EAGLE TIMES Vol. 38 No.2 SUMMER 2025

 

The 150th edition of EAGLE Times is out now. Featuring a cover by Graham Bleathman showing Dan Dare's spacecraft 'Anastasia' and several other craft flying over a future London and the back page with black and white studies of EAGLE characters by Keith Page, it celebrates the occasion in style. The contents include articles about 'Jack O' Lantern' and his creator George Beardmore, by Eric Summers; 'Blackbow the Cheyenne' by David Britton and 'Montgomery of Alamein' by myself. Reg Hoare's report on our  recent Gathering in Plymouth and my own speech about EAGLE and the radio from the Annual Dinner are also featured, along with the final part of the latest Archie Willoughby story 'The Case of the Elusive Elvis'. Copies can be obtained from Bob Corn at Mayfield Lodge, Llanbadoc, Usk, Monmouthshire, NP15 1SY.  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EAGLE - SEVENTY FIVE YEARS OLD

It is now seventy five years since EAGLE was launched, on April 14th 1950. A huge success for its first decade, it ran until 1969, when it was absorbed by its rival paper Lion. Created by the Rev. Marcus Morris, a Southport Vicar, its early success was primarily due to the work of artist Frank Hampson and his creation 'Dan Dare Pilot of the Future'. The popularity of Dan Dare cannot be overstated. The strip made science fiction acceptable and respectable at a time when many older people dismissed it as ridiculous and EAGLE was read by a lot of older people as well as its principal audience of 7 - 16 year olds. It also promoted interest in outer space and the possibility and credibility of space travel. Stephen Hawking cited 'Dan Dare' as the reason he became a Cosmologist. EAGLE also made comics acceptable to many adults, although it would never admit to being a comic! The fact that the editor was a Vicar and that EAGLE promoted a 'muscular Christianity' in its pages brought parents and teachers onside. The early issues of EAGLE also included the popular radio character 'PC 49', written by Alan Stranks. Initially drawn by Strom Gould it was illustrated for most of its seven year run by John Worsley. There were three other strips by Hampson in the first issue: 'Rob Conway', 'Tommy Walls', an advertising strip for Walls Ice Cream and the life of St. Paul, but he quickly passed these on to other hands to enable him to focus on the runaway success of 'Dan Dare'. 'Captain Pugwash' by John Ryan also made his first ever appearance in the first EAGLE. The centre pages featured 'cutaway drawings' of aircraft, cars, ships and other technological marvels. The most prolific 'cutaway' artist was Leslie Ashwell Wood. The 'cutaways' would run for the entire life of  EAGLE and Ashwell Wood illustrated the first and the last. The early issues also included an informative science strip called 'Professor Brittain Explains' and a regular sports page, which featured contributions from well known sportsmen. Over the next few years, other popular strips joined 'Dan Dare'. 'Riders of the Range' was by Charles Chilton and was based on his radio series about cowboys in the American west, This strip began in the Christmas issue in 1950 and was originally illustrated by Jack Daniel and then by Angus Scott, before Frank Humphris took over in 1952. The strip ran until 1962. 'Luck of the Legion' (1952 - 61) was written by Geoffrey Bond and illustrated by Martin Aitchison, 'Jack O' Lantern' (1955 - 59) told the adventures of a boy in the early nineteenth century and was written by George Beardmore, with illustrations by Robert Ayton. 'Storm Nelson - Sea Adventurer' (1953 - 1962) was written by Guy Morgan and drawn by Richard Jennings and 'Harris Tweed Extra Special Agent' (1950 - 62) by John Ryan, replaced his 'Captain Pugwash' who went on to greater success in books and on television. Another comedy strip was the three frame weekly 'short' 'Chicko' (1950 - 62) by Norman Thelwell. The famous Belgian cartoon hero Tintin also made his first ever appearance in English in EAGLE (1951 - 52). The back featured biographies of saints and famous Britons, including Saint Patrick, Saint Louis of France, Alfred the Great, Lord Nelson, David Livingstone and Baden Powell, illustrated by Norman Williams. Many of these biographies were written by the Rev. Chad Varah, who founded the Samaritans. Later, Frank Bellamy illustrated the life of Winston Churchill and King David for the back page, before taking over the 'Dan Dare' strip for a year and subsequently drawing 'Fraser of Africa' (1960 - 61), the life of Field Marshal Montgomery (1962) and finally the celebrated 'Heros the Spartan' strip in the early 1960s. In 1960 - 61, Frank Hampson illustrated the story of Christ for the back page. Sadly, this was his last major work for EAGLE.  

EAGLE featured more than strip cartoons. It had its own 'Special Investigator', Macdonald Hastings, who wrote articles on a wide range of subjects and even performed several dangerous feats to amuse the readers. George Cansdale wrote many half page strips about wildlife and Anthony Buckeridge created Rex Milligan's prose adventures for EAGLE, which would later serialise some of his 'Jennings' stories. Peter Ling wrote school based stories about 'The Three 'J's' before creating Crossroads and writing a Doctor Who adventure for television. EAGLE engaged well with readers. It featured reader's letters and organised competitions. Douglas Adams' first published work was a poem he sent to EAGLE and Gerald Scarfe and David Hockney won prizes in an art competition. EAGLE encouraged acts of charity, selflessness and consideration for others with monthly awards for nominated readers. It ran its own club for readers, arranged trips to sports matches, Adventure Holidays with the Y.H.A. and an annual national Table Tennis competition, along with its companion weekly 'Girl'. Each year readers voted for their 'Sportsman of the Year'. Every Christmas EAGLE invited readers to Carol Services, held around the country and usually led by Marcus Morris. It produced many books on a range of interests in addition to its annuals and even published novels about several of its characters. Its popularity gave rise to a great deal of licensed merchandise with everything from toys to clothing based on its most popular heroes. It even had its own weekly radio programme. There was also a daily Dan Dare radio serial, which ran for five years on Radio Luxembourg. In the 1950s it was not so much a comic, more a way of life. 

EAGLE fell into decline in the 1960s. Its steady downfall was primarily due to changes of publisher and cuts to its budget. It dropped all its reader activities, except the 'Readers' Letters' page and the Y.H.A. Holidays. Marcus Morris left in 1959 and his successor Clifford Makins left in 1961. A new editor, Bob Bartholomew arrived in late 1962 and managed to make improvements, but the downhill slide in sales was impossible to stop. Nevertheless, there were still shining moments. In addition to 'Heros the Spartan' (1962 - 1966), which was written by Tom Tully, there was 'Blackbow the Cheyenne', written by Edward Cowan and drawn by Frank Humphris, which joined EAGLE when it absorbed Swift in 1963 and ran until 1969. There was also 'The Iron Man' by Ken Mennell and others, which joined in 1964 when Boys' World was absorbed and ran until 1969. It was illustrated by Martin Salvador and later by Miguel Quesada. 'The Guinea Pig', (1965 - 1969) was written by various hands and drawn by Colin Andrew, Brian Lewis and finally by Gerald Haylock.  'Dan Dare' continued with stories by David Motton and art by Keith Watson. The 1960s EAGLE also featured some new informative features, including 'The Futurescope' which began in 1967 and speculated about life in the future. It was written by Dr. Lyall Watson, who would later write the bestselling book Supernature.  

 Despite its decline and fall, EAGLE made such a strong impression that a new version was launched in 1982 and ran until 1994. At a time when comics were generally in decline, it was a notable success for many years. EAGLE fandom survives to this day with the EAGLE Society celebrating the anniversary year with a Gathering in Plymouth, later in April. Our quarterly magazine EAGLE Times celebrates its own 150th issue this year too and Spaceship Away magazine, which began in 2003 continues to feature new adventures of Dan Dare. Fans of the 1980s EAGLE have a podcast 'Where EAGLES Dare' and a Facebook page. Dan himself featured in a B.B.C. radio series in 1990 and an audio series in 2021 and 2022, which was later broadcast on B.B.C. Radio Four Extra and a CGI television series which was broadcast on Channel Five in the U.K. in 2002.             

EAGLE TIMES VOL.37 NO.1 SPRING 2024

The first EAGLE Times of 2024 is out now. With articles about 'Knights of the Road' from EAGLE and the 'Dan Dare' story 'Operation Moss' from EAGLE Annual No.8 and features about Milton Caniff, 'Captain Marvel', two American comics called EAGLE, 'Thinking Comics' and the artist Lily Renee, it is a wide ranging issue. There is also the first part of a new Archie Willoughby story, which features a well known EAGLE writer. Contributors to this issue are Allan Palmer, David Britton, Eric Fernie, Adam Goodman, Jim Duckett and myself.

The first issue of a new year is a good time to subscribe and details of how to subscribe or obtain a copy are are on the right.  

Steve Winders

THE SECOND CHRISTMAS EAGLE by John Culshaw

By Christmas 1951, EAGLE's huge popularity was well established and a wide range of EAGLE and 'Dan Dare' related products had appeared on the market, creating Britain's first character based merchandising success. In the weeks leading up to Christmas, EAGLE advertised many of these products in its pages. They included EAGLE card games, jigsaws, projectors, stationery, balloons, transfer sheets, 'Dan Dare' ray guns, telescopes and ties, 'Riders of the Range' cowboy outfits, ties and braces and the first EAGLE Annual. In addition to the royalties they received for 'Dan Dare' and EAGLE related products, the copyright holders, Hulton Press also gained from the advertising potential that EAGLE provided. At a time when the market for toys, sweets and other merchandise for children and young people was large and growing and commercial television had not begun, EAGLE's popularity made it the ideal place to advertise and advertise they did. In the last November and the first December issues of 1951, EAGLE produced four page supplements filled with adverts for Christmas gifts and for many years to come, these supplements would continue.    

The Christmas issue celebrated the occasion in style, with the letters of the title logo being covered with snow for the first of many times. The EAGLE symbol itself was backed by a Christmas night sky with the star of Bethlehem displayed prominently. At the top of the page, readers were greeted with 'A MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EAGLE READERS' and a decorative trim ran down the left side of the title box. Frank Hampson's 'Dan Dare' strip made a brief acknowledgement of Christmas, despite being in the middle of Dan's second adventure 'The Red Moon Mystery', which was not set at Christmas, when Digby compares himself to Rudolf the red nosed reindeer while struggling through a snowy Martian landscape. 

On page three, the 'PC 49' adventure was also an ongoing serial and made no mention of the season. This strip by Alan Stranks was now drawn by John Worsley, who had replaced Strom Gould earlier in the year.  Christmas was recognised in an article on pages four and five, by EAGLE's Special Investigator Macdonald Hastings, who wrote about driving an old Royal Mail Coach pulled by four horses, which is an image often depicted on Christmas cards and strongly associated with Christmas, thanks to Charles Dickens. This page also carried an 'EAGLE Window' box. These small boxes appeared weekly and advertised EAGLE merchandise. The 'EAGLE Window' in the Christmas issue was number 34, which gives an indication of the number of licensed products available and there would be many more. This particular window listed several products which cost less than four shillings and gave their prices. The bottom half of page five was devoted to adverts for Caley's Chocolates and Philidyne Cycle Dynamo Lighting Sets.

Page six was the Sports page and it acknowledged the season with a Christmas Soccer Quiz, with questions set by Arsenal's players. At the bottom of the page, the comedy strip 'Grandpa' by Peter Probyn shows the title character buying and wrapping a large present and then opening it himself on Christmas morning - a joke used many years later by Rowan Atkinson as Mr. Bean. Page seven was the 'Riders of the Range' serial 'The Secret of Ghost Mountain', which made no mention of Christmas. This strip, written by Charles Chilton, was now drawn by Angus Scott, who drew three serials before being replaced by Frank Humphris in 1952. The top half of the colour centrespread was a series of pictures by Leslie  Ashwell Wood, showing how the King's Christmas Message was transmitted from Sandringham via Broadcasting House to homes in Britain and throughout the Commonwealth. Readers would be unaware that his 1951 Christmas Message would be the King's last, as he died less than two months later, to be succeeded by his daughter, Queen Elizabeth II. The Christmas Messages were only broadcast on radio until 1957.   

The lower part of the centrespread was the latest episode in the 'Tintin' adventure 'King Ottokar's Sceptre'. This story marked Tintin's first ever appearance in English and came seven years before Methuen began publishing his adventures in albums. Created by the Belgian artist, Georges Remi (who wrote and drew as Herge), the boy reporter Tintin was a huge success with young readers on the continent and would later enjoy great success in Britain, with translations by Leslie Lonsdale Cooper and Michael Turner. However, his first appearance was not a great success in EAGLE and this was the only story to be adapted. This first translation, by an unknown translator retained all the original French names of the characters, with the exception of the inept detectives Dupond and Dupont, who were renamed Thompson and Thomson. Lonsdale Cooper and Turner kept these English names in their own translation and anglicised the names of the other characters, such as Tintin's dog Milou, who was renamed Snowy. As an ongoing serial and part of an already completed story, the 'Tintin' strip made no mention of Christmas.  

 Two half page informative strips occupied page ten and both related to Christmas. The first was in the series 'Great Headlines of the Past' and covered the unofficial 1914 Christmas Truce in the First World War, which oddly did not mention the football matches which took place between British and German troops. The second strip was in the series 'Eagle Eye Nature Detective', a series sponsored by Rowntree's Chocolate, which told the story of mistletoe. Page eleven was the Editor's Page and EAGLE's editor, the Rev. Marcus Morris used his letter to remind readers of the religious basis of Christmas. His reason for launching EAGLE was to promote Christian values and ironically, its success had led to it becoming rather focussed on promoting merchandising! He was clearly anxious that its primary purpose should not be lost. To this end, he also encouraged readers to attend EAGLE's first Carol Service, which was to be held at St. Paul's Cathedral on December 22nd. There was clearly a minor panic behind the scenes about the Carol Service as Morris informed readers in two places on the page and in bold letters that the service would begin at 2.30 p.m. and not 3.30 as stated in previous issues! In future years, EAGLE would organise several carol services each Christmas, which would be held all over the country, usually presided over by either Morris himself or the Rev. Chad Varah, who wrote many back page biographical strips and other features for EAGLE. Varah also took over the scripting of the next 'Dan Dare' adventure 'Marooned on Mercury' when Frank Hampson fell ill. The Editor's Page also included Christmas Greetings accompanied by small pictures of their characters, by EAGLE's artists and the three picture 'Chicko' strip by Norman Thelwell also took a Christmas theme as Chicko slept in his Christmas stocking, leaving a note asking Santa to put his presents in his bed. 

Also on the Editor's Page was a 'Competition Corner' with Christmas based puzzles and a 'Bertram Mills Circus Competition' offering prizes to EAGLE Club members of tickets for the Circus, which in those days spent the Winter season at Olympia in London. The bottom corner of the page advertised the latest EAGLE Club Diary. Readers were regularly invited to join the EAGLE Club, which offered tickets to sports events and shows as well as special offers on some merchandise and access to certain competitions. Initially readers could join for a shilling, which quickly rose to one shilling and sixpence, for which they received a membership card and a metal badge. The Club was a way of securing reader loyalty, but it also emphasised that EAGLE wanted to be more than just a weekly magazine. It wanted to guide its readers to become responsible people. Such innovations as 'Mug of the Month', which rewarded readers for service to others, show this aim quite clearly. EAGLE also organised activity holidays for Club members, including the EAGLE/YHA Adventure Holiday Scheme. Another innovation was the EAGLE and Girl Table Tennis Tournaments, which began in 1954. Although many readers joined the Club, obviously many others did not and consequently EAGLE offered many activities that were not available to everyone. The first clear sign of this problem came with the second year of the Table Tennis Tournament. In the first year, only Club members could take part, but in the second it was open to all and this was strongly emphasised in the publicity. The Club was nevertheless a success for it ran for ten years before being disbanded during Clifford Makins' editorship, but opportunities for readers were maintained.  

Page twelve was entirely devoted to 'Christmas Party Games'. Most of the games described were traditional games, but intriguingly the last game was 'The Dan Dare Game'. However, this was actually a simple tag game, with space pilots trying to get from one base (Earth) through 'space' occupied by Treens, who would try to tag the pilots before they reached their other base (Venus). The top half of page thirteen was 'Can You Beat It?' a regular informative strip and in this issue the information was all about Christmas. Readers were informed that there had only been nine white Christmases in the twentieth century (up until then) and that the first Christmas card had been designed by J.C. Horsley in 1843. The bottom half of the page was devoted to adverts for Subbuteo Table Soccer, Stamp Collecting and ballpoint pens and a plea for readers to save money for the N.S.P.C.C. Both Subbuteo and Philidyne Cycle Dynamo Lighting Sets were also advertised in the 1950 Christmas issue. On page fourteen was John Ryan's comedy strip 'Harris Tweed, Extra Special Agent' and as Tweed's adventures were single episode stories, this one was devoted to Christmas, with Tweed being tied up by thieves at a Christmas party and wrapped up in a giant Christmas Cracker. Fortunately his young assistant manages to catch the thieves and Tweed manages to claim the credit as usual.

On page fifteen in the 'Tommy Walls' strip, sponsored by Walls Ice Cream, Tommy and his friends catch a villainous department store Santa who is hiding stolen watches in one of his Christmas present boxes, ready to sneak them out of the store later. This strip was drawn and probably also written by Richard Jennings, who had a long run illustrating 'Tommy Walls' before moving on to 'Storm Nelson' in October 1953. Jennings also wrote many of the 'Tommy Walls' stories. He would later take over the writing of 'Storm Nelson' when the original writer left the strip and he adapted Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World for EAGLE in 1962, for a strip drawn by Martin Aitchison. 

The final page of this issue was the first part of a retelling of the story of the birth of Christ, from the viewpoint of a shepherd boy. Called 'The Shepherd Lad of Bethlehem' it was drawn by the regular back page artist Norman Williams and ran to just two instalments. The first episode ends with the shepherds visiting the baby Jesus and the second features the wise men, one of whom arrives on an elephant! Camels -yes, but an elephant!?  The strip also features a winged angel choir and snow on the hills, which contrasts strongly with Morris and Frank Hampson's 1960 retelling of the story of Jesus' life, which took a more grounded approach.      

This second Christmas EAGLE certainly acknowledged the season and despite the fact that its popularity had made it a merchandising gold mine, it also managed to promote the Christian significance and message in its pages. The confusion about the starting time for the Carol Service did not affect its success and the Annual Carol Services became a highlight of the Christmas season for many readers as services were held all over the country for the next decade.   
  

EAGLE TIMES Vol.36 No.2 SUMMER 2023

The Summer issue of EAGLE Times has arrived early. It features a report on this year's EAGLE Society Gathering in York, by Reg  Hoare, an article on 'Spaceships -  from Buck Rogers 1928 to Dan Dare 1950' by David Britton and the final part of David's long running series 'Charles Chilton and the Indian Wars'. There are two pieces by Steve Winders about EAGLE's back page biographies in this issue. The first is the final part of  'The Baden Powell Story', about the founder of the Scouting Movement and the second is Part One of 'The Great Charlemagne', about the famous Frankish Emperor. The issue also includes Steve's article about the short lived 1958 - '59 strip 'Cavendish Brown' and the text of his speech 'Infinite Possibilities', given at the York Gathering. Finally, there is the  second and final part of 'the Archie Berkeley-Willoughby adventure 'The Case of the Providential Puncture'. Copies are available from Bob Corn at the address on the right.

The latest issue is reviewed on the Down The Tubes site: 

 https://downthetubes.net/latest-eagle-times-explores.../

THE FIRST CHRISTMAS EAGLE by John Culshaw

Not surprisingly, EAGLE always celebrated Christmas and particularly so in the 1950s when it was edited by the Rev. Marcus Morris. The very first Christmas EAGLE set an impressive precedent, with the front page bordered with holly and the action in Dan Dare's long running Venus saga taking a short break as the characters aboard the Ranger spaceship reflected on the fact that it was Christmas, which led into scenes back home on Earth. The strip, produced by Frank Hampson and his studio team, continued on page two where Sir Hubert Guest, Digby and Professor Peabody also reflected on Christmas back home, despite the fact that they were prisoners of the Mekon. The episode ended with Dan himself in the land of the friendly Therons, planning a rescue mission.   

Inside the issue, PC 49 continued his adventures on page three and made no mention of the season as it would have clashed with the storyline, where 'Fortynine' is on the trail of a dangerous gang who have killed a fellow officer. PC 49 originated as a weekly radio series by Alan Stranks, who also wrote the EAGLE strip, which was then drawn by Strom Gould and would later be drawn by John Worsley, who took over in August 1951 and drew the strip until it ended in March 1957. On pages four and five, the text serial Thunder Reef , about smuggling on the Brittany coast, written by Adrian Seligman continued and again, not surprisingly, there was no mention of Christmas. The 'drop in' illustrations for this story were by John Worsley. Page six was divided into a half page Football Hints strip by Billy Wright, the England captain, which focussed on proper maintenance of kit and two short features on collecting. The first provided ideas for making scrap books and the other was for stamp collectors, with neither relating to Christmas. 

The colour page seven marked the very first episode of Riders of the Range, from the popular radio serials by Charles Chilton. Although Christmas played no part in Jeff Arnold's first episode, his arrival in EAGLE was quite special. The strip would run for more than eleven years. The first episode was drawn by Jack Daniel, who would illustrate the first two adventures before Angus Scott took over for the next three until Frank Humphris became the regular artist from 1952 to the strip's end in 1962, later illustrating Blackbow the Cheyenne until EAGLE's merger with Lion in 1969. The cutaway drawing on the top half of the centre spread was of the underground railway operated by the Post Office to carry mail between Paddington and Whitechapel, with the text emphasising the Christmas mail. The cutaway was drawn by Leslie Ashwell-Wood, who was the most prolific of EAGLE's cutaway artists. On the bottom half of the centrespread was an imported French strip called Skippy the Kangaroo, which had no connection with the later Australian TV series. This Skippy, drawn in a basic cartoon style, was a continuing story and did not relate to Christmas. It was credited to Danay, Dubriscay and Genestre and described as an Andre Sarrut production, which seems like a lot of people to produce such a simple strip, but this team were then in the process of making a cartoon feature film in France based on a Hans Anderson story, with the hope of building up a cartoon film studio to rival Disney. Unfortunately problems beset the company and while the film was shown unofficially against the director Paul Grimault's wishes in 1952, disagreements between Sarrut and Grimault resulted in it not being released properly until 1980! Consequently it never had the opportunity to succeed. Possibly Skippy was to have been their next film project. 

On the next page (ten) also in colour, two half page strips told the story of the Glastonbury thorn bush which reputedly flowers on Christmas Day and the origin of the Christmas tree, which was brought by Prince Albert from Germany, but was actually originated by an English missionary St. Winfred (also known as St. Boniface). Page eleven included the Editor's letter to readers and Marcus Morris used it to wish them a happy Christmas. He apologised that the issue was unable to provide more pages than the usual sixteen, writing that paper was still very scarce and continuing: 

"..but we have done what we can to give it a Christmassy look and to include a number of features telling you about Christmas traditions and customs. Most important of all, you will find on the back page the reason why we keep Christmas at all - the story of the birth of Jesus Christ over nineteen hundred years ago in the stable at Bethlehem." 

He was referring to The Great Adventurer, the long running serial on page sixteen about the life of St. Paul, where Christmas was cleverly included in the strip as Paul told his audience at Philippi the story of Jesus' birth. This strip was still being produced by Frank Hampson's team, with Jocelyn Thomas as principal artist. They would hand over briefly to Alfred Sindall early in 1951, before Norman Williams took over as the regular back page biographies artist in February 1951. 

Meanwhile, back on page eleven still, Norman Thelwell's weekly three frame Chicko comedy strip featured Christmas and there was also a half page Competition Corner with a series of Christmas based puzzles and activities. Due to paper shortages EAGLE never wasted space and Readers' Letters also appeared on this page, although none related to Christmas. Page twelve was a one off Christmas text story Bagpipes for the Gallant, about a young Scots lad who gets the set of bagpipes he had always wanted after saving his sister's life and his family cottage by putting out a fire. It was written by E. Vincent, who was Ellen Vincent, the Assistant Editor of EAGLE. The 'drop in' pictures were by Will Nickless, who had illustrated the Worzel Gummidge books of Barbara Euphen Todd during the 1940s and would later produce illustrations for many children's books, including EAGLE and Swift Annuals. The top half of page thirteen was a Sporting Personalities strip about the showjumper Lt. Colonel Harry M. Llewellyn O.B.E. This was drawn by 'Ross' who we now know was really Ron Smith, who would go on to have a long career in comic strip illustration. His future work would include many strips for D.C. Thomson's comics and Judge Dredd in 2000 A.D. weekly thirty years later. 'Ross' had also illustrated the short strip about the origin of the Christmas tree in the same issue. The bottom half of page thirteen featured advertisements for Rolo, Subbuteo Table Soccer and Philidyne Cycle Dynamo Lighting Sets. 

On page fourteen, John Ryan's Harris Tweed Extra Special Agent 'solves' (if that's the right word!) The Case of the Two Father Christmases in a complete whole page adventure and on page fifteen Tommy Walls, a full page strip sponsored by Walls Ice Cream also had a one off Christmas adventure about turkey thieves, illustrated by Richard Jennings and despite the cold weather, Tommy continued to encourage readers to eat ice cream. Although this was essentially an advertising strip, Tommy Walls was extremely popular with readers, especially after it changed from one off stories to continuing ones in May 1952. Tommy was actually granted a four page colour strip in the second EAGLE Annual, produced for Christmas 1952 - the only occasion that he didn't eat or refer to Walls Ice Cream. First drawn by Frank Hampson in Issue One, the strip was later drawn by Eric Parker (of Sexton Blake fame), John Worsley, Walter Pannett, Harold Johns and Richard Jennings. Jennings also wrote many scripts for Tommy Walls and he would continue working for EAGLE after Tommy Walls ended, drawing and eventually writing the Storm Nelson-Sea Adventurer strip. Later he would be well known for his Dalek strips in TV Century 21 and Dalek books. 

In subsequent years the issues leading up to Christmas would feature a lot of adverts for EAGLE related merchandise, but despite its overnight success, EAGLE's publisher, Hulton Press and other companies were not yet ready to cash in, although Hulton did release an EAGLE Diary for 1951 and The EAGLE Book of Adventure Stories, but there was no EAGLE Annual until the following year. This might suggest that Hulton and Britain's toy companies were slow off the mark,  but there were still shortages of many commodities as a result of the War and some rationing was still in progress. EAGLE's success had exceeded all expectations and annuals were significant publications in the 1950s and 60s, so additional staff had to be appointed to build on the initial success. In fact Dan Dare would be Britain's first heavily merchandised fictional character, with toys, clothes, filmstrip projectors, books, tooth powder, brushes, watches, cups, card games, Easter eggs and transfers being produced.    

Although EAGLE's huge popularity ensured that commercialism seemed to dominate the publication, in later years, the religious significance of Christmas was always promoted in the Christmas issues throughout the editorships of Marcus Morris and his successor, Clifford Makins. Perhaps ironically, it was only in the 1960s when the declining popularity of Dan Dare and EAGLE meant that they were no were no longer being heavily merchandised, that the religious aspect was overlooked. 

I am grateful to Lew Stringer for allowing me to use his scans of the front page of the Christmas EAGLE and the Chicko strip and to Richard Sheaf and Steve Winders for providing and clarifying some information.

JOAN PORTER (1926 - 2022) A tribute to the late EAGLE artist by Steve Winders

Joan Porter (nee Humphries), the last surviving member of Frank Hampson's original team who worked on the creation of Dan Dare and several other strips for the EAGLE has died aged 96. Joan was employed as a colourist, photographer, researcher, secretary and costume maker. She was there at the beginning, from late 1949, when Frank and his team worked in the old Bakehouse in Churchtown, Southport and there at the end of his time on EAGLE, remaining with him in 1959 when he gave up the Dan Dare strip to assist him on his final strip for the paper, The Road of Courage, which ran in EAGLE until Easter 1961. An unassuming versatile lady with a fine sense of humour, I met her only once and then briefly, at the opening of the 1990 Dan Dare Exhibition in the Atkinson Arts Centre in Southport. However I did converse with her by e-mail when I was researching an article for EAGLE Times on Frank's back page strip The Great Adventurer and she was most helpful and enthusiastic, kindly providing me with many details of its production. In his quest for perfection, Frank used members of his team to pose in costume for photographs of scenes that could then be drawn more accurately and on The Great Adventurer, Joan made costumes, coloured pages, assisted with research and filed information garnered by the research. Her role in the production of the Dan Dare strip was the same. In the interests of accuracy and consistency, significant research was carried out and references for all aspects of the strip were kept and Joan organised and catalogued this. She also became the principal photographer. Her organisation was a key factor in the high quality and success of the strip. 

She will be greatly missed. Her passing marks the end of an era in the Dan Dare story.

THE 1980S EAGLE IS 40

Today is the fortieth anniversary of the 1980s EAGLE, which was launched on March 20th 1982. Featuring the adventures of Dan Dare's great great grandson in strips illustrated by Gerry Embleton, Oliver Frey, Ian Kennedy, Carlos Cruz, John Gillatt and Manuel Carmona, it also included several photo strips in its first year, notably Doomlord, about an alien sent to judge humanity's right to exist. Unfortunately he judges us unfit, but is killed in an act of self sacrifice by the hero. A later Doomlord judges humanity favourably and becomes mankind's protector. Other strips included Sergeant Streetwise,about an undercover police officer and Manix, about an android working for British Intelligence. In a mostly successful effort to capture the spirit of the original EAGLE, it ran several features, such as a sports page and cutaway drawings of planes, tanks and other vehicles. From issue 79 the photo strips were wholly replaced by illustrated ones, with Doomlord, illustrated by Heinzl and then Eric Bradbury, continuing to be popular with readers. A later popular strip was Computer Warrior, in which a young boy was absorbed into his computer and forced to play computer games for real. Over the years EAGLE featured a wide range of strips. It ran school based stories, war stories, supernatural stories, sports based stories, superhero stories and even a western 

EAGLE ran until 1994, absorbing several other comics during its life. It absorbed Scream in 1984, Tiger in 1985, Battle in 1988, Mask in 1988 and Wildcat in 1989. 

(The picture above shows artists' agent Tony Kelleher as Dan Dare and the wrestler 'Big Daddy' with Pip Warwick's ceramic sculpture of the Mekon at the press launch of the 1980s EAGLE at the Waldorf Hotel on March 17th 1982)

In 1989 Dan Dare's great great grandson's adventures were replaced with new stories of the original Dan. Keith Watson, who had illustrated the strip in the original EAGLE, drew two stories and part of a third, which was completed by Andrew Skilleter. Keith Page, John Ridgway and John M. Burns also illustrated new Dan Dare strips before David Pugh took over as artist, with some stories drawn by Jon Haward.

By the late 1980s, the heyday of British comics was well and truly over, as young readers embraced computer games. The number of other comics that were merged into EAGLE reflects this decline. In May 1991 EAGLE changed from weekly to monthly and apart from new adventures of Dan Dare and Computer Warrior, was mainly filled with repeats of popular strips. These included Charley's War, the celebrated First World War strip which had come from Battle weekly when it merged with EAGLE. Finally in January 1994, EAGLE's last issue appeared and the decline in sales of comics is made clear by the fact that there was no similar publication for it to merge into. Apart from 2000 A.D. which by then was aimed at a much older audience, EAGLE was the last survivor.

Writers who worked on the 1980s version included Pat Mills, John Wagner, Tom Tully, Alan Grant, Alan Hebden, Fred Baker, Scott Goodall, Gerry Finley-Day and Barrie Tomlinson. Contributing artists not mentioned earlier included Rex Archer, Mike Western, Robin Smith, Sandy James, John Cooper, Carlos Ezquerra, Jose Ortiz, Luis Bermejo, Mike Dorey and Mike White. The 1980s EAGLE is fondly remembered today by its readership and celebrated by several Facebook groups and a regular podcast called Where EAGLES Dare, run by Dave Ronayne and Pete Adamson. There was also an excellent fanzine, EAGLE Flies Again produced by Ian Wheeler in the early years of this century.

IN AND OUT OF THE EAGLE 25

Congratulations to 2000 A.D. weekly which celebrates its impressive 45th anniversary this February. It was the comic which brought back Dan Dare after a seven year break following the end of his repeated adventures in Lion. However it was a rather different Dan than the one that EAGLE readers remembered. Having been seriously injured in an encounter with the Mekon, Dan was placed in suspended animation until his wounds could be healed and returned with a new face to the much changed world of 2177. Initially featuring artwork by Massimo Belardinelli, who drew two eleven part serials about Dan's battle with the Biogs on Jupiter and an encounter with the Mekon on a planet close to a Black Hole, the strip was taken over by Dave Gibbons who drew most of the long Space Fort saga about Dan's expedition to the 'Lost Worlds' and the whole Crystal of Life story, where he again faced the Mekon. Unfortunately 2000 A.D.'s merger with Tornado which necessitated the dropping of some strips to allow some Tornado characters to be included curtailed Dan's adventures with him being chased by Earth's security forces after being framed by the Mekon. Although there were plans to complete his story with a plot that would have involved him travelling back in time to prevent the incident in which he received the serious injuries, thereby allowing him to resume adventures in his original form, it never happened and his next appearance was in a revived EAGLE in 1982, when the stories focused on his great great grandson. 

Although Dan Dare was the lead strip at the launch of 2000 A.D., M.A.C.H. 1 a strip inspired by the then popular TV series The Six Million Dollar Man was initially the most popular strip, but it was soon overtaken by Judge Dredd, about a future lawman in a giant city which is still hugely popular and has spawned two feature films. Over the years 2000 A.D. has featured many other successful strips, including Strontium Dog, ABC Warriors, Rogue Trooper, Slaine and Nikolai Dante. 

There were many links between the 1980s EAGLE and 2000 A.D. Pat Mills, who created 2000 A.D. wrote the first long Dan Dare story for the 1980s EAGLE and John Wagner, who created Judge Dredd contributed to this story. Alan Grant, Gerry Finley-Day, Alan Hebden and Tom Tully also wrote for both publications. Several artists, including Carlos Ezquerra, Mike Dorey, John M. Burns, John Ridgway and David Pugh, also contributed to both, with Tom Tully and John M. Burns having worked on the original EAGLE as well, where Tom Tully wrote Heros the Spartan and John Burns illustrated Wrath of the Gods. 

2000 A.D. produced two Dan Dare Annuals (for 1979 and 1980) based on their version of the character, with the first chronicling the story of how the original Dan received his injuries and became the 2000 A.D. version in a strip drawn by Trevor Goring. These annuals also included repeats of U.F.O. Agent strips from the 1960s EAGLE, while the 1979 and 1980 2000 A.D. Annuals included repeats of Guinea Pig strips from EAGLE. Three strips from 2000 A.D., M.A.C.H. 1, M.A.C.H. Zero and Ant Wars, were later reprinted in the 1980s EAGLE.

      

IAN KENNEDY (1932 - 2022)

The popular Dan Dare artist Ian Kennedy has sadly died aged 89. Ian illustrated the strip for the 1980s EAGLE, taking over from Gerry Embleton in 1982 and quickly establishing himself as one of the greatest Dan Dare artists. He drew the adventures of the original Dan's great great grandson, but his work successfully captured the spirit of Frank Hampson's original. He also drew a strip for the 1979 Dan Dare  Annual featuring the 2000 A.D. version of Dan. He drew the original Dan on two occasions. First in several episodes of the 1986 EAGLE serial Nightmare on Dreamland, where the original Dan meets his great great grandson and then in a 1990 EAGLE Dan Dare Summer Special strip. Above are his interpretations of all three versions of the character. Highly regarded by fans of the 1950s EAGLE as well as the 1980s version, he was Guest of Honour at a memorable EAGLE Society's Gathering in his native Dundee in 2019, when he spoke with great enthusiasm about his work and visited all the tables at the Annual Dinner to talk with every group of attendees. At this meeting we discovered that he had actually made a contribution to the original EAGLE, producing 'drop in' illustrations for an article about the gunfighters of the Old West called Quick on the Draw, for EAGLE ANNUAL No. 5. using the name 'Charles I. Kennedy'.

Over more than seventy years Ian produced a huge body of work for D.C. Thomson's comics and magazines, who are based in his native Dundee. He became a freelance artist in 1954, continuing to produce art for Thomson's as well as Amalgamated Press (later Fleetway and I.P.C.) and other publishers. He drew strips for Thomson's Hotspur, Rover, Victor, Wizard, Judy, Bunty and Diana weekly titles among others and also their Commando, Red Dagger and Starblazer complete story comics. He produced the cover art for more than 1200 issues of Commando. For Amalgamated Press he illustrated several of their Picture Library titles, including Air Ace, War and Thriller. He also worked on Knockout, Buster and Lion. In the 1970s he produced strips for I.P.C.s Battle, Starlord and 2000 A.D. In the 1980s he drew the Blake's Seven strip for Marvel's magazine of the same name, before taking over Dan Dare. Later he worked on MASK and Wildcat comics, which merged with EAGLE. 

Ian's great love was aircraft and he was able to indulge his enthusiasm for illustrating them in his many contributions to comics. He was able to develop his expertise in drawing aircraft further in his science    fiction strips, including Dan Dare, where he designed convincing spacecraft and created exciting action scenes. He will be greatly missed.                                                                                      

GRETA TOMLINSON (1927 - 2021) a tribute to the former EAGLE artist by Steve Winders

 

Greta Edwards (nee Tomlinson) was born in Burnley Lancashire. She studied at Burnley Art School and the Slade School of Fine Art in Oxford and London, graduating in 1949. Seeking work, she applied for a job advertised in the Advertisers Journal which proved to be working for Frank Hampson’s studio on EAGLE which was then still in development. She recalled the studio in a newspaper interview:

“It was very basic, a flagstone floor and a tin roof; there was cold running water in the corner. It was freezing cold in the Winter and boiling hot in the Summer…..I went for an interview and saw the bakehouse, saw Frank’s work on the board and just thought it was fantastic! Just wonderful! And I felt, I’ve just got to have this job.”

She was taken on and originally paid £4 10s .a week. Initially based in an old lean-to bakehouse in Churchtown, Southport, Hampson’s small team produced Dan Dare, Rob Conway, Tommy Walls and The Great Adventurer (about the life of St. Paul) for the early issues of the forthcoming weekly. As a figure artist, Greta originally drew figures which Frank Hampson would then use to develop the characters, but as this was a long process, photo reference began to be used and in addition to her other work on the strips, Greta became the model for the principal female character, Professor Peabody. As Dan Dare became a success the other strips were dropped or taken over by other artists and the team concentrated on Dan Dare. Greta worked closely with Harold Johns, Hampson’s chief assistant and in 1952, when Hampson became ill, she and Johns produced the art for the Dan Dare adventure Marooned on Mercury. They also produced the art for several Dan Dare strips in EAGLE Annuals, notably The Double Headed Eagle which appeared in the third annual, published in 1953.

Unfortunately, in 1953, Greta and Harold Johns were sacked from Hampson’s team after taking on other work, despite having been given permission to do so by EAGLE’s editor Marcus Morris. Nevertheless, Greta had the fondest memories of Frank and her work on Dan Dare. She moved on to work as a fashion artist and later worked for an advertising agency in London, producing storyboards for television commercials for products including Lucozade and Collier’s suits, before her marriage to Richard Edwards, who worked for BP. She moved to Iraq with him, where she continued to draw and paint. Their only child, Francesca was born in Baghdad. The family later spent time in Iran and Kuwait, where she also painted and exhibited her work. They returned to Britain in 1969 and settled in Haslemere, Surrey. After painting in oils for many years, she changed to water colours, later experimenting with adding inks and pastel to the water colours, before moving on to acrylics and collage, while using oils for smaller paintings and portraits. The Atkinson Arts Centre in Southport has several of her works in its collection. There are also private collections of her work in Australia, America, Italy, Kuwait and Mallorca.  

I met Greta on several occasions as she attended many events relating to Dan Dare and EAGLE. I first met her briefly when she was a guest at Eaglecon '80 in London - the first event organised by fans to celebrate EAGLE. A decade later in 1990, she attended the official opening of the Dan Dare Exhibition which was held at the Atkinson Arts Centre in Southport, when I was able to chat to her at some length and found her approachable and eager to talk about the early days of Dan Dare. Also in 1990, she unveiled a commemorative plaque on the wall of the Old Bakehouse in Churchtown, where it all began. I met her again at Southport in 2000, when she attended the unveiling of a Dan Dare bust at the entrance to the Cambridge Arcade on Lord Street and also the EAGLE Society Gathering which was held that weekend. Once again she was most happy to talk to fans. Finally, I met her again two years later at a special event held at Bristol's City Museum and Art Gallery's Dan Dare Exhibition, which she attended with another Dan Dare artist, Don Harley and we spoke at some length about her work on Dan Dare and her own artistic techniques. That year, along with Don and another Dan Dare artist, Keith Watson, she showed EAGLE Society members around Bayford Lodge in Epsom, where the Dan Dare team were based after leaving Churchtown. 

Greta was also happy to answer questions and contribute memories of working in Frank Hampson’s studio to articles for EAGLE Times, television programmes and to several books, including Tomorrow Revisited by Alastair Crompton, Living With Eagles by Sally Morris and Jan Hallwood and Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future – A Biography by Daniel Tatarsky. Her fondness for her time on the early EAGLE is apparent from her appearance in a 1990 television programme Future Perfect when she was shown revisiting the Old Bakehouse. After recalling happy memories of her time working there with Frank and the rest of the team, she was suddenly overcome with emotion at the experience and asked the director to cut.  

She will be greatly missed by her family, friends and her many fans.  

EAGLE TIMES Vol. 34 No. 1

 The new EAGLE TIMES is out now and now is a good time to subscribe for all four 2021 issues. A subscription is just £30 for U.K. addresses and cheques should be sent to: Bob Corn, Wellcroft Cottage, Wellcroft, Ivinghoe, Bucks LU7 9EF.

This 48 page Spring issue features articles about the Dan Dare adventure The Phantom Fleet, the Riders of the Range adventure The War With Geromino, the 1960s TV show Ready Steady Go, Ashwell Wood's Cutaway drawing of the 1953 National Radio Show, the new 'humorous' Ladybird books, the 1961 strip The Golden Man about Sir Walter Raleigh and the first part of a new two part Archie Willoughby story The Case of the Plastic Cowboys.   

DON HARLEY (1927 - 2021)

Sadly, Don Harley who was one of the great Dan Dare artists on the original EAGLE has died. Born in London, he attended Epsom College of Art and after hearing a talk by Frank Hampson about Dan Dare and EAGLE in 1951, he applied to join his team. He became Hampson's principal assistant and remained with his studio until 1959, when it was disbanded. Then he assisted Frank Bellamy on the strip for a year, before taking it over himself with another former studio member, Bruce Cornwell. They produced the artwork for the strip until March 1962 and subsequently Don illustrated several Dan Dare strips for EAGLE Annuals. He also drew a 29 part Dan Dare strip for the Sunday People newspaper in 1964, called Mission to the Stars. Like many former EAGLE artists, he worked on TV Century 21 and other comics relating to Gerry Anderson's television series. He drew Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, Lady Penelope and a non-television strip The Investigator for TV21, Mark of the Mysterons for Solo comic and the subsequent Mysterons strip for the combined TV Tornado and Solo. In 1971 he drew Thunderbirds for Countdown comic. His later work included Sam for the young children's comic Twinkle and illustrations for information books from various publishers over many years. In 1979 he redrew many opening frames from the Dan Dare adventure  The Man From Nowhere for Dragon's Dream's album reprint of the story. When the 1980s EAGLE brought back the original Dan Dare, Don illustrated a colour strip for the 1991 Dan Dare Annual. He also drew much of Rod Barzilay's Dan Dare story The Phoenix Mission for Spaceship Away magazine, beginning in 2003. He attended several fan events in later life, sharing stories of his time in Frank Hampson's studio and drawing sketches for fans. I was fortunate to meet him on several occasions, including the EAGLE Society Gathering in Southport in 1988, which was the first time he visited EAGLE's birthplace. A most talented artist, he was a modest and unassuming man who will be greatly missed.

A full account of his professional work can be found in the tribute to Don on the Down the Tubes website. 

In Memoriam: Dan Dare and Thunderbirds comic artist Donald “Don” Harley – downthetubes.net

  

Steve Winders 

Don (right) with Rod Barzilay at a Dan Dare Exhibition in Bristol 

COMIC SCENE MAGAZINE PRODUCES A DAN DARE ANNIVERSARY EDITION

ComicScene Magazine has produced a special edition to celebrate Dan and Eagle's seventieth anniversary. Full details can be found here in their press release: 

On 14th April 1950, following the end of World War Two and with the UK still in the grip of rationing, a splash of colour came into everyone's lives with the launch of Eagle comic and the character Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future. 900,000 people bought the first issue. Now in the grip of another national crisis, we can enjoy the exploits of Dan Dare once again. Exactly 70 years later on 14th April 2020 ComicScene Magazine will launch worldwide in print and digital a special anniversary issue with articles on Eagle and three picture strips in the original style of 50's Dan Dare in a special 'Spaceship Away' supplement.

Editor of ComicScene Tony Foster said "We wanted to celebrate 70 years of UK comic history with a milestone edition of ComicScene. It could be argued without Eagle and Dan Dare and the work of editor Marcus Morris and creator Frank Hampson, we wouldn't have seen Doctor Who, Star Wars and comics like 2000AD, Judge Dredd and even US comic classics like Watchmen and the original format of Dark Knight. Eagle influenced a generation of comic books and stories like never before. This Collectors Item of ComicScene tries to capture that, as well as exploring what comic creators are up to today." 

The magazine will be available as a 110 digital issue and 80 page print issue by post on 14th April, distributed exactly 70 years after the launch of the original Eagle.  It can be ordered at 

www.getmycomics.com/comicscene  

Tony explained, "The magazine is sold in newsagents across the UK, Ireland, USA, Canada and Australia.  Unfortunately the Virus from Venus means this issue will come to newsstands a little later this year but Dan Dare won't be beaten and the wonders of digital and mail order will win the day!"

The magazine features articles on the 1950's Dan Dare, Dan Dare in 2000AD, Dare by Grant Morrison and Rian Hughes, the 1980's relaunched Eagle, the Dan Dare audio adventures, a free pull out Eagle and Dan Dare supplement and new Euro and Indie comics. There are also picture strips including Judge Dredd co- creator John Wagner on Rok of the Reds, Gentleman Jack meets Dick Turpin style adventures in Flintlock, golden age comic Captain Cosmic and the crazy Whackoman! 

The magazine can be ordered now in print and digital from £5.99 at www.getmycomics.com/comicscene with enhanced school and library packs with extra comics at https://comicscene.org/comicscene-online-store/

EAGLE TIMES Vol. 32 No. 2 SUMMER 2019

The latest EAGLE TIMES is now available. Running to 48 pages, it features a wide range of articles:
*Charles Chilton and the Indian Wars (part five) by David Britton. 
*The Dan Dare studios Ideas Book
*Pogo Possum: The Early Years. Eric Fernie examines the American newspaper strip.
*The Travels of Marco Polo (part two) by Steve Winders
*The Case of the Counterfeit Constable (part two). Continuing Steve Winders' latest Archie Willoughby adventure.
*Come Fly With Me: Steve Winders' talk to the EAGLE Society Gathering at Dundee in April.
*In and Out of the EAGLE by Jim Duckett. Looking at EAGLE reprints in books.
*Chris Abbott Remembered: Memories of a much missed former member of our editorial team who died in March.
*Report on the EAGLE Society Gathering by Reg Hoare.

BOURNE HALL EXHIBITION

A free exhibition to celebrate the centenary of Frank Hampson's birth is being held at the Bourne Hall Museum in Spring Street, Ewell in Surrey. Running from December 4th 2018 until March 12th 2019,  the opening times are: 
Monday 9am - 10:30pm

Tuesday 9am - 11:30pm
Wednesday 9am - 10:30pm
Thursday 9am - 10:30pm
Friday & Saturday 9am - 5pm
Sunday Closed

Contact name: 

David Brooks

Telephone: 

+44 20 8394 1734

Contact email: 

dbrooks@epsom-ewell.gov.uk

Bourne Hall
Tel: 020 8393 9571
Email: BourneHallMailbox@epsom-ewell.gov.uk
Website: www.bournehall.org

PRESS RELEASE
The 100th anniversary of the birth of Frank Hampson is to be marked by an exhibition at Bourne Hall Museum. Frank Hampson came to Epsom in the early 1950s and was soon established in Bayford Lodge, which served as his home and his studio.  There, for a decade, he created the cartoon strips that held the nation's schoolboys (and others!) enthralled, as they waited eagerly each week for the latest edition of Eagle to learn whether Dan Dare, the intrepid space explorer, had survived his most recent mission. An exhibition about the life of the gifted illustrator will be put on display at Bourne Hall Museum from 4th December until 12 March 2019.The display will include original artwork which has been loaned by Peter Hampson, Frank’s son, including a front page of the Eagle – drawings of Treens, Therons and other alien characters from the comic – and covers drawn by Frank for the popular Ladybird books. Also on display will be the annuals which were such eagerly awaited Christmas presents, and comics which will bring back memories of trips to the newsagents to get a new copy, running back home to read the latest adventure. 

Museum curator, Jeremy Harte, says "There will be many people locally who remember, for example, the staged fights with ray guns outside Bayford Lodge, as Frank Hampson gathered material for the next instalment to go up on his drawing board."