IN AND OUT OF THE EAGLE 7

WITH JIM DUCKETT

You don’t tend to bump into people called Horatio every day, but no less than three Horatios featured in their own strips in Eagle. First was John Ryan’s Captain Horatio Pugwash, who appeared from the first issue until the nineteenth in 1950. The next was the real life Horatio Nelson, who was featured in the back page serial The Great Sailor in 1956-57 and finally there was C.S. Forester’s fictional naval hero, Horatio Hornblower, whose adventures were adapted for Eagle in 1962-63. Of course all these Horatios are linked by the sea and all captained ships at some time in their lives. Nelson was one of Britain’s greatest heroes of the Napoleonic wars and Eagle included no less than three fictional strips set during this period. Only the wild west and contemporary times were featured more. First was Jack O’Lantern, about a young boy in the later years of the conflict, which ran in Eagle from 1955-60. Then came the already mentioned Hornblower stories and finally in 1964, Johnny Frog, about another young boy, this time set around the time of the Battle of Trafalgar. Both Jack O’Lantern and Johnny Frog were written by George Beardmore. 

Pugwash, created by John Ryan appeared in semi-animated cartoons made by Ryan himself for the BBC and became a television and literary success. He is soon to appear in a live action feature film starring Nick Frost as the popular pirate.  

Staying with the sea, Eagle forged strong links with the aircraft carrier H.M.S. Eagle, including featuring her as a cutaway drawing. H.M.S. Eagle was launched in 1946 and was the fifteenth Royal Navy ship to bear the name. Commissioned in 1951 she saw war service during the Suez Crisis of 1956. After service all over the world, she had an extensive refit in 1959 and another in 1966, finally being withdrawn from service in 1972. She was subsequently moored in the River Tamar, where she was held in reserve until 1976, although she was stripped for essential parts needed by H.M.S. Ark Royal. She was finally scrapped in 1978. I was lucky enough to see the ship’s brass name plate on a visit to the Royal Naval Dockyard Museum at Devonport a few years ago and one of her anchors can be seen at the entrance to the Fleet Air Arm Museum at Yeovilton.

Eagle Artists - Martin Aitchison

Martin Aitchison (1919 - ) was born in Birmingham. After early education at Ellesmere College in Shropshire, he attended Birmingham School of Art and the Slade School of Art. During World War II he enrolled with Vickers Aircraft at Weybridge, Surrey, as a technical illustrator and afterwards he became a free-lance commercial artist. His first published work was for Hulton Press' Lilliput. This was followed by work for Girl, when he was called upon to fill in for artist Ray Bailey on two pages of 'Kitty Hawk', and to draw 'Flick - and the Vanishing New Girl' for Girl Annual No 1. He became one of Eagle's major non-'Dan Dare' artists. For nine years (1952 - 1961) he produced weekly strip artwork for 'Luck of the Legion', which was scripted by Geoffrey Bond. He also drew for Swift and Swift Annual. When 'Luck' was dropped, Martin drew a further three strips for Eagle, plus one for Eagle Annual, before leaving in 1963 to work for Ladybird Books, becoming one of their principal artists and producing artwork for around 70 titles, until 1990. He is now retired although, from 1998, teamed again with writer Geoffrey Bond, he drew 'Justin Tyme - Ye Hapless Highwayman', which ran for over 5 years in Eagle Times.

The picture shows Martin as an honoured guest of the Eagle Society at Sparsholt, in 1996.

Eagle strips:

• Luck of the Legion (Vol 3 No 5 – Vol 12 No 37)
• Danger Unlimited (Vol 12 No 33 – Vol 13 No 9)
• The Lost World (Vol 13 No 10 – Vol 13 No 29)
  
• Hornblower R. N. (Vol 13 No 28 – Vol 14 No 9)
  

Eagle Annual strips:

• Luck of the Legion Eagle Annual No 3 – No 10 [1961]
  
• Warrrior with Tin Legs Eagle Annual No 11 [1962]

Eagle Times strip:

• Justin Tyme - Ye Hapless Highwayman Eagle Times Vol 11 No 4 (Winter 1998) - Vol 17 No 1 (Spring 2004)

Links:

• Martin Aitchison’s own site
• Wikipedia's biography of Martin Aitchison
• Martin Aitchison Artwork on Nicholas Hill's site
• Martin Aitchison information on Nicholas Hill's other site
  
• Lambiek's artist information on Martin Aitchison

ET Refs:

• Aitchison, Martin. My Story – part 1. Eagle Times Vol 16 No 2 p p 4 – 9.
• Aitchison, Martin. My Story – part 2. Eagle Times Vol 16 No 3 pp 14 – 18.
• Rudling, Bill. Martin Aitchison in conversation. Eagle Times Vol 4 No 3 pp 9 - 12
• Rudling, Bill. Martin Aitchison in conversation. Eagle Times Vol 6 No 4 pp 4 - 5.