C J Ashford

At the age of 94, C. J. Ashford has had an astonishingly long career which continues to expand as more paintings emerge from his studio, a converted garage at his home of over 60 years at Shooters Hill. He is famous for his aircraft paintings, but is also a specialist maritime artist who has also painted steam trains and cars. His artwork is meticulously researched and convincingly painted in watercolours and occasionally in oils. He has also produced covers for books and magazines, postcards, posters and illustrations for the First World War Aviation Historical Society's Cross and Cockade and books published for the RAF Benevolent Fund, including Wright to Fly.

Colin James Ashford was born in Ackworth, Yorkshire, in March 1919 and is still painting. He attended Ackworth Quaker School, where his teachers told his parents that they could teach the naturally talented youngster nothing further about drawing. He won a Junior Exhibition to study art for four years (1933-37) at Wakefield School of Art, followed by three years (1937-39) at Glasgow School of Art, where he won drawing and painting prizes.

He was interested in both aviation—having first flown in a bi-plane piloted by a Great War veteran whilst still at school—and maritime art. He would spend his holidays on fishing boats out of Scarborough trawling for herring.

He joined the First Battalion Scottish Light Infantry during the Second World War and arrived in France as part of the British Expeditionary Force shortly before the Dunkirk evacuation. Sent to defend the gap in the Allied front created by Belgium's surrender, the Infantry dug in over night after a rapid march and held out for 24 hours against a superior force, which included two Panzer divisions. Ashford, wounded in the leg, was taken to Poperinge, Belgium, and found taken back into battle as part of an artillery unit after accepting a ride with a tracked bren-gun carrier. Soon after, he found himself shoulder-deep in water whilst trying to cross a river where the bridge had been demolished. He spent two days on the beach at Dunkirk before being returned home.

After three months hospitalisation recovering from his wound and shell-shock, he served with the Royal Engineers in North Africa and Italy. His artistic talents were employed in developing camouflage.

After the war he took a job with a publisher, working freelance in his spare time. In 1959, he was commissioned to illustrate an aerial photographic sortie by an Airco DH.9 flying over Crystal Palace. The resulting artwork attracted the attention of Freeman, Fox and Partners, a firm of consulting engineers, who hired him to produce artwork for numerous bridge and road building projects.

His paintings can be found in the Royal Air Force Museum, the Yorkshire Air Museum, Hendon RAF Museum, the National Maritime Museum, Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre in New Zealand and other museums around the world.

He continues to be exhibited at the Aviation Paintings of the Year exhibition at the Mall Galleries. The latter exhibition is organised by the Guild of Aviation Artists, which Ashford was a founder member of. Created in 1971 to promote aviation art, the Guild now has over 500 members worldwide. Ashford has won the Guild's Hawker Siddeley Trophy for best watercolour of the year more than once and was elected Vice President in 2010.

(* Much of the above information is derived from an interview with Ashford at the e-Shooters Hill website.)

C J Ashford - Strange Mechanical Wonders

 

 

 

 

( * © Associated Newspapers)

Gordon C. Davies

Gordon C. Davies was a prolific book cover artist from the 1950s to the 1980s, most notably on a great many science fiction books as he was a very good artist of technology, from trains and planes to spaceships, and military subjects which included hardware.

I became aware of Davies' work when I began collecting SF books published by Curtis Warren; he worked prolifically for them (the rates were low); Phil Harbottle was a big fan of his work and when we were writing Vultures of the Void was of the opinion that it was Davies' covers that sold Curtis Warren's SF line, not the quality of the stories (which was also low... sometimes very low!). Davies produced over 40 covers for Curtis in 1952-54. In 1954, a book appeared under the byline Gordon Davies, although it was probably not by the artist.

Davies also worked for various other publishers around the same period including Scion, Authentic Science Fiction, Futuristic Science Stories, Panther Books and Brown Watson. The cheap paperback boom came to an end in 1954 and Davies had to find work elsewhere, including features for Daily Mail Boys Annual, Swift Annual, Eagle Annual and centre-spreads for the Eagle weekly. He continued to produce covers for Pan Books and New English Library, notably for titles by Arthur C. Clarke and Robert A. Heinlein.


Davies—full name Gordon Charles H. Davies—was born in West Derby, Lancashire, on 6 May 1923. [I believe he was the son of Henry and Martha (nee Rawlinson), who were married in West Derby in 1922.] Davies married Marjorie P. Mason in Surrey in 1951, Judy R. Hunt in Canterbury, Kent, in 1988.

He lived at 155 Sunning Vale Avenue, Biggin Hill, before moving to Woodlands Farm, Lyminge, Kent, in about 1970, where he lived until his death in 1994, aged 70.

PUBLICATIONS

Non-fiction
Aircraft. Paulton & London, Purnell & Sons, 1961.
My Picture Book of Aeroplanes. London, Dean & Son, 1961.
My Picture Book of Road Travel. London, Dean & Son, 1961.
My Picture Book of Road Travel Old and New (by Lawrence). London, Dean & Son, 1965.
Trains Old and New. London, Dean, 1968.
The Moon. London, Macdonald & Co., 1971.
World War 1 Aeroplanes. London, Ward Lock, 1974.

Illustrated Books
Rescue from the Air by Michael Gibson. London, Abelard-Schuman, 1960.
Daily Life Science by Christine Bate. London, Ginn & Co., 5 vols., 1961-70.
Our Railways by Maxwell Taylor. Paulton & London, Purnell & Sons, 1961.
Dean's Gold Medal Book of World Travel. London, Dean & Son, 1962.
Classic Car Profiles ed. Anthony Harding. Leatherhead, Surrey, Profile Publications, 1966- .
Astronomy by Iain Nicolson. Feltham, Hamlyn, 1970.
Giant Wonders of the World by John Gilbert; illus. with Chris Mayger. London, Ward Lock, 1970.
Rockets and Missiles by David Mondey. Feltham, Hamlyn, 1971.
Cars in Profile by Anthony Harding. Windsor, Profile Publications, 1973.
Take Better Photographs by Reg Mason (based on the ATV television series In Focus with Harry Secombe). London, Hamlyn, 1973; as In Focus with Harry Secombe by Reg Mason. London, Independent Television Books, 1976.
The Invention of Bicycles & Motorcycles by Derek Roberts. London, Usborne Publishing, 1975.
The Encyclopedia of the World's Classic Cars by Graham Robson. London, Salamander Books, 1977.
Let's Look at Space by Tim Furniss. Hove, Wayland, 1987.
UFOs by Ben Wilson. Hove, Wayland, 1988.
Mysteries of the Unexplained by Sue Crawford et al. London, World International, 1991.

It is worth noting here that there was a Gordon L. Davies, A.R.C.A. (1926-2007) who was an artist and author of such books as Painting in Acrylics (1991), etc. and a Gordon Davies (1924-2009) who was a Canadian travel writer and painter who authored The Living Rivers of British Columbia and The Living Rivers of British Columbia and Yukon volume two.

(* Originally published 8 December 2006.)

Gordon C. Davies - The Radio Telescope

 

 

 

 

( * © Associated Newspapers)

David Griffiths

David Arthur Griffiths was an author who, as far as I'm aware, never published any work under his own name. In fact, his writing career appears to have lasted only fifteen months from the publication of his first novel in October 1950 to the last in January 1952. In that time, he produced seventeen short (36,000-word) novels for the publisher Curtis Warren, where he was also working as an editor.

The majority of his books were science fiction and, had it not been for the speed with which he churned out these novels, Griffiths could have perhaps become a writer of interest. Some of his contemporaries, notably Ted Tubb, Ken Bulmer, John Burke and John Brunner, all managed memorable careers after having started writing for the cheap end of the paperback market.

Tubb in particular has a place in this brief story. Griffiths was a fan of science fiction and known to Tubb as an attendee of the White Horse, where fans of SF gathered each week, and of the Festival Convention in May 1951. At the time, Griffiths was working as a manuscript reader for Curtis Warren, who were just launching a new line of science fiction novels; he invited Tubb to submit novels which he would feed into the system. Thus Tubb's debut novel appeared under the pen-name King Lang, which was for the most part used by Griffiths.

Griffiths was slightly older than Tubb, so probably born around 1918. He would have been 20 or 21 when war was declared, and probably served the full six years of the Second World War.

His earliest known novels are a series of much sought after Burroughs-inspired novels featuring the character Azan the Apeman. Inspired by the popularity of Mark Goulden's reprints of Edgar Rice Burroughs Tarzan novels, Griffiths quickly penned six novels featuring an RAF pilot who befriends a native after crash-landing in the African jungle. Nursed back to health, but with no memory of his former life, the pilot becomes known as Azan to the local tribesmen.

The six Azan novels were fast-paced, unpretentious adventure yarns. Unfortunately, they were a little too close to Tarzan for the comfort of ERB Inc., who threatened to sue the publisher unless the series was dropped. The pen-name Marco Garon must have been a popular one, as it was subsequently used on a long series of Jungle Jim-style African adventures written by Denis Hughes.

Griffiths, meanwhile, was also writing SF as David Shaw, King Lang and Gil Hunt. It is also likely that he penned one of the crime novels that appeared under the house name Brett Vane, although this, too, might have been one that Griffiths channeled through to Curtis Warren.

Although Griffiths wrote the kind of space opera yarns typical of the time, he was a reasonably imaginative writer and certainly a cut above his contemporaries at Curtis Warren. I remember when Phil Harbottle and I were putting together a bibliography of 1950s paperback SF that one or two of Griffiths' novels were pretty good compared to most of the chaff I was having to read. Novels like Astro Race and Task Flight (both as King Lang) and Vega (as Gil Hunt) stood out as being pretty good. Some of the others were... not so good.

Griffiths' writing career was cut short when, in the Winter of 1951-52, he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps., never to return to science fiction. What happened to him is a mystery that still has me mystified.

PUBLICATIONS

NOVELS AS MARCO GARON

The Missing Safari
Curtis Warren, Oct 1950, 128pp, 1/6. Cover by Terry Maloney

The Lost City
Curtis Warren, Oct 1950, 128pp, 1/6. Cover by Terry Maloney

White Fangs
Curtis Warren, Jan 1951, 128pp, 1/6. Cover by Terry Maloney

Tribal War
Curtis Warren, Jan 1951, 112pp, 1/6. Cover by Terry Maloney

Jungle Fever
Curtis Warren, Mar 1951, 128pp, 1/6. Cover by Terry Maloney

King Hunters
Curtis Warren, Mar 1951, 112pp, 1/6. Cover by Terry Maloney

NOVELS AS DAVID SHAW

Laboratory 'X'
Curtis Warren, 1950, 128pp, 1/6. Cover by Terry Maloney

Planet Federation
Curtis Warren, Nov 1950, 160pp, 1/6. Cover by Ray Theobald

Space Men
Curtis Warren, Jan 1951, 128pp, 1/6. Cover by Ray Theobald

NOVELS AS KING LANG

Gyrator Control
Curtis Warren, Jan 1951, 112pp, 1/6. Cover by Ray Theobald

Astro Race
Curtis Warren, Feb 1951, 112pp, 1/6. Cover by Ray Theobald

Task Flight
Curtis Warren, Feb 1951, 111pp, 1/6. Cover by Ray Theobald

Rocket Invasion
Curtis Warren, Aug 1951, 111pp, 1/6. Cover by Ray Theobald

Projectile War
Curtis Warren, Sep 1951, 111pp, 1/6. Cover by Ray Theobald

NOVELS AS GIL HUNT

Vega
Curtis Warren, Oct 1951, 111pp, 1/6. Cover by Ray Theobald

Fission
Curtis Warren, Jan 1952, 111pp, 1/6. Cover by Ray Theobald

A. Burgess Sharrocks

Alfred Burgess Sharrocks P.R. Cam. A. was born in Stockport in 27 November 1919, the son of Alfred Sharrocks (1893-1963) and his wife Mary Ellen (nee Burgess, 1897?-1955?), who were married in Stockport in 1917. Alf had a number of younger siblings, including Joan M (1921), Edward F. (1923), Winifred Beryl (1927), Sybil P. (1931) and Roy Alan (1934).

He studied at Stockport School of Art and the Royal Academy Schools. Exhibited regularly at the Royal Cambrian Academy and painted a great many landscapes of the Welsh hillsides.

A. Burgess Sharrocks is probably best known for his dustjackets and illustrations for the Secret Seven series by Enid Blyton, taking over from previous illustrators George Brook and Bruno Kay in 1956. Elsewhere, he was often called upon as a nature artist, especially in annuals.

I believe he was married twice: firstly to Alisimon Strange (1917-1967) in Manchester in 1949; and, following her death at the age of 49, to Catherine E. Milner in Conway, Wales, in 1973. He had a daughter from his first marriage, Alisimon J. Burgess Sharrocks.

He died in late 1988, aged 69, at Bangor, Caernarvonshire.

PUBLICATIONS

Illustrated Books
Adventures and Escapes, ed. E. W. Parker, M.C. London, Longmans, Green & Co., 1953.
Essential English for Foreign Students by Charles Eckersley; illus. with others. London, Longmans, 4 vols., 1955-63.
Three Cheers, Secret Seven by Enid Blyton. Leicester, Brockhampton Press, 1956.
Secret Seven Mystery by Enid Blyton. Leicester, Brockhampton Press, 1957.
Yma a thraw by Eirwen Jones & Hannah Davies. London, Macmillan & Co., 1957.
The Great South Sea by Roger Pilkington (London, Macmillan & Co., 1957). 
Knights of St. John [Kreuzritter] by Gerhart Ellert; tranlated by J. Brockett-Pugh. London, Lutterworth Press, 1958.
Puzzle for the Secret Seven by Enid Blyton. Leicester, Brockhampton Press, 1958.
Nature Detectives by Donald G. Cunningham. London, Macmillan & Co., 1959.
Secret Seven Fireworks by Enid Blyton. Leicester, Brockhampton Press, 1959.
Good Old Secret Seven by Enid Blyton. Leicester, Brockhampton Press, 1960.
Warriors' Hoard by Hugh Collinson. London, George G. Harrap & Co., 1960.
Shock for the Secret Seven by Enid Blyton. Leicester, Brockhampton Press, 1961.
Look Out Secret Seven by Enid Blyton. Leicester, Brockhampton Press, 1962.
On the Ball! by Gordon Jeffery. London, J. M. Dent & Sons, 1962.
Athletics, ed. G. F. D. Pearson. Edinburgh, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1963.
Fun for the Secret Seven by Enid Blyton. Leicester, Brockhampton Press, 1963.

(* Expanded from it original appearance on 13 February 2007.)

Comic Cuts - 25 July 2014

I have been indulging myself with a bit of a break. Mel had the week off, so we've tried to have a relaxing time, watching a bit of extra TV, going for walks and taking a trip down to the quay for lunch mid-week. Much sprawling around doing nothing, too. The main topics of conversation all week have been: should we bother with the washing up...?; should we bother doing the lawn...?; and how gorgeous are Scottie dogs? (This after the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games.)

Yes, there was a bit of work in between. My new external hard drive turned up at the tail end of last week and there was a 24-hour period (spread over three days) of copying the contents of one drive onto the new one so that I had a mirror. I feel much happier now that I have everything doubled-up again, although I am painfully aware that I also need to back-up the rest of the files on my computer, not just the ones that I've put in "storage".

And I've been cleaning up artwork for what will hopefully be the next Bear Alley book. It's a comic strip reprint that I'm licensing, so I'm waiting until contracts are signed and money has exchanged hands before I announce it. But I'm on the second pass of the 120 or so pages of artwork and pondering on what I should write in the introduction. That's all I'm saying for the moment.

Available now from Bear Alley Books

Click here for further details and payment options

Sales of the Countdown to TV Action index have slowed down considerably—perhaps everyone somehow realised I was taking a bit of a break? Seriously, you don't have to worry... just keep ordering. I can cope. For all you chart-watchers, this week's Top Ten all-time bestselling books from Bear Alley looks like this (with last week's position in parenthesis):

1 (1) Lion: King of Picture Story Papers
2 (4) Countdown to TV Action
3 (2) Eagles Over the Western Front volume 1
4 (5) Hurricane & Champion
5 (3) Pages from History: Illustrated by C. L. Doughty
6 (6) Eagles Over the Western Front volume 2
7 (7) Eagles Over the Western Front volume 3
8 (8) Ranger: The National Boys' Magazine
9 (9) London is Stranger Than Fiction
10 (10) Boys' World: Ticket to Adventure

I'm still  sporting the beard I let grow towards the end of the Countdown book—something of a tradition I've had on long projects. Without deadlines, I need something to remind me to finish books off and there's nothing like an itchy new beard to do that. I've kept it fairly well trimmed this time and I'm not planning to shave it off until the next book is complete. Hopefully it will help keep me concentrated. Once my holiday is over.

The photo at the top of the page is the first ripe tomato from this year's crop. It's only when you taste home grown tomatoes that you realise how bland supermarket bought tomatoes taste. After the success we had with cherry tomatoes last year, we're attempting to do the double this year with a more traditional tomato plant as well as the cherry tomato plant. The first of the larger tomatoes is getting riper by the day and we've a very good crop that should keep me in sandwiches for most of the summer. Yum!

This week's random scans are another quartet of titles by Ben Sarto. Some of these are from rather poor originals but I think they've cleaned up OK. The first two are from 1947 and have covers by H. W. Perl, the most prolific cover artist for the cheap-end paperback publishers in the years immediately after the war. Nothing is known about Perl, which is a real shame because, when he put some effort in (presumably when he was better paid!) he was a very capable artist.

The other two are by Len Potts and Ray Theobald. Hot Dames Die Cold was the very last Ben Sarto novel to be published—the 103rd if memory serves. They were a very mixed bunch but certainly the early yarns by Frank Dubrez Fawcett deserve a little attention. If you've never read any of the Ben Sarto novels, my article "I Kill 'em Inch by Inch"—available on Kindle—is a good primer to the kind of thing he wrote.

The above Ray Theobald cover is a handy link to the next cover gallery I'm putting together which also acts as another episode of "mysteries that have me mystified" (a phrase you'll understand only if you have to have been reading this column for some years). There will be other stuff, but I still need to write it... and I really ought to get back to work, so don't expect too much.

John Hornby

John Wilkinson Hornby was born in Ponteland, Northumberland, on 5 April 1913, the son of Joseph Hornby (1886?- ) and his wife Grace (nee Wilkinson, 1890?- ). He was educated at Ponteland School and Gosforth Grammar School but had his education interrupted by an illness at the age of sixteen, which meant that he spent much of his life indoors. He was the descendent of seventeenth-century English gamekeepers and foresters; his father was a gamekeeper when he married in 1912.

Hornby was a  prolific writer for children after the war, his earliest known stories appearing in magazines and annuals published by Western Book Distributors and Gerald G. Swan. He continued to contribute to comics—including Knockout and Eagle—story papers and annuals until the 1960s.

At the same time he also penned children's books for Thomas Nelson and Blackie & Son's Crusader and Kingfisher Books' series, including a number under the pen-names Joseph Grace and Gordon Summers. He also wrote a number of thrillers for Hamilton & Co. and later penned westerns, mostly under the pen-name Calvin Brent.

Hornby also wrote over twenty stories for radio programmes in Dublin, Ireland, and over forty historical articles for Tyne Tees Television. He contributed articles and stories to the BBC and to religious and general periodicals in England, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, the USA, Canada and India. He also wrote material for War on Want.

He lived in Jackson Avenue, Ponteland, and died in 1978, aged 65.

PUBLICATIONS

Novels
Alpine Crack Up. London, Hamilton & Co., Apr 1951.
Here Today - Dead Tomorrow. London, Hamilton & Co., Jun 1951.
Die Quickly, Brother. London, Hamilton & Co., Sep 1951.
Death Pays Dividends. London, Hamilton & Co., Oct 1951.
Justice Doesn’t Die (by Calvin Brent). London, Coker, Feb 1953.
Ghost Town Guns (by Calvin Brent). London, Coker, Mar 1953.
Red Hot Triggers. Leicester, Fiction House, Jan 1956.

Novels (for children)
The Missing Cargo. London, Thomas Nelson, 1947.
The Red Scarf, illus. Enid Locke. London, Thomas Nelson, Dec 1950.
Avocet Island. London & Glasgow, Blackie (Crusader Series 7), May 1951.
River of Silver. London & Glasgow, Blackie (Crusader Series 8), May 1951.
Men o’ the Mists. London & Glasgow, Blackie (Crusader Series 5), Jun 1951.
The Young Traders, illus. A. Barclay. London & Glasgow, Blackie (Kingfisher Books), Dec 1951.
A Bone for Biff (by Joseph Grace), illus. W. Gale. London & Glasgow, Blackie (Kingfisher Books), Apr 1952.
The Puppet Theatre, and No Show Without Toby, illus. Monica Brailey. London & Glasgow, Blackie (Kingfisher Books), Jun 1952.
The Winbeck Whistle, illus. Desmond Walduck. London & Glasgow, Blackie (Kingfisher Books), Jun 1952.
The Jungle Company (by Gordon Summers), illus. Raymond Sheppard. London & Glasgow, Blackie (Crusade Series 1), Jul 1952.
Fen Laughs Last, illus. Raymond Sheppard. London & Glasgow, Blackie (Crusader Series 9), Jul 1952.
The Beachcombers Bell, illus. Eric Wade. London, Macmillan (Far & Wide Stories 1), Sep 1952.
The Iron Hills, illus. A. Barclay. London & Glasgow, Blackie (Kingfisher Books), Nov 1952.
The Secret of the Valley, illus. Philip Townsend. London, Macmillan (Far & Wide Stories 2), Dec 1952.
Priory Island, illus. Barbara Gray. London, Thomas Nelson (Speedwell Readers), Mar 1953.
Jacko Comes Home, illus. Monica Brailey. London & Glasgow, Blackie (Kingfisher Books), Sep 1954.
The Secret of the Sails (by Joseph Grace), illus. Eric Wade. London & Glasgow, Blackie (Kingfisher Books), Sep 1954.
Amazon Adventure, illus. Eric Wade. London, Macmillan (Far & Wide Stories 9), Oct 1957.
Mystery in Maori Land, illus. Lunt Roberts. London, Macmillan (Far & Wide Stories 12), 1958.
Swords for the King, illus. William Stobbs. London, Macmillan, 1964; New York, St Martin’s Press, 1964.

Non-fiction
Pegasus Books. London, Newnes Educational, 1953.
The United Nations. London, Macmillan (Picture Pageant 1), 1954 [Jan 1955]; 2nd edition, 1959.
Introducing the Sailor in the Merchant Service and the Royal Navy. London, Macmillan, Nov 1955.
Forestry in Britain. London, Macmillan (Picture Pageant 3), 1957 [1958]
Undersea World. London, Macmillan (Picture Pageant 5), 1960.
Turret Readers series. London, Macmillan, 1961; New York, Macmillan, 1961.
  1: Eaglets for the Legion.
  2: Song of the Saxons, illus. G.S. Ronalds.
  3: Viking Fire, illus. G.S. Ronalds.
Clowns Through the Ages, illus. Siriol Clarry. Edinburgh, Oliver & Boyd (Signpost Library 2), 1962; New York, Henry Z. Walck, 1963.
Gypsies, illus. David Gentleman. Edinburgh, Oliver & Boyd (Signpost Library 10), 1965; New York, Henry Z. Walck, 1967.
Travel by Water, illus. Virginia Smith. Edinburgh, Oliver & Boyd (Open Gate Library 11), 1968; as The True Book of Travel by Water, Chicago, Children’s Press, 1969.
Toys Down the Ages, illus. Virginia Smith. London, Chatto & Windus, 1972.

SHORT STORIES & FEATURES

Short Stories
Hellfire Comes to Paradise (Hands Up! 1, 1946)
Buffalo Hunter’s Trick (Hands Up Annual, 1947, Nov 1946)
Rattlesnake Ring (Western Album 1947, Nov 1946)
Jimmy’s Magic Bullseyes (Knockout 519-529, 4 Feb-15 Apr 1949)
Packhorse Post (Christmas Book, Juvenile Publications, c.1950)
Wilf’s Will (Every Boy’s Annual, Juvenile Publications, 1950)
The Time Detective (Cute Fun Album 1952, Aug 1951)
Tabu Atoll (Eagle, 25 Apr 1952)
The Wolf-Dog of Whinside (Eagle, 4 Jul 1952)
The Huntsman’s Leap (Boys’ Fun, Mar 1953)
The Breath Saver (Boys’ Fun, Oct 1953)
Fighting Fit (Boys’ Fun, Oct 1953)
The Swimming Salesman (Cute Fun Album 1955, Aug 1954)
Trouble in the Desert (Cute Fun Album 1955, Aug 1954)
The Goats of Gardie (Girls’ Fun, Nov/Dec 1954)
Royal Hawk of Arabia (Daily Mail Annual, 1956)
The Dhow of Dawala (Daily Mail Boys Annual, 1957)
Oil Oasis (Daily Mail Boys Annual, 1958)
The Killer’s Trail (Bumper Book of Thrills for Boys, Birn Bros., 1950s)
The Treble-B Trouble-Busters (Bumper Book of Thrills for Boys, Birn Bros., 1950s)
The Mission Gold (Bumper Book of Thrills for Boys, Birn Bros., 1950s)
Race Against Time (Bumper Book of Thrills for Boys, Birn Bros., 1950s)
The Secret of the Atoll (The New Daily Mail Girls Annual, 1962)
The Secret of Spaniard Isle (Daily Mail Boys Annual, 1963)

Stories as Pathfinder
The Red Baron Rides (Boys’ Fun, Mar 1953)
The Whistling Begger [* Credited to Hornby on cover.] (Boys’ Fun, Apr 1953)
Welcome Stranger (Cute Fun Album 1955, Aug 1954)
Wintersmoon and the Brown Bear (Boys’ Fun, Nov/Dec 1954)
“Sold Again” (Girls’ Fun Annual 1956, 1955)

Stories as Joseph Grace
Pony Post (Daily Mail Boys Annual, 1958)

Non-fiction
Some Baffling Mysteries of the Sea (Bumper Book of Thrills for Boys, Birn Bros., 1950s)
(article about Richard Trevithick) (Daily Mail Boys Annual, 1959)

Comic Strips
The Great Discoverer (Bumper Book of Thrills for Boys, Birn Bros., 1950s)
(picture story about Captain Marryat, art by John Robinson) (Daily Mail Boys Annual, 1959)

H. Mortimer Batten

Henry Mortimer Batten was born on 4 February 1888 in Otley, Yorkshire, the son of William Townshend Batten (1856-1917) and his wife Sarah Amelia (nee Barker, 1860-1953). His father worked as an engineer in Singapore and master Batten spent some time on the South East Asian island. His connections with Singapore earned Batten the nick-name ‘Pineapple’. Although his birth certificate gives his name as Henry, he was known as Harry and was baptized Harry Mortimer Batten at St. Paul's, Northampton, on 27 March 1894.

He was educated at Oakham School in Rutland where he was an excellent rugby player, subsequently playing for Bradford and Northampton. He trained as an engineer, but his yearning for a more adventurous life took him to the far corners of the North West Territory as a prospector, forest ranger and surveyor whilst still in his early twenties. After a period fur-trapping and running a motor-boat service on the Mattagami River, he served in the Great War as a motor-cyclist. Batten saw service with the French Army and, in 1915, was decorated with the Croix de Guerre by his commanding General in the Verdun Sector; he later also served with the Royal Air Force.

He began writing around 1912, contributing to most of the popular boys’ papers of the era, Captain, Chums, Boy’s Own Paper and The Scout as well as to adult papers such as Blackwood’s, Chambers, The Field and Illustrated London News. His serials included the Red Indian serial ‘Birdett the Trailer’ (Captain, 1913) and the Western ‘Ishmael of the Prairies’ (Chums, 1918).

In the 1920s he became a well-known lecturer and broadcaster for the B.B.C. from its earliest days and was very well known for his natural history articles and stories about wild animals and birds which were collected in numerous books, including Tales of the Wild, The Romantic Story of the Countryside, Prints from Many Trails, Tracks and Tracking and Starlight. He was also a well-known racing motorist.

Batten served again as a dispatch rider for the first two years of the Second World War.

He lived for many years in Argyll, Scotland, and set up a number of businesses in the area. In 1954 he announced his intention to take a five-year trip to British Columbia and Alaska. He died in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on 3 January 1958, aged 69. He was married in 1918 to Ivy Kathleen Godfrey (1892-1980) and had one son and two daughters.

PUBLICATIONS

Novels
Muskwa the Trail Maker. Edinburgh & London, Moray Press, 1936.
Starlight. London & Edinburgh, W. & R. Chambers, 1936.
Red Ruff. The life story of a fox. London & Edinburgh, W. & R. Chambers, 1937.
The Wandering Otter, illus. David Pratt. London, Peter Lunn, 1947.
Yellowface, illus. Jack Matthew. London, Evans Bros., 1948.
Ray of the Rainbows, illus. Vernon Stokes. London, Hollis & Carter, 1952.
The Singing Forest, illus. Maurice Wilson. Edinburgh & London, William Blackwood, 1955.

Collections
Jim and the Wolves. Toronto, Warwick Bros. & Rutter, 1912.
The Red Men of the Northland. Toronto, Warwick Bros. & Rutter, 1914.
In the Grip of the Yukon. A true story. Toronto, Warwick Bros. & Rutter, 1916.
Ka-ka-kee, the Sioux. A tale of a prairie feud. Toronto, Warick Bros. & Rutter, 1917.
Tommy and the Timber Wolves. A story of Canadian life. Toronto, Warwick Bros. & Rutter, 1919.
Romances of the Wild, illus. Warwick Reynolds. London, Blackie & Son, 1922.
Prints from Many Trails. London, Herbert Jenkins, 1924; revised, Edinburgh & London, Ettrick Press, 1947.
2LO Animal Stories. Edinburgh, Grant & Murray, 1931.
Tales of the Wild. London & Glasgow, Collins, 1931.
Jock and Old November, and other motoring and fishing stories of the Highlands. Edinburgh, Highway Press, 1932.
Woodland Stories. London & Glasgow, Collins, 1932.
Wild Life Stories. London & Glasgow, Collins, 1933.
Tameless and Swift. A book of animal stories. London & Edinburgh, W. & R. Chambers, 1936.
Tales of Wild Bird Life, illus. Len Fullerton. London & Glasgow, Blackie & Son, 1948.
Whispers of the Wilderness. Tales of wild life in the Canadian forests, illus. Kay Nixon. London & Glasgow, Blackie, 1960.
Wild and Free. Stories of Canadian animals, illus. Stuart Tresilian. London & Glasgow, Blackie, 1961.

Non-fiction
Who are the “Forest Rangers?”. Toronto, Warwick Bros. & Rutter, 1918.
Forest Fires. A terror of the Canadian bush. Toronto, Warwick Bros. & Rutter, 1920.
Habits and Characters of British Wild Animals, illus. Warwick Reynolds. London, W. & R. Chambers, 1920; reprinted in 4 vols. as Some British Wild Animals, London, W. & R. Chambers, 1930.
Tracks & Tracking. A book for Boy Scouts. London & Edinburgh, W. & R. Chambers, 1920.
Woodlore for Young Sportsmen. London, Heath Cranton, 1922.
The Badger, afield and underground. London, H.F. & G. Witherby, 1923.
Inland Birds. Norther observations by a sportsman. London, Hutchinson & Co., 1923.
W. & A.K. Johnston’s Tracks of British Animals, edited by H. Mortimer Batten. Edinburgh, W. & A.K. Johnston, 1923.
W. & A.K. Johnston’s Tracks of British Birds, edited by H. Mortimer Batten. Edinburgh, W. & A.K. Johnston, 1923.
British Wild Animals. London, C. A. Pearson, 1924.
Dramas of the Wild Folk, illus. Harry Rountree. London, S. W. Partridge & Co., 1924.
Nature from the Highways. London, Herbert Jenkins, 1925.
Nature Jottings of a Motorist. London, Herbert Jenkins, 1926.
Patrol Calls and Signs. The ABC of all the patrol creatures, their habits and characteristics. London, C. A. Pearson, 1926.
The Golden Book of Animal Stories. London & Glasgow, Blackie & Son, 1927; adapted as Tales of the Wild, London & Glasgow, Blackie & Son, 1934.
Birds of Our Gardens. How to feed and encourate them. [3rd edition]. Pencaitland, H. M. Batten, 1931.
How to Feed and Attract the Wild Birds. Edinburgh, Grant & Murray, 1933.
The Animal Picture Book. London, T. Nelson & Sons, 1934.
Go-Back. The life story of an Alsation wolfhound. Edinburgh & London, Moray Press, 1934.
Our Garden Birds. London & Edinburgh, T.C. & E.C. Jack, 1934.
Our Country’s Wild Animals. London & Edinburgh, T.C. & E.C. Jack, 1935.
The Romantic Story of the Country-Side. London, Hutchinson & Co., 1937.
Sentinels of the Wild, illus. Kathleen Nixon. London, George Newnes, 1938.
Electricity and the Camera. Nature, big game and home photography simplified. A new method of control for day & night photography. Edinburgh & London, Moray Press, 1939.
Wild Animals at Home. London, Longmans & Co., 1939.
British Wild Animals. London, Odhams Press, 1952.
The Children’s Book of Tracks and Tracking. A book for Boy Scouts, Girl Guides and every lover of woodcraft. Edinburgh & London, W. & R. Chambers, 1961.

Omnibus
Stories of the Wild (contains Romances of the Wild, Tales of Wild Bird Life, The Golden Book of Animal Stories). London, Blackie, 1967.

Others
Among Wild Beasts, edited by H. Mortimer Batten. London & Glasgow, Collins, 1934.

Daily Mail Boys Annual [1959]

Daily Mail Boys Annual [1959], ed. John Bellamy (Associated Press, nd (1958), 200pp, 9/6. cover by Horace Gaffron)
* [Misc. Material] * Bicycles Old and New * ia; illus. Kenneth Ody
1 * [Misc. Material] * (title page) * il
2 * [Misc. Material] * Contents * il
3 * Johns, Captain W. E. * Dawn Patrol * ss [Biggles]; illus. Eric Parker
10 * Anon. * Odd One Out * pz
11 * Sparrow, Kenneth * Animals and Plants in Disguise * ar; illus. E. Mansell
16 * Keith, John * Lost on Mount Kenya * ss; illus. Terence Greer
23 * Collins, Erroll * Bandits and Bisnagas * ss; illus. Gordon Davies
29 * Lowe, Hugh Maxwell * The Mosstroopers * ss; illus. G. S. Ronalds
33 * Laing, Allan M. * Mister MacHinery * pm
34 * Deakin, Guy * Crooks of the Outback * ss; illus. Will Nickless
42 * Wilson, Maurice * Monkeys, Apes and Lemurs * ar; illus. Maurice Wilson
53 * Anon. * Problem Page * pz
54 * Leyland, Eric * Flame Turns the Tables * ss [David Flame]; illus. G. E. Lang?
62 * Shillito, W. Douglas * The Last Voyage of the "San Juan" * ss; illus. C. L. Doughty
69 * Home-Gall, Edward R. * An Elephant Never Forgets * ss; illus. Geoffrey Whittam
77 * Coleman, John * Power * ss; illus. John Oliver
80 * Hervey, Michael * The Convoy Must Go On * ss; illus. David Walsh
85 * Anon. * General Knowledge Quiz * qz
86 * Nettleton, Arthur * Britain's Buried Treasures * ss; illus. James Hunt
89 * [Comic Strip] * The True Adventures of Sir Harry Johnston: Jungle Discovery * cs; art by A. Bushell
94 * Prince-White, F. G. * A Wonder of 100 Years Ago * ar; illus. C. J. Ashford
100 * Ashford, C. J. * Strange Mechanical Wonders * ar; illus. C. J. Ashford
106 * Ashton, Philip * The True Story of the Amazing Adventures of Philip Ashton, Of His Capture by Pirates, and of His Escape by Himself * ss; illus. Will Nickless [credited as Wm. Nickless] * abridged from Ashton's autobiography, Boston, 1725
115 * Mell, George * Against the Clock * ss; illus. Desmond Walduck
123 * Jones, Maurice * Punch and Judy * ar; illus. Maurice Jones
129 * Coleman, John * Everything Comes... * ar
130 * Morgan, Tom * Bullseyes, Blackjacks and Cottonreels * ar
135 * Davies, Gordon * The Radio Telescope * ar; illus. Gordon Davies
141 * Hornby, John * Oil Oasis * ss; illus. Colin Andrew
148 * Anon. * The Bear * pz
149 * Mayne, L. Bruce * The Boy Who Lives on Puffin Island * ss; illus. A. Burgess Sharrocks
154 * Jacobs, Arthur P. * 'Whoops' and the Super-Sleuther * ss; illus. Leslie Otway
161 * Krag, Sonni * Fish for Breakfast * ss; illus. W. Abbott
166 * Anon. [Jones, Maurice] * Make Your Own Autograph Book * ia; illus. Maurice Jones
167 * Batten, H. Mortimer * Last Round * ss; illus. A. Burgess Sharrocks
173 * Tidwood, Tom * A Lark in teh Eagle's Nest * ss; illus. Edgar Spenceley
180 * Grace, Joseph * Pony Post * ss; illus. N. G. Wilson
187 * [Comic Strip] * Rajah Brooke of Sarawak * cs; art by Colin Andrew
193 * [Misc. Material] * Answers to Puzzles * ms
194 * Dalby-Phillips, A. W. * The Northland Bandit * ss; illus. Eric Dadswell
201 * Bellamy, John * From the Editor's Office * ed; illus. David Myers
* [Misc. Material] * Motor Cycle Pageant * ia; illus. Kenneth Ody

Marcia Lane Foster

Artist Marcia Lane Foster contributed illustrations to Collins Magazine for Boys and Girls, Collins Magazine Annual, the BBC Children's Hour Annual, Girl Annual and Robin Annual as well as many children's books.

She was born Nellie Marcia Lane Foster in Seaton, Devon, on 27 August 1897, the daughter of Llewellyn T. (Henry) Foster and Ellen Foster. She was raised in Didsbury, South Manchester, Lancashire, where her father, the son of a retired officer in the Dragoon Guards, worked as an electrical engineer, alongside her elder sisters Ethel Loveday Lane Foster (1893-1967) and Wilmot Gwenellen Lane Foster (1896-1974).

She studied at the St John's Wood School of Art and simultaneously at the Royal Academy Schools and the Central School of Arts and Crafts under Noel Rooke. At the latter she was awarded a silver medal for figure painting.

Her favourite medium was woodcuts and in Contemporary English Woodcuts, Campbell Dodgson (Keeper of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum) said of her: "The older tradition of English illustration may be traced in the graceful 'Echo' of Mr. [C. T.] Nightingale, and in the specimen which we give of Miss Marcia Lane Foster, latest scion of a family whose artistic traditions go back, through Richard and William Lane, to Gainsborough." The "example given" was entitled The Organ Grinder. Herbert Furst and Malcolm Salaman, were also keen on her engravings and published them in books on the subject.

For some twenty years she worked for William Hollins & Co. designing children's wear advertisements for Viyella and Clydella, and advertising material for Kodak, Cadbury, Nestle, TCP, Bovril and Clark's Shoes.

She was an occasional portrait painter as well as illustrating many books. These include The Headswoman by Kenneth Grahame and translations of stories by Anatole France during the 1920s. She illustrated titles for both Noel Streatfeild (The Children of Primrose Lane, 1947, and the serial The Painted Garden, Collins Magazine for Children, 1948) and her cousin-in-law Kitty Barne (Marion Catherine Streatfeild).

According to The Dictionary of British Book Illustrators, "The publication of Let's Do It (1938), a collection of charcoal sketches of children at play in a similar vein to J. H. Dowd's People of Importance (1934), established her reputation as an artist who could capture the lively movement of children and this (slightly to her regret) determined to a large extent the subsequent character of her commissions."

Popular authors illustrated by Foster include Enid Blyton, Christine Pullein-Thompson, Malcolm Saville and Lorna Hill. The Vicarage Children by Hill was recently (2008) reprinted by Girls' Gone By. The Summer in Between by Eleanor Spence (1959), which she illustrated, was awarded the Book of the Year in 1960 by The Children's Book Council of Australia.

In 1962, Foster was also responsible for drawing the adventures of The Tufty Club for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents as it expanded into a nationwide children's club of 60,000 members.

She married illustrator Howard Dudley Jarrett in Bodmin, Cornwall, in 1925. She died in Yeovil, Somerset, in late 1983, aged 86. Her husband predeceased her in 1980 and they are buried together in Blessed Virgin Mary Churchyard, Bruton, Somerset.

PUBLICATIONS


Books
Lets Do It: Sketches of Children. London, Collins, 1938.

Illustrated Books
The Headswoman by Kenneth Grahame. London, John Lane, 1921; New York, Dodd, Mead & Co., 1922. 
Canadian Fairy Tales by Cyrus Macmillan. London, John Lane, 1922; omnibus with other titles, Canadian Wonder Tales, London, Bodley Head, 1974.
The Merry Tales of Jacques Tournebroche by Anatole France, trans. by Alfred Allinson. London, John Lane, 1923.
Tinkelly Winkle by Netta Syrett. London, John Lane, 1923.
The Golden Journey of Mr. Paradyne by William J. Lockie. London, John Lane, 1924.
Little Sea Dogs and other tales of childhood by Anatole France, trans. by Alfred Allinson & J. Lewis May. London, John Lane, 1925; New York, Dodd, Mead & Co., 1925.
Baa-Baa. London, Humphrey Milford, 1926.
Gee-Gee. London, Humphrey Milford, 1926.
Moo-Moo. London, Humphrey Milford, 1926.
Farmyard Friends by Lucy Diamond. London, Humphrey Milford/Oxford University Press, 1926.
The Children's Treasury. London, Thomas Nelson, 1929.
The Wise Little Goat. London, Ginn, 1932.
The Land of Many Delights by Wentworth Hill. London, James Nisbet. 1933.
The 'Everyday' Books. London, J. M. Dent & Co., 1937-43.
The Valley in the Woods by Roger Noakes. London, J. M. Dent & Co., 1947.
The Children of Primrose Lane by Noel Streatfeild. London, Collins, 1947.
Dandelion Cottage by Carroll Rankin. London, Evans Bros., 1948.
Dusty's Windmill by Kitty Barne. London, J. M. Dent & Co., 1949.
We Hunted Hounds by Christine Pullein-Thompson. London, Collins, 1949.
Blackfoot Lagoon by James Kinross. London, Gryphon Books, 1950.
To Be a Ballerina and Other Stories by Pamela Brown. London, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1950.
Family Playbill by Pamela Brown. London, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1951.
Barbie by Kitty Barne. London, J. M. Dent & Sons, 1952.
The Television Twins by Pamela Brown. London, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1952.
Harlequin Corner by Pamela Brown. London, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1953.
The Ambermere Treasure by Malcolm Saville. London, Lutterworth Press, 1953.
Code Word-Bontry by Lane Mitchell. London & Glasgow, Blackie & Son, 1953.
Lions in the Potting Shed by Margaret Baker. Leicester, Brockhampton Press, 1954; as Lions in the Woodshed, New York, MacGraw-Hill Book Co., 1955.
Paris Adventure by Viola Baylay. London, J. M. Dent & Co., 1954.
The Windmill Family by Pamela Brown. London, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1954.
How to be a Better Parent by Peter & Sylvia Duncan. London, Evans Bros., 1955.
Rosina and Son by Kitty Barne. London, Evans Bros., 1956.
Acorns and Aerials by Margaret Baker. Leicester, Brockhampton Press, 1956.
A Crown of Hope by Godfrey Winn. London, National Spastic Society, 1956.
Kashmir Advenure by Viola Baylay. London, J. M. Dent & Co., 1956.
The Open Book by Pamela Whitlock. London, Collins, 1956.
Corsican Adventure by Viola Baylay. London, J. M. Dent & Co., 1957.
Nicky Goes Ashore by M. C. Carey. London, J. M. Dent & Co., 1957.
Turkish Adventure by Viola Bayley. London, J. M. Dent & Co., 1957.
Lebanon Adventure by Viola Bayley. London, J. M. Dent & Co., 1958.
The Shadow on the Wall by Viola Bayley. London, J. M. Dent & Co., 1958.
Underground Alley by William Mayne. London, Oxford University Press, 1958.
Family Gold Rush by Hilda Sinopy. London, J. M. Dent & Co., 1959.
Swedish Adventure by Viola Bayley. London, J. M. Dent & Co., 1959.
The Summer in Between by Eleanor Spence. London, Oxford University Press, 1959.
Happy Day Stories by Enid Blyton. London, Evans Bros., 1960.
Jill is a Bridesmaid by Frederick Le Grice. Westminster, Church Information Office, 1960.
Mission on the Moor by Viola Bayley. London, J. M. Dent & Co., 1960.
A Pink Robin Story Book, illus. with Paddie Spratley. London, Longacre Press, 1961.
Round-Up on Exmoor by Mary de la Mahotiere. London, Lutterworth Press, 1961.
The Vicarage Children by Lorna Hill. London, Evans Bros., 1961.
London Adventure by Viola Baylay. London, J. M. Dent & Co., 1962.
My Bible Story by Gladys Plummer. London, Longmans, 1963.
The Tufty Club by Elsie Mills. RoSPA, 1963.
Benjamin's Brothers by Gladys Plummer. London, Longmans, Green & Co., 1963.
The Baby and the Princess by Gladys Plummer. London, Longmans, Green & Co., 1964.
Griff and Tommy and the Golden Image by John Hubert Griffiths. London, J. M. Dent & Co., 1964.
Italian Adventure by Viola Baylay. London, J. M. Dent & Co., 1964.
Scottish Adventure by Viola Baylay. London, J. M. Dent & Co., 1965.
The Team from Low Moor by Gillian Baxter. London, Evans Bros., 1965.
The Second Tufty Club Book by Elsie Mills. London, RoSPA, 1965?
Welsh Adventure by Viola Bayley. London, J. M. Dent & Co., 1966.