IN AND OUT OF THE EAGLE 42

Seventy years ago, in 1953, EAGLE celebrated the last Coronation in style. For five issues the centre pages were entirely devoted to Coronation matters, including the Coronation route and how the B.B.C. would film the event. There were also several features about the Kings and Queens of Britain, the Royal Family and the Coronation itself. There was a Coronation Competition with prizes and EAGLE's editor, Marcus Morris even released a record in which he explained the significance, the events and the traditions of the Coronation for readers. In 1953, two of EAGLE's most popular strips 'PC 49' and 'Riders of the Range' were also successful B.B.C. radio series and two days after the Coronation, both were featured in a special Gala Night on the 'Light Programme' as the above extract from the Radio Times shows. Brian Reece, who played P.C. 49 introduced the programmes in character, along with Noel Johnson (also in character), as Dick Barton, the special agent he had played for three years in the popular daily serial. 'Riders of the Range' was one of the shows featured in the Gala. This was a short special edition of the western, but it featured all the major characters, including Paul Carpenter, who played Jeff Arnold, Charles Irwin as Luke and Macdonald Parke as the rancher J.C. Macdonald. The episode also featured Guy Kingsley Pointer, who would go on to play Doc in Charles Chilton's next radio series 'Journey Into Space' and Alan Keith, who played several parts in 'Riders of the Range' and would later create the long running 'Your Hundred Best Tunes' for B.B.C. radio, which he would present from 1959 until 2003, when he was ninety four. Sadly, the final series of 'The Adventures of PC 49' ended on radio shortly before this Coronation Special, so this was Reece's last appearance in the role. 'Riders of the Range' also ended its radio run later in 1953, but continued in EAGLE until 1962. 'PC 49' would continue in EAGLE until 1957. Dick Barton's radio adventures had concluded in 1951 and Noel Johnson had left the role in 1949, but as this was a Gala Night with the focus on popular programmes from the previous seven years, the character's inclusion made sense. 'Dick Barton: Special Agent' was still hugely popular when it ended and there were major protests at its cancellation. Some people are still feeling bitter about it now!  

EAGLE TIMES VOL. 36 NO. 1 SPRING 2023

The first EAGLE Times of 2023 is out now. Issues can be ordered from Bob Corn at the address on the right and a four issue subscription is just £30. The lead article by Eric Summers was inspired by a readers' book review featured in EAGLE in 1952. Readers had been invited to review their favourite books and eight were chosen for publication. Eric read all these books and reviewed them himself for EAGLE Times. This edition continues with a tribute to the late Joan Porter, who was the last surviving member of Frank Hampson's team, written by Darren Evans. Steve Winders reviews the fourth Luck of the Legion novel, Sergeant Luck's Secret Mission and David Britton continues his long running feature on The Indian Wars as they were covered in Riders of the Range. Two of David's short Tail Pieces are also included in this issue, focussing on Captain Future, an American space hero of the 1940s and the 'Last Three of Venus', the mysterious 'Mekonlike' beings who appeared in Dan Dare. The Spring issue also features the first part of Steve Winders' latest Archie Willoughby adventure The Case of the Providential Puncture and a new front cover illustration by Carol Tarrant of Archie in his original incarnation as PC 49 alongside his latest role as a Detective Sergeant references the story. An In and Out of the EAGLE by myself, covers the several 'Mekons' in popular music. Steve Winders then continues his examination of the back page biographical strips with the first of a two part look at Baden Powell. Peter Barr then looks at the life of Freddie Mills, the boxer, who featured regularly in the early EAGLE. A short piece by David Britton looks at an image from The Man From Nowhere and provides a new version of it by Berislav Krzic, with the EAGLE masthead and the speech bubbles removed. Finally the issue ends with a Letters page. 

IN AND OUT OF THE EAGLE 41

Surprisingly EAGLE has a connection to the Eurovision Song Contest through the PC 49 and Dan Dare writer, Alan Stranks, who was also an accomplished writer of song lyrics. He wrote the lyrics for Britain's first ever entry in the competition, in 1957. The song All was sung by Patricia Bredin and it finished seventh of the ten entries. The competition was held in Frankfurt. Among Alan's other songs are the lyrics to Cuckoo Waltz, Love Steals Your Heart and No Orchids for My Lady, which was recorded by Frank Sinatra. Alan's work on Dan Dare began with Prisoners of Space in 1954 and continued until his untimely death in 1959. He also wrote the strips Mark Question and Marvell of M.I.5. He is the father of Susan Stranks, who presented the popular children's TV series Magpie from its launch in 1968 until 1974.  

IN AND OUT OF THE EAGLE 40

In 2002 the B.B.C. held a poll among viewers to find the One Hundred Greatest Britons. While polls give different results every time they are taken, it is interesting to note how the 2002 poll compared with the great Britons who featured on the back page of EAGLE in the 1950s. Top of the poll was Winston Churchill, who appeared on the back page in The Happy Warrior in 1957 - 58. Also in the top ten was Horatio Nelson at number nine, whose story was told in The Great Sailor in 1956 - 57. At number thirteen was Baden Powell, the founder of the Scouting Movement, who appeared on the back page in 1954 and at number fourteen was King Alfred the Great, featured in 1953 - 54. We then have to wait until number eighty eight and Bernard Law Montgomery, the Second World War General whose story was actually featured on EAGLE's centre pages in 1962 and was the last of EAGLE's serialised biographies. At number ninety three was the Elizabethan hero Walter Raleigh, featured in The Golden Man on the back page in 1961 and finally at number ninety eight was David Livingstone, the Victorian missionary and explorer, who featured on EAGLE's back page in 1957. Many of the back page heroes weren't British, so obviously didn't qualify for the poll, but there were two back page Britons who didn't make the hundred. These were St. Patrick, featured in EAGLE in 1951, who some people don't realise was British and Wilfred Grenfell, the Labrador doctor and missionary, featured in 1952 - 53, who is less well remembered in Britain today than he was in the 1950s. 

The B.B.C. top ten also included Isambard Kingdom Brunel (2), Diana, Princess of Wales (3), Charles Darwin (4), William Shakespeare (5), Isaac Newton (6), Queen Elizabeth I (7), John Lennon (8) and Oliver Cromwell (10). Princess Diana wasn't born when most of the back pagers appeared in EAGLE and John Lennon was not quite ten years old when EAGLE was launched. 

IN AND OUT OF THE EAGLE 39

.

Thanks to the ‘Eagle-eyed’ David Gould for this item. In Volume 4 no.28 (October 16^th 1953), a poem promoting the joys of Eagle, beginning with the phrase ‘Grand was the day when Eagle came…’ appeared in the Eagle Extra section. Written by a staff member, this poem reappeared in April 1958, sent in by a dishonest reader, who made a few minor updates, replacing Tommy Walls with Storm Nelson and PC 49 with Mark Question. The plagiarist failed to notice that the first letter of each line should read, downwards, ‘GOOD OLD EAGLE’. His change to the final line made it read ‘GOOD OLD EAGLH’! Remarkably this wasn’t the last time that the poem appeared. Another reader sent in his own modified version in December 1967! This time the reader replaced Harris Tweed with The Iron Man, Storm Nelson with Mike Lane and Mark Question with Grant C.I.D. This reader realised that the letters down should read ‘GOOD OLD EAGLE’, for he pointed it out at the end of the letter, leading me to suspect that he adapted it from the 1953 original and not the 1958 copy. The two chancers in Eagle won prizes of five and ten shillings, but their sins have found them out in the end. Above is the original version from 1953.

David, who worked as a letterer on Eagle in the 1960s, reports that the weekly itself was not averse to a little dishonesty in its later years, telling me that several jokes were published with staff members’ or fictitious names. Shades of Blue Peter’s notorious invention of a competition winner here! 

IN AND OUT OF THE EAGLE 38

There was another comic character called Dan Dare, created almost a decade before our own. This 'Dan' was an American 'private eye' who made his debut in a publication called Whiz Comics, produced by Fawcett in February 1940. Created by Bill Parker, Dan's adventures were produced by several artists and writers and appeared in thirteen issues of the monthly comic, although the strip was always a back up story. Detective Dan's first appearance was overshadowed by the first appearance of Captain Marvel, a popular superhero whose greatest battles were in court because D.C. Comics sued Fawcett for breach of copyright, claiming that the Captain was too similar to their own Superman. Fawcett resisted and once established, Captain Marvel's adventures began to outsell Superman's. The ongoing case was finally settled out of court in 1953, when Fawcett also ceased publication of their superhero titles as a result of falling sales. 

The name Captain Marvel was later used by Marvel Comics for a character of their own, who first appeared in 1967, but in 1972 D.C. revived Fawcett's original character! However they were forced to use the name Shazam! for their comic because Marvel had established their rights to the name, suggesting that our Dan Dare is safe from a legal challenge. Often referred to as 'Shazam', which is actually the name of the wizard who gave him his powers, the D.C. owned superhero starred in the film Shazam! in 2019 and a sequel Shazam! Fury of the Gods in 2023. A Captain Marvel film featuring Marvel's version, now a female superhero also appeared in 2019. Confused? I am! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JOHN M.BURNS

Congratulations to John M. Burns on his eighty fifth birthday. John is one of a small group of artists who contributed to both the original EAGLE and the 1980s version. Over a sixty year career he has produced a massive amount of impressive comic strip work. For EAGLE in the 1960s he illustrated episodes of Roving Reporter, Bids for Freedom and the final six episodes of Wrath of the Gods, which joined EAGLE when it absorbed Boys' World in October 1964. He had illustrated this famous colour strip for Boys' World since July 1963, when he took over from Ron Embleton and he produced seventy two episodes in total. For the 1980s EAGLE he illustrated The Fists of Danny Pike, Dolebusters and a Dan Dare adventure. His other work includes Wulf the Briton for Express Weekly in 1961, which he also took over from Ron Embleton, several strips for EAGLE's companion paper Robin, Kelpie the Boy Wizard for Wham!,many strips for the TV based comics TV21, Lady Penelope, Countdown, TV Action and Look -In, The Seekers for The Daily Sketch, Jane and Girl Chat for The Daily Mirror, George and Lynne for The Sun, Julia for the German newspaper Bild, Nicolai Dante, Sinister Dexter The Order and Judge Dredd for 2000 A.D. and The Bendatti Vendetta for the Judge Dredd Megazine. John has also illustrated comic strip versions of several classic novels.