IN AND OUT OF THE EAGLE 44

Dan Dare has lent his name to a wide variety of merchandise over the years, with everything from pyjamas to tooth powder being licenced. However, there has never been a 'Dan Dare' beer until recently when Southport Brewery launched their 'EAGLE'S DARE' bronze bitter. I contacted the brewer, Paul Bardsley to enquire ask about it and he replied: 

"We started making it (using its current recipe) in July 2021 and since then have made an estimated 8000 litres of it.

The original recipe for it was shared with another beer we named 'Ruck & Maul' that we had created in partnership with the local rugby club. However, as the name is owned by Tatton Brewery, we were limited to selling it to the Southport area (with their permission). Using the alternate name of EAGLE'S DARE allowed it to be sold outside of our seaside town.

In July 2021, we made the decision to give Eagle's Dare its own recipe as it is, in my view, the best looking badge we have for our beers.

All our beers are Southport themed. As you well know, the Eagle has links with our town and we're very proud that is does so. There is an Eagle/Dan Dare display in the Atkinson (the local art centre) on the second floor which makes me childishly giddy every time I see it. I only got into it in the 90's when I was but a laddie up in Scotland but my boss (Boss Paul as opposed to Other/Scapegoat Paul who is currently writing this) used to nick the magazine from his older brother when he was a child, back in the 1960s.

The beer itself is a bronze bitter. It has a really powerful and satisfying bitter bite at the start and is followed with a dry, floral palate. It's a 'standard' bitter to our standards, although with considerably more hops than the 'standard bitters' that are touted by chain pubs. It's quickly achieved its own following locally which is really nice to see and makes us feel validated as brewers.

At the moment, it's currently available in cask only. Even worse, it's only available locally to us as we are a small brewery and our range is limited. Best place to find it is either The Waterpudlian in Waterloo/Crosby, or The Guesthouse in Southport. Unfortunately, we have no control as to when it goes on asides from delivering the beer.

We do also offer it in 5 litre (9 pints) cans when we make a batch. Only while stock lasts but it's semi-permanent. If it's out of stock, it's usually only for a couple of weeks before we can make a fresh batch. Available from our online shop or, if you're in Southport, Portland Wines on Portland Street (though you can always come by and get one from us too)".

PLEASE NOTE - OUR NEW SUBSCRIPTION ADDRESS

 Our subscription address has now changed. Our secretary has moved to Wales and the new details are on the right. 

IN AND OUT OF THE EAGLE 43

Superheroes in comics often have secret identities and while the original EAGLE's heroes had no need for them, some of their creators certainly used false names. Between 1950 and March 1962, EAGLE printed writer and artist credits on most strips, text stories and articles, but several contributors used pen names for their work. Geoffrey Bond wrote 'Luck of the Legion' using his own name, but wrote the back page biographies of Baden Powell and Abraham Lincoln as Alan Jason. Alan Stranks wrote 'PC 49's adventures as himself, but wrote the short 'Marvell of M.I.5' series as David Cameron. The screenwriter Guy Morgan didn't use his own name at all in EAGLE, writing 'Storm Nelson' as Edward Trice. Likewise, the television and film writer Leonard Fincham wrote 'Danger Unlimited' as Steve Alen and several text serials, including the 'Special Agent' series about Inspector Jean Collet of Interpol as Lee Mayne. He later developed this into a TV series called Interpol Calling, although he created new stories and changed the names of the heroes to avoid copyright issues. Another television writer, Basil Dawson, wrote part of the 'Dan Dare' story 'Operation Saturn' as Don Riley, but he wrote the novel Dan Dare on Mars using his own name. Francis Dickson wrote several books and three back page biographies for EAGLE as R.B. Saxe and J.H.G. Freeman, usually known as Don Freeman, wrote several books as well, as 'Knights of the Road' for EAGLE as Gordon Grinstead. The celebrated science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke had a short story 'The Fires Within' published in an early issue of EAGLE under the pen name of Charles Willis, which he used for several short stories at the time and Clifford Makins, who succeeded Marcus Morris as editor of EAGLE, wrote the back page biography of Nelson as Christopher Keyes. An EAGLE artist who used another name was Bruno Kleinzeller, who escaped from Czechoslovakia shortly before the Nazis invaded and subsequently used the name Peter Kay for his work in Britain, which included 'drop in' illustrations for the text stories of 'The Three 'J's' in EAGLE as well as several strips for Girl.   

The contributors had different reasons for using pseudonyms but none were for tax evasion or anything else illegal. The real writers have often been identified through surviving payment details which clearly record their true identities. As a contributor to the Daily Mirror, J.H.G. Freeman used 'Gordon Grinstead' for his other work. Geoffrey Bond used 'Alan Jason' to avoid having two strips appearing in EAGLE at the same time using the same name and Francis Dickson used 'R.B. Saxe' for all his writing. However, in the 1960s when EAGLE was produced by Odhams, there was a company rule that editorial staff should not be paid for any scriptwriting they did, leading to several staff being paid through agents when they were called upon to write stories. While writers and artists were no longer credited in the weekly, records of payment were obviously kept and could have revealed staff breaking company rules, so agents were used and named on the records.  

BEANO IS 85!

Congratulations to Beano which celebrates its eighty fifth birthday this week and most importantly is still going strong and is still funny! It has entertained readers since 1938, introducing such iconic characters as Dennis the Menace, The Bash Street Kids, Minnie the Minx, Roger the Dodger, Jonah and Lord Snooty and his Pals to British readers. Well served by talented artists like Dudley D. Watkins, Leo Baxendale, David Law, Ken Reid, Jim Petrie, Nigel Parkinson, Tom Paterson, Lew Stringer, Kev F. Sutherland and David Sutherland, it is Britain's longest running comic by some distance. Currently edited by John Anderson, it has benefitted from good editorship, with George Moonie, Harold Cramond and Euan Kerr all having long runs in the role. Long may it continue!  

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.../

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.