th April 2009

Our Social Secretary, Nigel McMurray, has again asked me to post, for the benefit of Members, the highlights for the Eagle Society Weekend, which this year will be held at the Guy Chester Centre, Muswell Hill, London.The package will include 2-night’s accommodation and most meals, including the Society’s Annual Dinner, plus two days of activities including talks and tours, beginning in the late afternoon of Friday, 24th April and concluding after lunch on Sunday, 26th April. The centre, which is a Methodist Retreat set in 10 acres of gardens and woodlands, has a car park, en-suite rooms and disabled facilities. Highlights of the weekend will include:

The Eagle Society’s Annual Dinner at the Guy Chester Centre
A visit to the RAF Museum at Hendon
A History of Muswell Hill presented by a local historian
Lunch at the Spaniards Inn (with its claimed association with Dick Turpin)
Special Tour of Highgate Cemetery
Fights in Eagle - a themed talk from by Eric Fernie
“He wants to be ... a cab driver”
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be - a look back at previous Eagle Weekends
Treasure Island with John Worsley, Millar Watt and Dudley Watkins - a presentation and talk by John Swan
Speedway and Eagle - Terry Stone, President of the World Speedway Riders Association, addresses the Eagle Society. And he's bringing a 1928 speedway machine!
Sunday Service at Muswell Hill Methodist Church

For Members of the Eagle Society, the cost for the weekend, which includes two nights accommodation, is £110 sterling per person for a shared room, with an extra supplement of £20 per person for single rooms (subject to availability). Non-members wishing to take part should enclose in addition the appropriate (UK or Overseas) Membership Fee (separate cheque, please) with their application.

If you would like more details, or to confirm details and/or availability of places, please contact Nigel by e-mail . Or to make a definite booking would Members please write, enclosing payment (in £ sterling, please, cheques made payable to the Eagle Society) to:

Adrian Perkins
19, Wolsey Way,
Cherry Hinton,
Cambridge,
CB1 3JQ
United Kingdom

The illustration is the opening frame of 'Black Bess', from the series 'Famous Horse Stories', drawn by Raymond Sheppard. It appeared in Eagle Vol 5 No 40 (1st October, 1954).

Eagle Times Vol 21 No 4

2008-12-13T09:00:00.000Z

Winter 2008 contents

Memories of Christmas Past - seasonal cards and drawings by some of the best
A Kennedy Christmas - some of Ian Kennedy's Christmas-themed comics and annual covers
The Career of Ian Kennedy - part 2, from the eighties to the new millenium
More of EAGLE's 2nd issue dummy, including Norman Thelwell's 'Pop Milligan' and Frank Hampson's 'The Great Adventurer' - with Joan Porter's recollections of the Bakehouse Studio in the 1950s
Frank Hampson at the Festival - a contemporary note written by Frank Hampson on the Angouleme Comics Festival, 1978
PC49 - The Case of the Galloping Ghost
An account of the Chad Varah Memorial Service at St Paul's Cathedral, held on 12th November, 2008
"I was there" - the launch of Denis Gifford's Ally Sloper Magazine in 1976
Who's who No. 50
The Eagle Annual of the Cutaways - book review
Heros the Spartan - part 1, beginning a review of EAGLE's popular 1960s sword and sorcery strip
Tony Weare - part 2, concluding the life of a favourite artist
Books for Christmas - a seasonal review
EAGLE on the web
Pop Music in EAGLE Times - 1963

This issue's cover shows some Memories of Christmas Past - cards by Peter Jackson, Tony Weare and Keith Watson - courtesy of Alan Vince.

Dan Dare helps Science Museum to Tourism Gold

2008-11-30T17:07:00.001Z

The winners of the Visit London Awards 2008 were presented at the Royal Albert Hall on 27th November. The Science Museum, which among its many attractions is currently exhibiting 'Dan Dare and the Birth of Hi-Tech Britain', won 'Gold' as the Visitor Attraction of the Year. The award recognises the Science Museum's appeal to adults and children, with its world-class collections, exhibitions and events.

The 'Dan Dare and the Birth of Hi-Tech Britain' exhibition has certainly given the museum a boost. Not only has it provided an excellent exhibition (see the review at our earlier post) but it has brought the museum additional publicity through press exposure. For example, apart from its coverage when it launched back in April, 2008, The Times has since chosen to list the exhibition among its Top Five Museums on at least five occasions.

David Britton has provided a quote from John Liffen, who is a co-curator of the exhibition with Professor Andrew Nahun. The following came in response to David's question on the how the exhibition was going:

As you know, we had a good press reaction and an independent study thought that the value to the Museum of the exposure was high. I quote from Andrew Nahum: ‘It was done by an able PR professional and it rates value of every mention according to size of the article and each paper or magazine's advertising rate. There is also an industry convention multiplier reflecting the fact that editorial material is far more influential than paid for advertising and “can't be bought”. According to these calculations, the Science Museum would have had to spend almost £700k to achieve the same presence in the media with “paid for” marketing. Of course, this publicity contributes to public perceptions of the whole Museum and not just to the Dare show.’ “Aside from that, the exhibition was well-received internally (which matters a lot!) and the visitors seem to like it. I haven’t yet seen a qualitative visitor survey, but I hope we shall have done something on those lines. People are stimulated to write in with notes of appreciation about the whole exhibition, but often they focus in on just one item which has particularly caught their attention ... I haven’t heard of any adverse comments, and perhaps that’s a good test, too”

The Exhibition runs until October 2009, so there is still plenty of time to see it, if you haven't already.

The picture (from the Science Museum's Dan Dare Exhibition press pack) shows one of the murals drawn for the Museum in the 1970s by Frank Hampson, Dan Dare's creator.
Dan Dare is © The Dan Dare Corporation Ltd.

Footnote: Those interested in memorabilia might like to note that the Science Museum now has sets of 'Dan Dare Exhibition' tie-in souvenir postcards and notepads, 'Dan Dare' (and Mekon) T-shirts (small and medium only, unfortunately!) and badges, and some very attractive 'Dan Dare' spaceship LED keyrings.

The Eagle Annual of the Cutaways (review)

2008-10-13T16:40:00.002+01:00

The latest in the series Eagle Annual of the… has now been published by Orion Books.

The Eagle Annual of the Cutaways takes the same look and format as last year’s Eagle Annual - The best of the 1950s comic, with an identical page-count (176 pages), but is priced at £14.99 (£2 more than the earlier book). Rather than the dark green spine with yellow lettering previously used, though, this book has a dark blue spine with cream lettering. Both books have a "distressed" look and feel. The Editor is again Daniel Tatarsky, and the book has a Preface by Colin Frewin, Chief Executive of the Dan Dare Corporation Limited, and an Introduction by Jonathan Glancey, Architecture Critic, the Guardian.

The Eagle Annual of the Cutaways collects together, in (what seems to this reader's mind) a less than systematic manner, around 142 of the 946 cutaway drawings that appeared in Eagle throughout its life from 1950 until the penultimate issue in 1969. For anyone who fondly remembers Eagle and its cutaways, but who doesn’t still have their collection, this will be a “must buy”. But the market for this book is clearly “nostalgia” rather than serious appreciation or study. This book will sell, and deserves to, but it will also disappoint the more serious collector or student.

Comparisons are inevitable with Denis Gifford’s earlier collection, The Eagle Book of Cutaways (Webb & Bower, 1988). While covering less material and restricting his book (with one notable exception*) to the work of Leslie Ashwell Wood, rather than the full range of Eagle cutaway artists, Gifford treated the material with more respect than is evident here. In Denis' book, the page layout and colour reproduction were excellent, there was no cropping of the illustrations – and the pages are clean! Here, there is better coverage of the work of the many artists who produced cutaways for Eagle, but sometimes their illustrations are cropped - to the extent that occasionally explanatory text is partially lost, or the artists’ signatures are partially, and in some cases completely, lost. As an example Laurence Dunn’s ‘The Dome of Discovery’, from Eagle, 4^th May, 1951 (which incidentally is reproduced less cropped in the Eagle Annual - Best of the 1950s comic) is cropped top and right, in the process losing some of the illustration and Laurence Dunn’s signature. In addition nearly all the pages carry that artificial "distressed" look which was a problem for many (including me!) when we saw Orion Books’ earlier offering. In my opinion, putting artificial "grime" on the pages detracts from the content and shows a lack of respect for the original artists, especially when it strays onto the artwork. I don't think these aspects sit easily with this dedication, quoted here from the Preface:

"This book is dedicated to all the highly talented artists who created these wonderful cutaways."

There is much to commend this book. Eagle Society member Steve Winders has already written an excellent review, posted at Steve Holland's Bear Alley blog. Any more detailed comments I might make would inevitably repeat much of what he has said there, so I will leave my comments to those above. There is also a review by Jeremy Briggs, well worth reading, at the Down the Tubes blog.

Further related links:

eagle-times initial post (May 2008) on the Eagle Annual of the Cutaways
more from eagle-times on Eagle's cutaway drawings with a list of artists
Jeremy Briggs follow-up post to his review at Down the Tubes: Eagle cutaway art.

* The cutaway of Dan Dare's spaceship Anastasia, published in Eagle 7th February,1958, was not by Ashwell Wood, although Denis Gifford included it in his book. By the way it does not appear in the Eagle Annual of the Cutaway.

Eagle Times Vol 21 No3

2008-09-30T07:00:00.005+01:00

Autumn 2008 contents

The Career of Ian Kennedy - part 1, the 1950s to the 1970s
More of the EAGLE's second issue dummy (including 'Rob Conway' in colour!)
The Final Winner? - what happened to the EAGLE 'Sportsman of the Year' trophy
Frank Hampson at NESCOT (1972 to 1977) - another 'I was there' article
Tony Weare, artist for all seasons - who turned down an offer to draw 'Dan Dare'!
Another 'Anastasia' - how a classic car artist (Jack Lewis) came to create a tribute to Bruce Cornwell
Marcus Morris and the 1953 Coronation recording
Dan Dare, the Audio Book: Voyage to Venus - part 1 (a review)
The magic of Pelikan Inks
EAGLE on the web
PC49: The Case of the Pink Panic - part 3 (conclusion)
Nether Wallop - in Surrey? - a church that might have been the model for a scene in the first 'Dan Dare' story
Dan Dare - the Virgin Version - a review
Crockett & Krispies - on Ron Embleton's 1956 'Heros of the West' series for Kellogg's
Snakes Alive! - artist Geoffrey ('Luck of the Legion') Bond's fascination with snakes
Looks familiar! - How 1959 'Dan Dare' artwork provided the reference for newspaper illustrations ten years later
Pop Music in EAGLE times - 1962

The 'Dan Dare' illustration on the front cover this issue of Eagle Times is by Ian Kennedy
and appeared in the ('new series') Eagle, 8th January, 1983.

Eagle Writers - Peter Ling (1926 - 2006)

2008-09-24T23:17:00.023+01:00

Peter (George Derek) Ling was born on May 7th 1926 at Thornton Heath, near Croydon, Surrey. For education, he attended the Winterbourne Elementary School, followed by the Whitgift School at Haling Park, South Croydon. He soon developed a passion for English composition, and at the age of 14 he had an article published in Good Housekeeping, the first step in a distinguished and varied writing career.

“Called up” as a Bevin Boy during the Second World War, he went to work in a Derbyshire coal mine but after three months, due to ill-health, he was transferred to the Army Pay Corps. After the war he was diagnosed with tuberculosis, and spent about 2½ years in a British Legion Sanatorium. His first novel, Voices Offstage, was published in 1947. Deciding to try his luck as a gag-writer, he sent in some sample scripts to various BBC radio comedians, with the result that Jon Pertwee turned up in person to encourage him to write material for his radio show, Waterlogged Spa. In 1950, Peter began to write comedy material for television. A children’s magazine programme called Whirligig was broadcast every other Saturday, and included a serial, celebrity guests, with comedy links provided by Humphrey Lestocq and ‘Mr Turnip’. Peter wrote all their material.

In 1952, when introduced (by Goons creator, Jimmy Grafton) to Eagle Editor’s assistant Ellen Vincent, Peter jumped at the chance to write a schoolboy serial for Eagle. The first ‘Three J’s’ story, set in Northbrook School, a setting broadly based on Whitgift School, appeared in 1953, with 32 text serials published over the next six years, wonderfully spot-illustrated by Peter Kay. In addition to writing the ‘Three J’s’ stories in Eagle, Peter Ling also wrote ‘Three Js’ stories in five Eagle Annuals, and an Eagle novel: The Three J’s and the Pride of Northbrook. In 1958 he adapted the Three J's for television. Trouble at Northbrook consisted of five 5 fortnightly episodes and was followed by another 6-part adventure called Northbrook Holiday. Unfortunately no recordings of the serials are known to exist. In 1954 Peter had married Sheilah Potts, an actress and writer who had appeared in Whirligig, and who used the professional name Sheilah Ward. They collaborated on some serials for Girl: 'Two Pairs of Skates' (1956-57) and 'Penny Starr' (1957), plus a Girl novel: Angela has Wings (1960).

He also turned his hand to songwriting and one song, Why Not Now performed by Matt Monro, made it into the charts in 1961. That same year, Peter helped Hazel Adair to develop Compact, a television soap opera set in the offices of a women’s magazine. They co-wrote the series, which appeared on BBC twice-weekly from the beginning of 1962 until the Summer of 1965. They also wrote the Compact Annual which was published in 1963 “by arrangement with the BBC”. Their professional partnership continued when, in 1964, they co-created Crossroads, another soap opera, this one set in a motel. The highly popular Crossroads ran for 24 years (despite its reputation for “wobbly sets”!), and a total of around 4,500 programmes were broadcast before its final show in 1988. Initially the series was shown only on Central and Southern ITV but it was networked nationally from 1972. Although Hazel Adair left Crossroads after the first year, Peter remained as a writer until 1987, when a new producer decided he wanted to write his own stories.

Among Peter Ling’s many writing credits for television are episodes of Dixon of Dock Green, Sexton Blake, No Hiding Place, The Avengers and Doctor Who. His contribution to Doctor Who was the serial ‘The Mind Robber’ (1968, starring Patrick Troughton) for which he also later wrote the Target novelization (1986). He also wrote many radio dramas, including adaptations of Sherlock Holmes stories, the Arnold Bennett story Imperial Palace, and John Dickson Carr’s Doctor Gideon Fell detective stories, and (in 1969) he originated the BBC radio soap opera Waggoners’ Walk, which replaced Mrs Dale's Diary, and ran for 11 years, until 1980. In the 1980s and into the mid-1990s, he wrote novels under his own name, including the 'Crown House' and 'Watermen' trilogies, plus Halfway to Heaven and Happy Tomorrow. He also wrote a number of "bodice ripper" romances under the pseudonym “Petra Lee”.

In his later years Peter produced and directed plays for his local theatre, The Stables, in Hastings, East Sussex. His wife Sheilah, who latterly published as Sheilah Ward Ling, died in 1997. They had four children.

The Eagle Society was pleased when Peter agreed to be interviewed in 1998, and that Peter consequently agreed to come along as an invited guest for the Eagle Weekend at Pinner in 1999. In his later years Peter fought bravely against Alzheimer's disease. He died on September 14th 2006.

Eagle stories (writer):

'The Three J's' serials - Eagle Vol 3 No 39 -Vol 10 No 16.

Eagle Annual stories (writer):

'The Three J's' - Eagle Annual Nos 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9
'Hawkeye without his glasses' - Eagle Annual No 10 (1961)

Eagle novel:

The Three J's and the Pride of Northbrook (Hulton Press, 1957)

Links:

ET Refs:

Gould, David. Peter Ling. Eagle Times Vol 12 No 1, pp 2 - 7.
Gould, David. Peter Ling (1926 - 2006) Eagle Times Vol 19 No 4, p 2.

The picture shows Peter Ling signing autographs at the Eagle Weekend in 1999.

Who reads Eagle

2008-07-31T19:48:00.000+01:00

Towards the end of 1963, in the second story of the new television series Doctor Who, the Doctor and his companions travel to Skaro where they meet the Daleks for the first time. So successful was the series, and this particular story, that it spawned a movie adaptation: Doctor Who and the Daleks. Peter Cushing was chosen to play "Doctor Who" (as he was named in the film), along with Roy Castle, Jennie Linden and Roberta Tovey as Ian, Barbara and Susan, respectively.

The opening scene pans around Doctor Who's living room (in the film he is an eccentric human professor). His granddaughter, Susan, is reading 'Physics for the Inquiring Mind' and Barbara is seen reading 'The Science Of Science'. As the camera pans to Doctor Who, we see that he is reading ... a copy of Eagle and Boys' World! He has the comic open, apparently at 'Heros the Spartan' (drawn by Frank Bellamy) on the centre pages - clearly he liked a bit of fantasy! - but presumably he has already read 'Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future', which is prominently on view on the front and back covers. The issue date can clearly be identified from Keith Watson's artwork from 'The Moonsleepers' adventure: it is the issue dated 20th March 1965 - most probably the current issue at the time of filming, as the movie had its UK premiere on 26th June.

More about this on the Frank Bellamy Checklist site.

Eagle Writers - Charles Chilton (1917 - )

2008-07-30T15:07:00.003+01:00

Charles (Frederick William) Chilton, MBE, is best known to Eagle readers as the scriptwriter of ‘Riders of the Range’ and the author and producer of the classic 1950s BBC radio serial ‘Journey into Space’.

Charles’ father was killed, at the age of 18, at Arras in the so-called Great War, so Charles never knew him, and he was born into poverty in Sandwich Street, King’s Cross, London. His mother died in the post-war flu epidemic when he was about 6, and afterwards he was raised by his grandmother. He left school at the age of 14 and, after an unrewarding “apprenticeship” with an electrical sign-maker, at 15 he joined the BBC as a messenger. The BBC sponsored day and evening classes, and he developed a life-time appetite for self-education. At 16, he became an assistant in the BBC’s gramophone library. By the age of 18 he had moved into radio presentation and production. He developed a passion for jazz, forming the BBC Boys’ Jazz Band in 1937. He presented many music programmes including ‘Swing Time’, and ‘Radio Rhythm Club’. His first major production was Alastair Cook’s ‘I Hear America Singing’.

During the Second World War, although initially a conscientious objector, he enlisted with the RAF, and served three years as a radio trainer before being transferred to Armed Forces radio. In Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) he ran the forces radio station with David Jacobs. After the war he returned to the BBC in London and met and married Penny, a secretary at the BBC. In 1949 he created and produced a popular weekly radio show called ‘Riders of the Range’.

In 1950 the Editor of Eagle, Marcus Morris, sought and obtained permission from the BBC for a comic-strip version of ‘Riders of the Range’. In October that year Morris sponsored a trip by Chilton to Arizona. Chilton’s account of the trip was published in Eagle as a series of articles called ‘Ticket to Tombstone’. His third article was followed the next week by the appearance of ‘Riders of the Range’ (featuring Jeff Arnold and the 6T6 Outfit) in comic-strip format, drawn initially by Jack Daniel. Chilton continued to write and produce the radio show until its demise in 1953, and to write the scripts for Eagle’s ‘Riders of the Range’ strip and the scripts and stories for numerous ‘Riders of the Range’ and Eagle annuals, into the early 1960s. He also wrote the script for ‘Flying Cloud’, a western strip that appeared in Girl and he is credited with some writing for Swift Annual. As the comic strip ‘Riders of the Range’ developed, helped by Penny with the research, he became an expert on the Wild West and introduced authentic historic western stories into the series. He also wrote historical accounts of the West, such as The Book of the West (Odhams, 1961) which, after publication in America, earned him The Western Heritage Award for Juvenile Books in 1963.

When ‘Riders of the Range’ finished on radio Charles Chilton was tasked by the BBC with creating a science fiction series. The result was the hugely successful ‘Journey into Space”, and he wrote and produced three series (58 episodes) between 1953 and 1955 with a repeat production of the first story ‘Operation Luna’ broadcast in 1958. The hugely successful radio serials and their subsequent translation to book and comic strip form under his own authorship assured Chilton’s international recognition. Among his other radio production credits in the fifties are a several editions of ‘The Goon Show’ in 1953, 1957 and 1958.

In 1962 Charles Chilton wrote and produced a radio musical based on World War 1 songs, called ‘The Long, Long Road’. In 1963 this was transformed through his collaboration with Joan Littlewood and the Theatre Workshop into the stage production: ‘Oh! What a Lovely War’, and in 1969 was turned into a film by writer Len Deighton and director Richard Attenborough.

In 1976(?) Charles Chilton was awarded the MBE, which was presented to him by the Queen Mother. Although he retired from the BBC soon after, he has continued to write and for many years he has been a Guide for London Walks. In the 1980s he wrote a sequel radio play ‘Journey into Space: The Return from Mars’ and two science fiction serials in the ‘Journey into Space’ vein: ‘Space Force’ and ‘Space Force II’. More recently, he wrote a further ‘Journey into Space' radio play ‘Frozen in Time’, which was broadcast by the BBC on 12th April 2008.

The picture shows Charles as an honoured guest of the Eagle Society at Bath, in 1995. Also present for the weekend was the first Eagle 'Riders of the Range' artist, Jack Daniel.

Eagle articles:

‘Ticket to Tombstone’ (Vol 1 Nos 33, 35 and 36)

Eagle strips (writer):

‘Riders of the Range’ (Vol 1 No 37 – Vol 13 No 9)

Note: In Eagle 'Riders of the Range' consists of 23 stories, which are told over 576 episodes.The vast majority are written by Chilton, although some episodes may be by another, as they are not credited.

Eagle Annual strips (writer):

'Riders of the Range' Eagle Annual No 1 - No 10 (1961)

Note: In addition to the above, from 1951 Juvenile Productions Ltd published a series of Charles Chilton's Riders of the Range Annual. Juvenile also published a Jeff Arnold in The Bozeman Trail picture strip book. When the Juvenile annuals finished, Hulton Press followed on with six Eagle Riders of the Range Annuals, the last being for 1962. All were written by Charles Chilton, who also wrote a serial 'Jeff Arnold and the Battle of Quitman Creek', which appeared monthly in the ABC Film Review in 1953.

Links:

ET Refs:

Smyth, Bob. Eagle Scriptwriters No 1: Charles Chilton. Eagle Times Vol 1 No 2 pp 18 - 24.
Evans-Gunther, Charles. Goon ... but not forgotten. Eagle Times Vol 1 No 3 p 15.
Howard, James. Charles Chilton and Riders of the Range. Eagle Times Vol 4 No 3 pp 30 - 31.
Chilton, Charles. A tribute to Frank Humphris (1911 - 1994) Eagle Times Vol 7 No 1 pp 2 - 4.
Horn, Cowhand. Besides Jeff Arnold ... Eagle Times Vol 7 No 1 pp 40 - 41.
Horn, Cowhand. Yipp-e-ee! An afternoon with Mr and Mrs Charles Chilton. Eagle Times Vol 7 No 4 pp 34 - 38.

Eagle Times, Vol 21 No 2

2008-06-30T15:00:00.001+01:00

Summer 2008 Contents

An EAGLE nobody knows - the dummy second issue
The many faces of Jeff Arnold - illustrators of Riders of the Range
Blackbow the Cheyenne - from Comet to Swift to EAGLE
Comics 101 - I was there (part 2)
Guy and John - wartime experiences of Guy (Edward Trice) Morgan and John Worsley
Never again will anyone envisage Man's future like this - Frank Hampson's vision
Arthur C. Clarke (1917 - 2008) - a personal tribute
EAGLE on the Web
Journey into Space: Frozen in Time - a review of Charles Chilton's new BBC radio play
The Science Museum's Dan Dare and the Birth of Hi-tech Britain exhibition reviewed
PC49 - The case of the Pink Panic (part 2)
A Dan Dare postscript to 'An EAGLE nobody knows'
The 2008 Eagle Society Weekend - review and photographs
Great EAGLE O'er the Silvery Forth - a poetic tribute to the Eagle Society's visit to Edinburgh (in the style of William McGonagall)

The picture on the front of this issue of Eagle Times is from Eagle Riders of the Range Annual 1961 and is by Harry Bishop.

Eagle Artists - Giorgio Bellavitis

2008-06-30T12:00:00.006+01:00

Giorgio Bellavitis (1926 - ) was born in Venice. As a teenager during World War II, he was a member of the anti-Nazi resistance movement and was imprisoned for several weeks with Mario Faustinelli and Alberto Ongaro. The three friends invented a costumed righter-of-wrongs called ‘L’Asso di Picche’ (‘The Ace of Spades’). After the war they set up a publishing company, gathered a number of artists and writers together to form the Grupo Veneziano (Venetian Group), and launched a magazine called Albo Uragano (White Hurricane), which later became renamed, (after its lead strip) Asso di Picche. The strip was pencilled by Hugo Pratt and inked by Bellavitis and Faustinelli. After the revamp, one of the first new strips was ‘Junglemen’, the first episode of which was drawn by Bellavitis, who then drew ‘The Adventures of Robin Hood’ under the pseudonym George Summers. After Asso di Picche folded in 1948, the majority of Bellavitis’ work until 1954 seems to have been for Il Vittorioso (The Conqueror). His strips included ‘I Cavalieri del Corvo’, ‘Acqua Cattiva’, ‘Il Palio di Siena’, and ‘Amburgo 1947’. Early(?) in this period he also created ‘La Strada Senza Fine’ (‘The Road Without End’), for Corrierre dello Scolaro.

In 1954, Bellavitis moved to England, and some time after, he was instrumental in introducing the Italian illustrator Rimaldo D’Ami (Roy Dami, founder of the Damy Agency) to Britain. He was the therefore first of many Italian comic strip artists to be published in Britain.

Bellavitis’ first strip after arriving in England was ‘Paul English’ for Swift. He then drew ‘Mark, the Youngest Disciple’ to a script by Chad Varah, his finest work for Eagle. Bellavitis stood in for Richard Jennings on two complete ‘Storm Nelson’ adventures, the first of which was set in his place of birth*. He also drew for Eagle Annual and Swift Annual, including the illustrations for a text story ‘The Winged Devils - a tale of the Ancient Vikings’ in Swift Annual No 2. He worked for a short time on Express Weekly, drawing ‘Rodney Flood’, and he is known to have done some illustrations for the Sunday Pictorial Children’s Annual. In 1956 he helped out on Eagle’s ‘Jeff Arnold in Riders of the Range’. His work also appeared in Playhour and Treasure. In 1958, however, he returned to Italy to pursue a career in architecture.

Professor Giorgio Bellavitis is now actively involved in the conservation and restoration of Venice, advising UNESCO and other bodies. Girogio Bellavitis' projects in Venice have included, in the 1980s, the garden design and landscaping for Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, the home of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, and from 1997 to 2005 direction of the restoration of Ca’Foscari. Giorgio Bellavitis has written and co-authored a number of books and is the author of ‘Venice: a City in the Sea of History’, which prefaces the Heritage Guide to Venice published by the Touring Club of Italy.

The picture above is from 'Mark the Youngest Disciple', Eagle, 12th November, 1954.

* The Eagle strip 'Storm Nelson' was later reprinted in Italy in Giorno dei Ragazzi as 'Kid Tempesta'.

Eagle strips

‘Mark the Youngest Disciple’ (Vol 5 N0 46 - Vol 6 No 23)
‘Storm Nelson: The Quest of the Golden Queen’ (Vol 6 No 29 - Vol 6 No 46)
‘Storm Nelson: The Quest of the Southern Cross’ (Vol 6 No 47 - Vol 7 No 14)
‘Riders of the Range : The Hooded Menace’ (half of 1 episode, Vol 7 No 23)
‘Riders of the Range: The Wreckers’ (with Brian Lewis) (Vol 7 No 36 - Vol 7 No 44)

Eagle Annual strips

‘Storm Nelson in The Mystery of the Purple Patch’ Eagle Annual No 6

Links:

Previous post on eagle-times: Regarding Giorgio Bellavitis
Lambiek Comiclopedia entry: Giorgio Bellavitis

ET Ref:

Tiner, Ron. 'Giorgio Bellavitis'. Eagle Times Vol 13 No 1 p16 - 21.

Eagle Artists - Michael Charlton (1923 - 2008)

2008-06-26T23:50:00.001+01:00

Michael Alan Charlton was born in Poole, Dorset, and studied at Poole School of Art and Edinburgh College of Art. An illustrator in black and white and colour, his only know contribution to Eagle was the single black and white picture shown here, which he drew to illustrate an Arthur Catherall story called ‘Ten Days to Christmas’ - “a short story of Ojibwa fur trappers in the land of perpetual snow”. It appeared, appropriately enough, on 14^th December, 1951 (in Eagle Vol 2 No 36). He also illustrated ‘Professor Kitto and the Magic Ray’ in another Eagle-associated publication: Swift Annual No 2 (Hulton Press, 1955), for which he drew three black and white pictures. Charlton illustrated dozens of books from 1954 through 2003, including the children's book Wheezy (Bodley Head, 1988), which he also wrote. He lived in Dorset, and died there after a long illness on 23^rd June, 2008.

An obituary and bibliography of Michael Charlton can be read at Steve Holland's Bear Alley, which is where we learned of Michael Charlton's death.

Dan Dare Cap Badge - supply your own cap!

2008-06-23T16:00:00.000+01:00

Out soon, in case you missed the news at down the tubes and elsewhere, a new piece of licensed Dan Dare* merchandising will be available very soon from Termight Replicas - Dan Dare's Spacefleet Cap Badge.

The illustration shows Chris Weston's concept art for the badge, which is based on Frank Hampson's original 1950s design. Readers of Eagle Times will have seen the article on Chris' Dan Dare action figure designs in the Spring 2008 issue, which followed up on information originally posted on Chris Weston's blog.

Cast in zinc alloy and gold plated with red and black enamel circles on the front, the badge will have a diameter of 45mm and a maximum thickness of 4mm (not including the brooch pin). The enamel will be applied to recesses in the metal, so the red and black areas on the actual badge will be flat, rather than as shown in the concept art.

The badge can be ordered from Termight's site. The preorder price is £9.95, and they badges should be ready by the beginning of July, 2008.

Eagle's cutaway drawings

2008-05-20T18:45:00.001+01:00

Eagle's cutaway drawings feature ran from the very first issue, 14th April, 1950, until 19th April, 1969 (Vol 20, No 16). The run was not continuous - on about 40 occasions other features replaced it, such as 'Chicko's Christmas Party' (1954 Christmas issue) or, on 14 occasions, the results of painting competitions. Also, some features that are sometimes counted as part of the series are not strictly "cutaway" drawings. It was not headlined as 'An Eagle Cutaway Drawing' until 1963. It was however, the longest running feature in Eagle (since, apart from a four-episode original story which began at the end of Vol 18, 'Dan Dare' had gone into reprint at the beginning of Vol 18, and remained as such until Eagle's demise in 1969 (Vol 20 No 17).

From 1950, and for over a decade, "cutaways" filled the top half of the centre pages as a full colour centre-spread. Later the feature was moved, initially still in colour, to fill the back page and then back inside the magazine, but on a single page in black and white. There seemed no limit to the technologies covered: from the historic, to the contemporary, to the futuristic: trains, boats and planes, trams, hovercraft and rockets, spacecraft, cars, buses, motorways, underground railways, fighting vehicles, motor cycles, power stations - and the photocopier.

By far the most prolific artist was Leslie Ashwell Wood, an example of whose work is seen above*. Of the (depending how you count it) 946 issues of Eagle that included cutaways, 617 were by him, including the very first, and the last (in the penultimate issue of Eagle).

In all, around two dozen artists contributed to the feature, the most notable after Leslie Ashwell Wood being: J. Walkden Fisher, John Batchelor, Geoffrey Wheeler, Laurence Dunn, Hubert Redmill and Roy Cross. It is likely that in many cases authorship of the text that accompanied the drawings is attributable to the artists themselves. This is certainly the case for the leading artists, who would have done their own technical research, and may be true for many of the lesser-known artists too.

The following is an alphabetical list of all the artists who are known to have contributed to Eagle cutaways, together with the numbers of their contributions. In some cases only a single name (presumably the surname) is known. Around a dozen contributions are unattributed to any known author.

P. J. Ashmore (1)
John Batchelor (44)
__? Blake (1)
__? Bowyer ( 3)
Bruce Cornwell (4)
Roy Cross (23)
Gordon Davies (10)
Laurence Dunn (48)
Eric Eden (3)
Albert Charles Martin Ellis (3)
Dennis Fairlie (2)
Charles Hurford (4)
R. Nicholl (1)
Paul B. Mann (5)
Gerald Palmer (19)
Hubert Redmill (39)
T. C. Renwick-Adams (1)
John S. Smith (2)
J. Walkden-Fisher (59)
Brian Watson (1)
Geoffrey Wheeler (44)
Leslie Ashwell Wood (617)

Selected cutaway drawing from Eagle are reprinted in:

The Eagle Book of Cutaways, Denis Gifford (Ed.) Webb & Bower, 1988. (Although credited with featuring exclusively L. Ashwell Wood drawings, one illustration, of Dan Dare's 'Anastasia' spacecraft, is by Eric Eden)
The Eagle Annual of the Cutaways, Orion Books, September 2008.

*The cutaway drawing of the aircraft carrier HMS Eagle by Leslie Ashwell Wood appeared as the centrespread in Eagle's second birthday issue, Vol 3 No1 (10th April, 1952).

Eagle Annual of the Cutaways

2008-05-15T17:21:00.003+01:00

Last year Orion Books produced Eagle Annual: the Best of the 1950s, with the promise of this year bringing out a sequel, Eagle Annual: the Best of the 1960s. Well it now seems the latter has been put back a year, to 2009, and the intervening space will be filled by the Eagle Annual of the Cutaways, which is due for publication on 18th September, 2008. According to the Orion website, the book will be 176 pages (some sources are quoting a longer book, but this seems to be an error), which makes it the same length as last year's Annual - although it will be priced £2 more at £14.99.

To quote Orion's publicity:

"After Dan Dare, the most famous and fondly remembered part of the Eagle comic was the cutaway. Basically, these were beautifully detailed drawings of the inner workings of pretty much anything: from steam trains, jet liners and racing cars, to oil wells, suspension bridges and tube lines beneath Piccadilly Circus. The Eagle had a team of three or four artists, but the king of the cutaway was undoubtedly L. Ashwell Wood, whose forensic attention to detail - be it a cross section of the Cutty Sark or a grand landscape of how electricity is generated - enthralled a generation of school boys."

As seen above, the book will have the "distressed look" of last year's Annual. We have seen it reported elsewhere that the "distressed look" will be confined to the cover. This appears to be based on some illustrations that appeared in a Daily Mail article (9th May, 2008) about the Dan Dare and the Birth of Hi-Tech Britain exhibition at London's Science Museum. However, a 12-page handout on the Eagle Annual of the Cutaways that was made available at the press launch of the Dan Dare and the Birth of Hi-Tech Britain exhibition implies otherwise. Unless the publishers have had a change of heart since printing that handout (which, to be fair is identified as an "uncorrected proof sampler - not for resale or quotation"), the distressed look will pervade the whole book. Which will not please many of Eagle's original readers, judging by some of the reactions we heard to last year's Annual.

Dan Dare - man of iron?

2008-04-30T23:00:00.023+01:00

So, does Dan Dare do the ironing - or does he have more pressing engagements?

I was amused by this graphic of Dan Dare while attending the press preview of the 'Dan Dare and the Birth of Hi-tech Britain' Exhibition (which is open at the Science Museum in South Kensington until November, 2009).

For its time, the 'Dan Dare' strip was forward looking, socially as well as technologically, anticipating the further emancipation of women: Jocelyn Peabody never fitted the classic "dumb female" stereotype of hero fiction - she was a scientist, a space pilot too, definitely not there just to scream and be rescued. I'm not sure I ever expected to see Dan with an iron in his hand, though, unless it was for playing golf - on the moon or elsewhere!

But what of the exhibition? Well, I can assure you that it's well worth a visit. That applies not only to fans of the original Eagle and their contemporaries, but to anyone who wants to know more about the development of technology in Britain between 1945 and 1970, and the impact on home life of design and innovation in those "Eagle times".

There are three sections. The first, as you enter, focusses on 'Dan Dare', and tells in brief how Eagle and Dan Dare came into being, how the 'Dan Dare' strip was produced, and some of the merchandise that was available to children of the 1950s.

Highlights of this section include artist Frank Hampson's 'Dan Dare' murals, which were originally commissioned by the museum in the 1970s, and two cabinets, one of which includes some examples of original 'Dan Dare' artwork plus one of Frank Hampson's "ideas books" used when he was planning the alien technology that would appear (in 1956) in the 'Dan Dare' strip 'Rogue Planet'.

The other cabinet displays other the 'Dan Dare'-related memorabilia: the 'Dan Dare': Stamp Album, Card Game, Radio Station, Construction game, etc. To anyone who attended the major Eagle exhibitions in Southport in 1990 and 2000 (Eagle's 40th and 50th anniversaries), this aspect of the display might appear more modest, but this exhibition is not just about 'Dan Dare'. 'Dan Dare' is used as a symbol of the times, a model for the optimism of Britain, its faith in technology in the post-war years, and a lead-in to the rest of the exhibition.

The "signature exhibit", providing a bridge to the technology, through another Eagle link, is a Bristol Bloodhound air defence missile, a pillar of UK's defence against the Soviet threat between 1958 and 1964. Reminding us that Eagle was not just a comic, a reproduction of Leslie Ashwell Wood's cutaway drawing of the Bloodhound (from Eagle Vol 10 No 5) is also on display.

Having set the theme, the second part of the exhibition is 'Building a New Britain' and covers everything from the creation of the National Health Service to the investments of government in nuclear power and the atom bomb. The third part looks at the reinvention of the home, the merging importance of design and the impact on everyday life with the arrival of previously unheard of consumer goods. Arguably, more use of Eagle imagery might have been used in these sections. For example, the section featuring the Dounreay nuclear research station might have, but did not, include L. Ashwell Wood's cutaway (from Eagle, 18th October, 1957). Several other examples, occur to me, where Eagle imagery could have been exploited. Seeing a section of the upper fuselage of the De Haviland Comet 1 aircraft that crashed in 1954, I was reminded that the Comet had featured as 'The First Four-Jet Airliner in the World' in Eagle's 4th issue. The Festival of Britain coverage could have used Lawrence Dunn's cutaway of the Dome of Discovery, or L. Ashwell Wood's cutaway of the (3-D) Telecinema. The WE177 air launched nuclear bomb, which entered service in 1966, never featured in Eagle, however, as it was on the top secret list!

While you're there, take a look elsewhere in the museum. On the ground floor in the permanent exhibition you'll find four more original 'Dan Dare' artboards. Nearby, you'll find a V2 rocket, like those which, as he watched them rise into the sky over the Scheldt Estuary in the closing stages of World War II, inspired Frank Hampson (though in Antwerp, at the receiving end) to dream of space travel.

Links

Science Museum:

Audio introduction to Dan Dare Exhibition (mp3)
Online Stuff (including Frank Hampson's Dan Dare murals)
Object Wiki (Objects from the Dan Dare Exhibition)

BBC News videos:

Dan Dare creator's son: "Peter Hampson, son of the Eagle comic strip character's creator Frank, says Dan inspired a generation. The character Flamer was based on Peter."
Dan Dare 'inspired innovation': "The Science Museum's Ben Russell and John Liffen on technology that reflects the ideals of the comic hero created by Frank Hampson."

British Satellite News video:

Celebrating the birth of High Tech Britain (may not work in all browsers)

Guardian picture gallery:

In Pictures: Dan Dare and the Birth of Hi-tech Britain (gallery of 9 pictures)

Dan Dare spaceship models to go on sale

2008-04-28T12:26:00.005+01:00

David Britton has announced that he is "planning to sell most of the spaceships that were made by Martin Bower for Alan Vince". The models were made in the 1980s, and previously formed part of the Eagle Exhibitions display, which toured UK in the early 2000s.

The picture on the left is a model of the Mars Space Station that featured (in its original drawn form!) in the 'Dan Dare' adventure 'The Red Moon Mystery' (Eagle, 1951).

For anyone who doesn't know, the models' creator Martin Bower is a professional model maker, who has worked on many science fiction films, TV shows and publications, and "is one of the most prolific model makers and designers to the film, TV, advertising and publishing industry". Since 1969, he has produced over 1000 professional works. The models that David is selling were privately commissioned by Alan Vince, and further pictures and information on their creation can be seen on the Dan Dare page of Martin Bower's site.

For sale are:

First Venus Ship
Rescue Ship “St Christopher”
Treen Fighter
Treen Telezero
Gogol’s Transporter
Space Station Mars and the shuttle “Delaware”
Treen Blaster Pistol

David can be contacted directly at info@davidgbritton.com , or they will be listed on eBay from 2nd May, 2008.

Please do not contact Eagle Times regarding this sale, though comments, as always, are welcome.

50th Anniversary of Dan Dare (April 2000)

2008-04-19T20:34:00.015+01:00

Back in the year 2000, the Eagle Society marked the occasion of Eagle's and Dan Dare's 50th Anniversary by commissioning a bronze bust of Dan Dare, and which was unveiled in Southport on 15th April that year. Members of the Society (principally David Britton, Ron French and Nicholas Hill) also collaborated in the setting up of an exhibition which ran at the Atkinson Art Gallery in Southport, from 15th April - 1st July, 2000. The story of 'The Dan Dare Bust - from conception to completion' was told by David Britton in Eagle Times Volume 13, No 2, Summer 2000 (coincidentally this was Eagle Times' 50th issue). The text of the article, with pictures of the event, can be read on Nicholas Hill's website.

Arnie Wilson has reminded us that in that 50th anniversary year he wrote a feature for the Financial Times about his personal relationship with Dan Dare. He says "I don't think it was ever picked up by Eagle Times, though it appeared in the FT with a brilliant Dan and Dig pastiche drawing".

If you would like to read Arnie's article it is on his website. Unfortunately the pastiche to which Arnie refers isn't there, but if anyone has a copy, we'd love to see it.

Another link to 'Dan Dare at 50' on the web: BBC News - 10th April, 2000.

Eagle Artists - Terry Maloney (1917 - 2008)

2008-04-10T22:44:00.012+01:00

Francis Joseph Terence Maloney was born in Mortlake, Surrey, on 20th April, 1917, the son of a Fleet Street printer. He attended the Richmond School of Art, and as a student joined the Communist Party. At the age of 20, he volunteered for the International Brigades, fighting for the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War. In August, 1938, he survived a shrapnel wound to the chest at the battle of Ebro, returning to England later that year. During the Second World War he served in the Royal Corps of Signals, after D-Day seeing action in France, Belgium, Holland and Germany. He had married Dorothy Toms in 1943. After the war, in 1946, Maloney worked as a commercial artist, helping to design posters for London Underground and becoming art editor of Spain Today, which was produced to publicise Franco's repression of the Spanish people.

Maloney had a growing interest in astronomy and the possibilities of space travel. After setting up a 10-foot long telescope, with a ten inch mirror, in his garden in Kew, Surrey, he spent many hours observing the night sky. He joined the British Astronomical Association, and subsequently was made a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. In early 1950, Maloney was recruited by Marcus Morris to work on the (yet to be launched) Eagle magazine, and for a short time he joined Frank Hampson's 'Dan Dare' studio in Southport. Later, he drew a number of colour and black and white illustrations for an article on rocketry and space travel for Dan Dare's Space Book (Hulton Press, 1953). He produced a number of book covers for paperback science fiction novels before, from the mid-1950s, concentrating on becoming a writer/illustrator and book editor.

Maloney's first self-written-and-illustrated title was Other Worlds in Space, a children's guide to the planets. Coincidentally it was launched the same month as Sputnik 1, in October, 1957. His other titles included The Sky is Our Window, and A Dictionary of Astronomy. He edited for various publishers before retiring in 1981, when he moved with his wife to West Knighton, near Dorchester, where he died on 16th March, 2008, aged 90.

The illustration above is from the article 'The Life Story of a Rocket' and shows a captured V2 being lifted into position for a test firing at the U.S. Experimental Rocket Station at White Sands, New Mexico. (From Dan Dare's Space Book, Hulton Press, 1953)

Links:

Eagle Society Weekend and Dinner, 2008

2008-04-10T09:52:00.009+01:00

Please note that bookings for this year's previously advertised Eagle Society's Weekend and Annual Dinner at Edinburgh are now closed.

Eagle Times, Vol 21 No 1

2008-03-31T20:00:00.000+01:00

Spring 2008 Contents

Comics 101 - I was there (part 1)
Eagle Times on the Web
Stills from A Case for PC49 (Hammer Films)
Clevedon Confectionery's trade card album
The Iron Man - EAGLE's popular android
HMS Eagle's association with EAGLE
Frank Hampson in The Post (part 2)
A Tribute to Chad Varah
Virgin's Dare is not for me!
Chris Weston's Dan Dare
PC49 - The case of the Pink Panic (part 1)
The mysterious case of Dan Dare's space suit
EAGLE on the Web
Whatever Happened to Harold Johns? (part 4)
Pop Music in Eagle Times - 1961
EAGLE Autographs (part 3)

With this edition, Eagle Times marks over 20 years of continuous publication - longer than the original publication, Eagle, that we celebrate! The cover features just a few samples of the 80 covers that have preceded this one, from 1988 - 2007.

Dan Dare & the Birth of Hi-tech Britain

2008-03-27T15:00:00.000Z

The way Britain reinvented itself as a hi-tech nation after the Second World War is to be revealed in a free exhibition, due to open on 30th April, 2008 at the Science Museum, South Kensington, London. Titled Dan Dare and the Birth of Hi-tech Britain, the exhibition is expected to run until at least October, 2009.

Eagle's space hero, Dan Dare - a fixture in the lives of millions of British children (and their parents!) in the 1950s and 1960s - introduces the exhibition, showing the optimism, faith in technology and spirit of adventure of the times. As Dan Dare is being rediscovered today, there will be a special display of original artwork, merchandise and memorabilia. In case enthusiasts should be wondering, Eagle Times has confirmed with the museum that the artwork on display will include Frank Hampson's Dan Dare murals, commissioned by the Science Museum in 1977, and alongside some original artboards from the 1950s/60s Eagle (the latter were acquired by the museum in the 1990s).

The official press release states that:

Dan Dare and the Birth of Hi-tech Britain will capture the essence of those pivotal post-war years, showing how Britain took striking wartime advances like the jet engine, radar and penicillin to create new industries. This was a time when the state rolled out huge new projects for a free nationwide health service, nuclear power, supersonic flight and a radical rehousing programme - major developments which created a revolution in national affairs and personal life.

The free exhibition also looks at the reinvention of the home, the emerging importance of design and the arrival of previously unheard of consumer goods. It will show that the period, from 1945-1970, started the long climb from austerity to affluence and laid the foundations for the Britain of today.

The signature exhibit representing hi-tech is the Bloodhound missile. Seven metres long, with fins, two ramjet engines and four booster rockets, Bloodhound was one pillar of Britain's defence against Soviet threat in the Cold War. Reaching speeds of Mach 2 (about 1,500 mph) in four seconds, it surpassed anything produced by the US. Also on display will be the British-built 'Bomb' - the WE177 nuclear weapon - Britain's ticket to the top table of nations.

Some of the finest examples of British manufacturing of the time will be shown. These include iconic products from designers such as Gordon Russell, Abram Games, the man behind the iconic Festival of Britain poster, and Pye radios designed by Robin Day. It will show, moreover, a 'lost world' of British manufacturing - a time when many people's first TV was a Murphy, not a Sony!

Further details about the exhibition can be read in the full press release on the Museum's website.

The two examples of Dan Dare original artwork shown above are from:

'Reign of the Robots' (Eagle Volume 8 No 17, 26 April, 1957)
'Platinum Planet' (Eagle Volume 12 No 43, 28 October 1961)

Thanks to the Museum's Press Officer, Richard Purnell, for allowing us to include them here.

Sir Arthur C. Clarke (1917 - 2008)

2008-03-19T07:22:00.009Z

Arthur C. Clarke, the writer and visionary, a former Chairman of the British Interplanetary Society, has died, three months after celebrating his 90th birthday.

Born on 16th December, 1917, in Minehead, Somerset, Arthur Clarke was the eldest of four children. Before leaving school he joined the British Interplanetary Society, which had been founded in 1933. During the Second World War, he served in the RAF as a radar specialist. Afterwards he attended Kings College, London, graduating in 1948 with first-class honours in physics and mathematics.

In 1945 he sold a short story called ‘Rescue Party’ to Astounding Science Fiction, and began his science fiction writing career. In 1947, ten years before the launch of the first artificial satellite, he wrote a technical paper, published in Wireless World, demonstrating the feasibility of using artificial satellites as relay stations for radio communications. The “geostationary orbit” now used by numerous communications satellites, has since been designated the “Clarke Orbit” by the International Astronomical Union.

It was around this time that he wrote a story ‘The Fires Within’ that would later appear in Eagle, under the pseudonym Charles Willis. Arthur Clarke’s contribution to the early days of Eagle and ‘Dan Dare’, for which he was for a time scientific advisor, was marked here on the occasion of his 90th birthday. It may have been small in the overall scheme of his life, but that association is remembered affectionately and respectfully here.

Arthur Clarke became a prolific writer of fact and fiction, with almost 100 books to his name; books such as The Exploration of Space, Childhood’s End, The Sands of Mars, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Rendezvous with Rama. The novel 2001: A Space Odyssey resulted from four years collaboration with the film director Stanley Kubrick, with whom he shared the credit for the movie screenplay.

Arthur C. Clarke was knighted in 1988.

Walt Howarth (1928 - 2008)

2008-03-17T22:00:00.006Z

Walt Howarth, who has just died, aged 80, was born on 1st January 1928 in Bolton, Lancashire. His talent for drawing faces was noticed at 4 years of age, and at 13 he was offered a scholarship at Bolton Art School, where he studied for three years. His first professional work was for the cover of Bolton's Salute to the Soldier Week programme in 1946. An avid fan of Bolton Wanderers Football Club, soon Walt was drawing their programme covers and getting five shillings a time for caricatures of the players.

A prolific (if largely unsung) artist, the majority of his work was (via Industrial Art Services) for World Distributors Ltd, whose annuals will be remembered for their distinctive yellow spines. From 1950-1959 he painted six John Wayne Annuals and seventy-seven John Wayne Comic covers, plus for the annuals, illustrations to text stories, endpapers, title/contents pages, and the odd feature or game/quiz page.

In addition, during the 1950s and 1960s, Walt painted covers for many of WDL's Annuals including titles such as: Bronco Lane, Bonanza, Cheyenne, Tenderfoot, Billy the Kid, Rawhide, Maverick, Western Roundup, Cisco Kid, Gunsmoke, Gene Autry, Rawhide, Wells Fargo, Range Rider, Roy Rogers , Wagon Train, TV Favourites, Superman, Batman, Tarzan, Green Hornet, Bewitched and High Chaparral, work which required the skills of a portraitist in capturing the likenesses of the characters seen on television and in film.

Some of his other work (of particular interest to Eagle Society members) included the box art for the 'Merit' Dan Dare Cosmic Ray Gun (produced by J & L Randall in about 1953), and most possibly for other Eagle-related toys of that era. In the 1960s he painted the covers for Dan Dare's Space Annual 1963, and for Eagle Annual 1965.

Of more general interest, he was also responsible for the cover illustrations of the first two Doctor Who Annuals.

An illustrated article, 'Walt Howarth' by Derek Wilson was published in Eagle Times Volume 18 No 3 (Autumn 2005), and gives more details of Walt's career. It can be read at the Gateway site, where it was posted in March, 2006.

Other internet sites reporting the death and and paying tribute to Walt Howarth:

Virgin's Dan Dare computer game

2008-02-26T16:55:00.007Z

In 1986 Virgin Games Ltd produced a Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future game, developed by the "Gang Of Five" (Dave B. Chapman, Martin Wheeler). Somewhat different versions were created for three platforms: the Sinclair Spectrum, the Amstrad CPC and the Commodore 64. Rather than being based on the new incarnation of 'Dan Dare' then running in the "new" Eagle, the game (and particularly the packaging) owed more to the original 1950s Eagle character created by Frank Hampson, who had died a year earlier. The instructions included the following:

This game is dedicated to the memory of Frank Hampson, the creator of Dan Dare who sadly died on 8th July 1985. We hope he would have approved of our treatment of his characters.

This "speedrun" of Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future, recently posted by "tehvalli" on YouTube gives a flavour of the Spectrum version:

If that whetted your appetite, and you want to play the game, there are emulators that run under Windows and other operating systems, and you can download the games to run on them. (See The World of Spectrum). Here is a link to download a Spectrum emulator, called ZX Spin, that runs under Windows (from 95 to XP I understand - I've run it under XP): download ZX Spin. Just download and unzip the files into a folder of your choice. The emulator should run by clicking on the ZXSpin.exe application. There is a Help file in the application.

To download the Spectrum version of Dan Dare to run on the emulator, click on the appropriate link in this List of Spectrum Games beginning with D. (Sorry, creating direct links to the file doesn't work). The original instructions for Dan Dare are here. And if you need a map, view one here.

The game was very successful, and led to two further (somewhat less successful!) games being developed: Dan Dare II: The Mekon's Revenge and Dan Dare III: The Escape. You will find download links for those in the same list you found Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future.

NOTE: Sorry, Eagle Times cannot provide any more help with installing, configuring or running the emulator or the games on your particular computer, so please don't ask!