Comic Cuts - 14 January 2011

There's an old saying that God gives with one hand and takes away with the other. While I'm not a God-fearing, or even God-believing, person, you can't but wonder sometimes whether life, fate, destiny, karma—call it what you will—is taking potshots at you. Last week I mentioned taking on some additional work for Look and Learn which, frankly, is a very handy gig at what's proving to be a financially shaky time. And this week I hear that one of the magazines I've done some work for in the past is going onto hiatus after the next issue. It's simple synchronicity... there's no hand at work behind the scenes trying to screw with me but sometimes, just sometimes, you do wonder. Then, just when you think everything's going down the pan, a commission arrives from The Guardian.

So I've had a bit of an up-and-down week.

I'm hoping to have some news of a couple of other projects I've been working on soon. One I've been working on (although more off than on) since the tail end of November and the other is something that has been hanging around for quite some while as a possibility; the latest news I heard was that it was looking more likely to happen. And, in my usual "play it close to your chest and don't jinx it" way, I'm not going to say what either project is. Sorry.

Instead, here's something from someone who is talking about a project...

Shaqui Le Vesconte, who runs the amazing Gerry Anderson-related Technodelic website, is launching a new site dedicated to Look-In, the "junior TV Times" that ran throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Under the banner Look-In Unfamiliar, it promises to reveal "The Look-In You Never Saw" and Shaqui is promoting the site with a desk-top calendar of unseen artwork from the comic. He's also giving some away, so check out the site before the deadline on Sunday week (23 January).

Garth, the old Daily Mirror strip, now has a fan page on Facebook.

The BBC's The One Show had an interview with Gerry Anderson on Monday as part of a round of interviews he's doing to promote a new set of Royal Mail stamps (the piece, by Carrie Grant, starts about 8 minutes in). Even bigger news has also started to filter out that Anderson has completed a deal to make a new Thunderbirds series, which he discussed during a 3-minute interview on 5Live Drive (about 1hr 27m in). He wasn't able to say much, having signed a non-disclosure agreement, but did say that the new show would retain all the popular old elements but will be made "with today's technology and today's thinking and today's pace". Although he danced around the question about whether the show would be made with puppets or CGI, he emphasized the fact that it would be modernized. Can we assume, then, that it will be CGI?

Being a huge fan of the old Thunderbirds, the main problem I see is scheduling. I think Anderson made a pretty good job of Captain Scarlet a few years back but the show was utterly ruined by the way it was shown on TV. I cannot imagine that anyone in television these days would broadcast a kids show in an uninterrupted, hour-long slot, despite the fact that Thunderbirds re-runs have been hugely successful. The originals run for around 50 minutes, but any new show is likely to be around 22 minutes long, so the long, languid build-ups, the lengthy scenes of the Tracy brothers getting into their craft, the secondary storylines (often featuring The Hood or Lady Penelope and Parker) and the thrill-upon-thrill climaxes are almost certainly going to be condensed or dropped to fit the slim running time. And after ten minutes some lousy Saturday morning presenter is going to interrupt the story just as it gets into full flow and you'll have to sit through some stupid, grungy game or the wailing of some kid-friendly band before you get part two.

OK, so let the kids have this format, but make each show a two-parter and, at some point, show them uninterrupted for the people who do have an attention span—44 minutes plus adverts nowadays equals an hour-long slot. Less time than the original, but at least it will give the writers a chance to put some plot into the stories and keep the bits that actually made the show worth watching.

Time, I think, for today's random scan... a triple treat today.

I was going to use Eliot Crawshay-Williams' Parade of Virgins, which turned up when I was digging around looking for a couple of the Donald Henderson Clarke books I posted the other day. It's not as spicy as the title makes it sound but what a fabulous cover by W. J. Roberts, an artist I've covered in the past. I spent a little time digging around the internet in the hope of finding more books from the same series (no luck, I'm afraid) but I did stumble across the following two examples of Hutchinson's Red Jacket series. So Eliot rises to our column header and I present these two for your viewing pleasure. The first is definitely by S. Abbey and the second is probably someone else.

See you next week.

G H R Young

G. H. R. Young was the author of a single collection of short stories, the British Library containing no further information, not even a full name. The book, The Talking Skull, is subtitled "And Other Selected Short stories--Grave & Gay" and contains 19 stories in 128 pages, a mixture of mystery, drama, satire and humour, the tales often having a sting in the tail.

The author was George Henry Robert Young, and I was fortunate enough to find a family tree with some details about his career. Young, born on 5 March 1904, was the son of Joseph Chamberlain Young, a New Zealand businessman and entrepreneur, and his wife Teresa (nee Fair). George attended Victoria University College, Wellington, but appears not to have completed his education as his name does not appear in lists of graduates from the university. In 1926, his play Just as you say, Dear, was performed at the Wellington Grand Opera House instead of the usual annual Students' Association Extravaganza to generally positive reviews.

George brought the play to England, arriving in January 1927 (his occupation described on passenger records as "copy-writer") and it debuted at the 'Q' Theatre in Kew on 24 January 1928, although so many changes were made to put it on that George washed his hands of it.

Another play, Dangerous Women; or The Green Geraniums. A farce in 3 acts by George H. R. Young, was registered for copyright in the USA on 22 September 1933 by a Fred Duprez of London (presumably an agent). And a report in the (New Zealand) Evening Post for 30 May 1940, reveals that another play, The Lady from Aberdeen, was shortly to be produced in London. A review of yet another play, Atmosphere for Murder, performed at the Chepstow Theatre Club, appeared in The Times (27 April 1950). The complex plot would appear to revolve around a prostitute, "a good girl gone wrong", who pines for something better. But by the end she has been exposed, her husband appalled, the villain of the piece killed, the heroine cast out by her parents, her husband then killed in error by the heroine and the heroine dead by her own hand. "It is one of those pictures of vice in which every stroke betrays the hand of innocence ... If it was not exactly life, it was a good deal more amusing," says the reviewer.

Although it's an odd combination of initials, there appear to be two further George Henry R. Youngs... a second George was born in Bristol in 1893, the son of George J. Young, who was married to Ada M. Weaver in 1914 and subsequently to a Hetty Lane in 1919. He died in 1974 in Tiverton, Devon. Then there's George Henry R. Young, born in 1916 who died in Portsmouth in 1987 who, I suspect, is the George H. R. Young who married Lee O. Thompson in Portsmouth in 1967.

If we exclude these from the frame, there's a further marriage of a George H. R. Young, to Gladys I. Brown in Marylebone, London, in 1930. I may be stretching to believe that this is our playwright. However, it does appear that George most likely returned to New Zealand in the 1930s as I can find no further trace of him in the UK.

Eric Williams

Born in London on 13 July 1911, Eric Williams joined the R.A.F. on the outbreak of war and served in Bomber Command. In December 1942 he was shot down over Germany and was eventually imprisoned in Stalag-Luft III from which he made his successful escape. He was awarded the Military Cross.

After escaping from Poland, Williams returned to England via Sweden and Williams was posted to the Philippines for the remainder of the war. It was on the voyage home after the Allied victory that he wrote a short book based on the escape entitled Goon in the Block (1945).

A few years later he wrote a fictionalised (third-person) account as The Wooden Horse, calling himself Peter Howard, which sold over a million and a quarter copies by 1955. It was originally published in 1949 and filmed in 1950 with Leo Genn, Anthony Steel and David Tomlinson as the three escapees; Williams' comrades were actually Michael Codner ("John Clinton"), who was killed on active service in Malaya in 1952, and Oliver Philpot ("Philip Rowe"), who later wrote his own account of the escape under the title Stolen Journey. Both also received the M.C. for their exploits.

Williams amassed a collection of escape literature and edited The Escapers (1953), a collection of firsthand stories of escape from the 16th century to modern times, and a sequel, More Escapers (1968).

Williams lived in a stone-and-wood house he built on the cliffs of Start Bay in Devon, where he continued to write. He died on 24 December 1983.

The Wooden Horse (London, Collins, 1949)
Fontana Books 2, 1953, 256pp. Cover by John Rose?
----, 2nd imp., 1955.
----, 3rd imp., Feb 1956.
----, 4th imp., 1956, 256pp, 3/-. [same cover as above]

The story of the Wooden Horse that two British officers built in a German prisoner-of-war camp in 1943 is likely to become as immortal a legend as that of the mythological device on which it was modelled, the Trojan Horse. The latter was designed as a means of entering a beleaguered city, while its 20th century counterpart was built as a means of escape from what the Germans believed to be an escape-proof camp.
__How the wooden vaulting horse was used to conceal an escape tunnel, and how Eric Williams (the 'Peter' of the story) and his companion made their hazardous way across war-time Germany to freedom, must always rank as one of the masterpieces of escape literature.

The Tunnel (London, Collins, 1951)
Fontana Books 62, 1955, 251pp, 2/-. Cover by John Rose

Eric Williams' account of his escape from a German prisoner-of-war camp by means of a wooden horse will surely become as immortal as the device on which it was modelled. In The Wooden Horse he confined himself to the story of that successful escape; he omitted his earlier adventures and the abortive attempts. Now in The Tunnel, still calling himself Peter Howard, he tells how he was shot down while on a bombing mission over Germany; how he managed to get within a stone's throw of the Dutch frontier but was caught by a search party of foresters; how he escaped from his captors and this time succeeded in reaching Holland only to be captured again.
__Readers of The Tunnel will feel the shock of prison camp life with its perpetual hunger, lack of privacy, and isolation from normal existence; will watch the reaction of different temperaments to the inactivity and monotony; will be excited by the brief moments of drama, and warmed by the growing spirit of comradeship and determination which paved the way for later success.

Carve Her Name With Pride

Violette Bushell was the daughter of a French mother and English father who had met during World War I, born in Paris in 1921. She grew up in London and was working in a department store in Brixton when the war broke out. Aged 19, after a whirlwind romance, she married Etienne Szabo, a 31-year-old French officer whom she met in July 1940. The couple had a daughter, Tania, but Etienne never saw her as he died at the Battle of Alamein in 1942.

Violette Szabo had joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service in 1941 and, following her husband's death, she offered her services to the British Special Operations Executive. Fluent in French, she received intensive training and was parachuted into occupied France near Cherbourg in April 1944. Code-named 'Louise', she helped reorganise a French Resistance network that had been broken up by Germans and reported on factories being used by the Germans.

After returning to England for five weeks, she returned to France a few days after D-Day and was working with the Maquis sabotaging communication lines. She was captured by Germans when a car in which she was a passenger was stopped at a German roadblock. In Limoges, she was interrogated for four days before being moved to Paris and then to Ravensbruck concentration camp where she suffered from hard labour and malnutrition before being executed on or around 5 February 1945, aged only 23. She was posthumously awarded the George Cross and the Croix de Guerre.

R. J. Minney's Carve Her Name With Pride was published in 1956 and filmed the following year. Released in February 1958, the film starred Virginia McKenna and Paul Schofield. More recently, two further biographies have appeared: Violet Szabo: The Life That I Have by Susan Ottaway (2002) and Young, Brave and Beautiful (2007), the latter an exhaustive study of her mother's two missions by Tania Szabo.

Carve Her Name With Pride by R. J. Minney (London, George Newnes, 1956)
Pan Books G103, (Jan) 1958, 190pp, 2/6. Cover by Cy Webb, Movie tie-in.
Fontana 1486, 1965, 190pp, 3/6.
----, 2nd imp., Nov 1965.
----, 3rd imp., May 1967, 190pp, 3/6. Photo cover
Fontana 2104, 4th imp., 1969, 190pp.
----, 5th imp., Jun 1971, 190pp

(* With thanks to Curt Purcell for the additional scan.)

Comic Cuts - 10 January 2011

A quick note from me: I've only just had a chance to update and post the Recent Releases and Upcoming Releases columns, which haven't appeared since the beginning of last month. Hopefully I'm back on track with them.

This time round there are some additional titles from Rebellion (up to September) and some juggling from Titan, whose Johnny Red: Falcon's First Flight volume is definitely due to appear shortly after a long, long wait. Copies of the book exist, so if you haven't ordered it yet, order it now!

I've been asked about the announcement of Heros the Spartan, but at the moment I don't have any further information other than that the ISBN has been registered and Amazon are pretty quick to update their site with newly registered books.

It's also worth noting that Century 21: Classic Comic Strips from the Worlds of Gerry Anderson Vol.5 seems to be back on the schedule for April. This was delayed following the closure of Reynolds & Hearn and may now carry another imprint, but at the moment it's credited to R&H at Amazon.

One last thing, as we're talking about comic reprints. Commando is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2011 and will have a year-long series of classic reprints of early issues. The latest releases include The Desperate Days which was originally Commando #12, and it looks pretty darn splendid in its original Ken Barr cover. If you want to relive your childhood reading and support the only British adventure comic to have survived since the 1960s, pick up a Commando... and if you can't find them in the shops, you can always order directly from the new Commando webite, which has a few interesting new features and also offers a digital subscription.

Percy G. Griggs

My mate Jim Mackenzie sends over an enquiry: "I have a copy of The Bard's Cloak by Percy G. Griggs on loan," he says. "It is a first class boy's adventure story of unusual intensity about three characters called Pat, Rodda and Allan. I was stunned when reading it to think that this author seems to have avoided any critical acclaim. I suppose it is because the title is misleading people into thinking it is a story about Wales and Welshness. Pitkin, the publisher, doesn't seem to be that well-known in this field of childrens' books but this story is much better than any other emerging in this field in the period between 1948-1955." But what do we know about Griggs? The book usefully provides a little information - and the above photo - from which I've been able to cobble the following.

He was born Percy George Griggs on 24 August 1907, his birth registered in Wandsworth "within occasional sound of Bow Bells". "Percy G. Griggs at an early age showed that he had inherited a full share of the Londoner's lively wit and agility of mind," reveals the biographical sketch.

Griggs worked as a mechanic in a London Omnibus garage, as a junior clerk in a City Company; he was a garage proprietor, manufacturer, policeman, salesman, journalist and advertisement writer. He was married to Winifred Mary Allen (b. 29 January 1911) in Hammersmith in 1934 and they lived at 109 Nork Way, Banstead, Surrey, for many years.

Percy Griggs served in the Air-Sea Rescue Service between 1942 and 1945, and spent some eventful yearrs on the English Channel as Engineer on a high speed rescue launch. For relaxation during the 'Blitz' he had begun writing stories for children and published his first book, a collection of fairy stories, in 1944. His experiences in the services convinced him to turn his hand to writing adventure novels, the first of which, Treachery at 40 Knots, appeared from an Australian publisher in 1947, followed by The Treasure on Weir Island in 1949. "He believes that the convincing adventure story must have a factual background, and occasionally alarms his friends by sudden excursions to caverns in Wales, night rides on Railway-engine foot-plates, and any other extraordinary activity he may feel necessary to repair deficiencies in adventurous experience."


The Bard's Cloak, published in 1950, seems to have been his last novel for boys and girls, although he did continue writing for a publisher called Medallion Press Ltd. for whom he adapted various folk tales as well as writing original stories that were made into pop-up books. This was around 1951/53, after which he seems to have stopped writing.

One imagines that Griggs' other business was able to capitalise on the end of paper rationing and the steadily growing economy as, following his demobilisation from the R.A.F., he helped establish an advertising agency in London. His output of fiction would not have sustained his family, which by then included four children: Deidre M. (b.1936), Barbara G. (b.1940), Andrew R. (b.1942) and Timothy D. (b.1948), whom Griggs credited for "their insatiable appetite for stories" which spurred him to inspiration and their "exacting standards of judgment" which provided "an invaluable check to the appeal of his work."

Griggs continued to live in Banstead until his death in 1967, aged 59. His wife continued to live at the same address, briefly relocating to 8 Nork Way, Banstead, prior to her death in 1979.

PUBLICATIONS

Books for children
Once in a Blue Moon: Fairy Tales, illus. Edward Lander. London, Hammond, Hammond & Co., 1944.
Treachery at 40 Knots. Sydney, Shakespeare Head, 1947.
The Treasure on Weir Island. London, John Langdon, 1949.
The Donkey and the Dragon, illus. Edward Lander. London, John Langdon,1949.
Dandy Lion, illus. Edward Lander. London, 1949.
The Squirrel and the Gnome. [publication information unknown]
Up the Wooden Hill. [publication information unknown]
The Bard’s Cloak, illus. George Bowe. London, Pitkin, 1950.
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, retold by Percy G. Griggs. London, Medallion Press, c.1952.
Goldilocks and the Three Bears. London, Medallion Press [Medallion Junior Play-Tales], c.1952
The Hare and the Tortoise. London, Medallion Press [Medallion Junior Play-Tales], c.1952.
The Story of Cinderella. London, Medallion Press [Medallion Junior Play-Tales], c.1952.
The Cow Who Gave No Milk, illus. Edward Lander. London, Medallion Press, c.1953. [pop-up]
The Fish that Grew Too Fat, illus. Edward Lander. London, Medallion Press, c.1953. [pop-up]
The Goat with the Tar-brush Beard, illus. Edward Lander. London, Medallion Press, c.1953. [pop-up]
The Swan from the Stars, illus. Edward Lander. London, Medallion Press, c.1953. [pop-up]

Two John Freemans?

Here's another poser sent in by my pal John Herrington. I thought I'd share it with you because we have our own John Freeman in the world of comics who maintains a list of other John Freemans (scroll down the linked page).

Here's the background:

In the 1920s, British publisher Hurst & Blackett published four novels credited to John Freeman.

Fan of Belsey's. 1922.
This My Son. 1922.
Punch and Holy Water. 1923.
Kennedy's Second Best. 1927.

Confusing the issue of authorship is the fact that two different John Freemans have been credited with various combinations of the books: John Frederick Freeman (1880-1929), a British poet and critic, and John Dolliver Freeman (1864-1943), a Canadian writer. According to John Herrington:

Some sources say the last two titles were by the Canadian author. National Library of Canada  says this, as well as listing the other two titles as by the British author.

But the entry for John D Freeman in Who's Who Among North American Writers does not list any of the above titles. While the Times obituary for John F Freeman in 1929 says that among a few novels he wrote Fan of Belsey's and This is (sic) my son. Google Books lists three of the books by John D. Freeman, but Punch and Holy Water by John Freeman. There is no entry for John D in the Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature. The Wikipedia entry for John F Freeman does not list any novels."

Fan of Belsey's and Kennedy's Second Best seem to be set in Canada, which would imply the Canadian Freeman."

And this is what I've come up with...

Copyright records in the US for 1926 list John Dolliver Freeman (1864- ) as the author of Kennedy's Second Best: A story of the Great North-west by John D. Freeman. New York, Chicago [etc.] Fleming H. Revell Company [1926].

The book was also published in the same year by McClelland & Stewart of Toronto, so the US edition may be a reprint. Both Canadian and US editions are available via AbeBooks, the author listed as John D. Freeman; the British Library also list this title as appearing as by John D. Freeman so I believe I'm on safe ground when I say that was the byline they were published under.

Since the other guy is John Frederick Freeman, I think it would be reasonably safe to credit John Dolliver Freeman with that particular book.

I can't find any of the others in contemporary copyright records.

Fan of Belsey's. The tale of the ironside was published in the UK by Hurst & Blackett in 1922 but was originally published in Canada by a minor publisher, The Musson Book Company (Toronto). A Canadian dealer has a copy "Fiction story of Eastern Canada. Signed, with a message, by the author in the inside front cover. No date given but author's message dated 1923." However, according to the Canadian National Catalogue it was published in 1921. Just to confuse the issue, the Canadian National Catalogue has the book listed twice, once giving the author as John Freeman, 1880-1929 (i.e. John Frederick), and a second listing under John D(olliver) Freeman. Only one library (University of Victoria) lists the latter; four list the former, including the National Library.

So, on reflection, I suspect this is indeed by John Frederick Freeman, as implied by the Times obituary. Perhaps Hurst & Blackett received the manuscript and put it out to Canadian publishers to offset their costs ahead of the British printing.

The other two books, This My Son and Punch and Holy Water were then published by Hurst and Blackett. Neither had Canadian editions nor American editions as far as I can see. I'd say these were by a British writer and the Times obituary at least connects John Frederick Freeman to This My Son. Punch and Holy Water is credited to John Freeman, 1864- (i.e. John Dolliver Freeman) by one Canadian university library, but I'd suggest this is in error.

And there's a fifth book: God's Infidel (London, Williams & Norgate, 1924) listed by the British Library. Which I'd put at the feet of John Frederick Freeman.

So I'd say John Frederick Freeman wrote Fan of Belsey's (1921), This My Son (1922), Punch and Holy Water (1923) and God's Infidel (1924) and John D. Freeman wrote Kennedy's Second Best (1927).

Bernard Home Thomson

Another enquiry, another run around the family records circuit. Bernard Home was credited with a couple of thrillers in the 1930s and has previously been identified as Bernard Cecil Home (1895- ). However, copyright records prove this to be an error and the author was, in fact, Bernard Home Thomson. The problem? Bernard Home Thomson doesn't turn up on any birth, marriage or death records.

I could find only a couple of immediate traces: he served with the British Red Cross during WWI (the abbreviation BRX had me scratching my head for ages!); and he was elected to The Arts Club in 1918.

Possibly the most useful trace was the marriage of his daughter Juliet Daniel to Richard Hugh Sedley Allen in 1945. Marriage records give a fuller account of her name as Juliet E. B. Daniel. A notice of the marriage says she was the daughter of Bernard Home Thomson and the late Mrs Thomson.

Further digging reveals that she was was Juliet E. B. Thomson who married John S. Daniel in 1936; they had a son, Julian Abbott Daniel. Her full name was Juliet Ella Bernardine Allen who was born on 4 June 1909, died Chichester, W. Sussex, in 1983. A look on the census for 1911 shows that she was living in Chelsea.

And that leads to Bernard Henry Home Thomson, 37 (b. c.1873/74), also living in Chelsea, and presumably the Bernard Henry H. Thomson who marries at St. George Hanover Square in 1905 to either Rose Duke or Helen M. Scholfield. There's a Rose May Thomson living in Chelsea in 1911 and also a Helen Margaret Thomson (b. c.1881) who is more in line with her Bernard's age.

Bernard H. H. Thomson is in the 1901 census, aged 27, living in Chelsea. The son of Zoe Thomson, he was born in Bishop Thorpe, Yorkshire and had a younger sister, Madeline, also born in Yorkshire.

Working backwards: in 1891 Zoe (already widowed) is living with son Wilfred Forbes Home Thomson (33, born in Oxford) and Madeline Ita Mary Thomson (15). Wilfred, incidentally, married in 1899 which makes me wonder if he is the father of Ivo Wilfred Home Thomson, born in York on 14 October 1902.

Now, Zoe Thomson (b. c.1836) turns up in the 1861 census, born in Athens, Greece, but a British subject, and married to William Thomson (b. c1819, Whitchurch, Cumberland) [corrected to Whitehaven, Cumberland] with children Ethel Zoe Thomson (4), Wilfred F. H. Thomson (3) and Jocelyn H. Thomson (1), all born in Oxford. Dad is Provost of [unreadable] Coll. Chaplain to the [unreadable] and author.

In the 1871 census, Zoe is still with William, but now with Ethel (b. Oxford, 14), Zoe (b. Oxford, 8), Beatrice (b. London, 6) and Alexandra (b. Bishop Thorpe, 3) and now living in Bishop Thorpe. Dad has a more legible occupation this time: Archbishop of York.

William has an entry at Wikipedia and I also found a lengthy and interesting article about him here which is mostly derived from his entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (not online), from which we learn that William and Zoe had nine children (four sons, five daughters). We also learn that Zoe was the daughter of James Henry Skene, British consul at Aleppo, and the granddaughter of James Skene of Rubislaw, the friend of Sir Walter Scott. A quick dig around library listings turns up a book about her: Zoe Thomson of Bishopthorpe and her friends by Edith C. Rickards, with a preface by Basil Thomson (London, John Murray, 1916). Basil was the third son of William and had a very interesting career as a spycatcher as well as writing novels, someone worth taking a look at in the future.

So, we should now be possible to list all the children...

Ethel Zoe (b. Oxford, 1856)
Wilfred Forbes Home Thomson (b. Oxford, c.1857)
Jocelyn Home Thomson (b Oxford, 31 August 1859; d. 13 February 1908)
Zoe (b. Oxford, c.1860)
Basil Home Thomson (b. Oxford, 1861; d. 1939)
Beatrice (b. London, c. 1862)
Alexandra (b. Bishopthorpe, c. 1865)
Bernard Henry Home Thomson (b. Bishopthorpe, 9 January 1874)
Madeline Ita Mary Thomson (b. Bishopthorpe, c.1875)

A search for William Thomson in Bishopthorpe (sic) turns up William in the 1881 census but no sign of the rest of his family. Just some servants. In fact, there seems to be no sign of Zoe or any of the family at all in the census.

All of which brings us back to Bernard Henry Home Thomson, who was educated at Winchester College and received a civil service commission in 1895 as a clerk in the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division. He subsequently trained as a lawyer at Lincoln's Inn where he passed in Roman Law in 1910. He travelled extensively in Germany, Austria, Hungary, France, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Algeria and Tunisia. He died in Bridport, Dorset, in 1953, aged 79.

PUBLICATIONS

Novels as Bernard Home
Passport to Death. London, Hutchinson & Co., Apr 1937.
Rogue Haven. London, Hutchinson & Co., 1938.

Comic Cuts - 3 January 2011

Hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and New Year. This is the first Comic Cuts column of 2011 and I don't really have an awful lot of news as I've spent most of the past few days catching up on various things after having a lively New Year and spent a couple of days relaxing to recover, catching up on some TV and wearing in some new socks and slippers--once you reach my age, the comfort of your feet suddenly becomes vitally important, especially if you work from home and wear slippers all day, every day.

I'm going to have to keep this short as I'm feeling knackered. It's late and I was planning to have an early night, only to get caught up in another bibliographical manhunt regarding an author called Bernard Home. I'll post the results tomorrow once I've wrangled the information into some sort of order. But that means that this column is being written with one drooping eye on the screen and the other on the little clock in the corner which is creeping inexorably towards one o'clock.

The reason for this is that we upped the number of entries I'm writing for the Look and Learn blog to four a day and I'm desperately trying to get ahead so that I can concentrate on a couple of longer articles. Individually they're not that taxing, but leaping from one subject to another and changing tack 15 times a day can be exhausting. I feel like a computer that's been running too long and programmes are starting to act up. I need to turn myself off and on again to reset everything back to the factory settings.

A couple of bits of news that have arrived in the (e-)mail: The recently launched Modern Language Association (MLA) Discussion Group on Comics and Graphic Narratives have launched their own blog, which will be of interest to anyone with an academic leaning towards the study of comics.

And Paul Gravett and Alex Fitch are helping to organize the Comics & Conflicts Conference to be held at the Imperial War Museum on 18 and 19 August 2011. Guests and speakers will include Pat Mills, Martin Barker, Roger Sabin, Garth Ennis, Jacques Tardi and Jean-Pierre Verney. Further details to be announced but you can see some preliminary information here.

Alex Fitch adds that his Panel Borders site is now back online.

Dez Skinn has updated his website again with some additional bits added to his Comic Conventions history and more about his time at Marvel UK. There are lots of links but if you've not read Dez's ongoing biographical meanderings of a life spent in comics and magazines, here's a good jumping in point.

I think I'll have to call it a night.

A couple of random scans today. Over the past couple of years I've compiled quite a few cover galleries relating to authors I like. One of the earliest was A. E. Van Vogt and I've added a number of scans over the past 30 or so months. Two more books came to light when I was emptying boxes just before Christmas and I managed to get them on the scanner this morning. If you've not seen the gallery: part 1 here, part 2 here. But it would be a shame if these weren't seen by a wider audience.

Donald Henderson Clarke

Donald Henderson Clarke was an author of semi-hard-boiled novels and romances that were considered risqué back in the 1930s. Indeed, one—Female—was attacked by the Society for the Suppression of Vice and deemed obscene by the New York Court of Appeals in 1934 (having been earlier cleared of obscenity by a Manhattan court); his work was amongst 573 books banned from being imported into Canada in 1952.

Donald Henderson Clarke was born in South Hadley, Massachusetts, on 24 August 1887, the son of Louis H. Clarke, a general physician, and his wife Georgiana J. Clarke, who married aged 23 and 22 respectively. Donald grew up in Holyoke City, Hampden County, Massachusetts, the eldest of an expanding family which would, over the next few years, grow to include his siblings, Phillip, Elizabeth and Louis. Henderson entered Harvard in 1904, left in 1906 but was readmitted in 1909, only to leave again in 1910.

At the age of 26, and then working as a reporter, Clarke married Vita R. Clarke. They separated and Clarke married Gladys Webber in 1929.

Arnold Rothstein was the central figure in the "Black Sox" baseball scandal, in which he fixed the outcome of the 1919 World Series. He was murdered in 1928 and, a year later, Clarke published In the Reign of Rothstein, which was a best-seller. After this he turned to writing fiction, starting with the gangster novel Louis Beretti, a bootlegger and gunman in New York's underworld. Later novels such as Impatient Virgin, The Chastity of Gloria Boyd and Confidential kept him in the best-sellers lists.

Clarke's first encounter with Hollywood was when, in 1930-33, four of his novels were adapted as movies, including Louis Beretti (as Born Reckless), Millie, The Impatient Virgin (as The Impatient Maiden) and Female; two further novels (The Housekeeper's Daughter and Millie's Daughter) were filmed later. Clarke worked directly for Hollywood, co-writing The Women Men Marry (1937) and scripting The Ghost Ship (1943), based on a story by Leo Mittler.

Clarke wrote an autobiography, Man of the World. Recollections of an irreverent reporter, published in 1951. I really ought to see if I can dig out a copy from somewhere.

He retired to Florida and died at Delray Beach on 27 March 1958, aged 70.

As usual, our cover gallery concentrates on British editions (although the column header is an American paperback - Avon 575). I don't have copies of all of Henderson's books, so if anyone can fill some of the gaps, please let me know.

Impatient Virgin
John Long, (Sep 1940), 192pp, 1/-, [Merlin] 45th thou.
——, 70th thou.
——. 95th thou.
——, 121st thou.
Digit Books D236, 1959, 157pp

Louis Beretti
John Long, (Dec 1940), 192pp, 1/-, [Campbell]. 38th thou.
——, 63rd thou.

Young and Healthy
John Long, (Dec 1940), 192pp, 1/-, [Dolan]. 32nd thou.
——, (Mar 1941), 192pp, 1/-, 57th thou.
Beacon, nd (1950s), 1/6.

Kelly
John Long, (Mar 1941), 192pp, 1/-. 57th thou.
Digit Books R355, (May 1960), 192pp, 2/6, [Maguire/Ace D-367].

Lady Ann
John Long, (Mar 1941), 192pp, 1/-, [Campbell]. 35th thou.
——, 60th thou.
——, 90th thou.

Millie
John Long, (Mar 1941), 192pp, 1/-. 32nd thou.

The Housekeeper's Daughter
Werner Laurie, n.d. (1949?), 160pp, 1/6. Cover by unknown

Confidential
Digit Books D274, (Jul 1959), 160pp, 2/6, [anon].

A Lady Named Lou
Digit Books R305, (Dec 1959), 160pp, 2/6, [Maguire?].

Alabam'
Digit Books R371, (Jul 1960), 160pp, 2/6. Cover by George Ziel (Jerzy Zielezinski) (reprints Ace-D428)

The Chastity of Gloria Boyd
Digit Books R424, (1960), 155pp, 2/6.


PUBLICATIONS

Novels
Louis Beretti. New York, Vanguard Press, 1929; London, A. A. Knopf, 1930.
Millie. New York, Vanguard Press, 1930; London, John Long, 1932.
Impatient Virgin. New York, Vanguard Press, 1931; London, John Long, 1932.
Young and Healthy. New York, Vanguard Press, 1931; London, John Long, 1932; as The Regenerate Lover, Novel Library, n.d..
The Chastity of Gloria Boyd. New York, Vanguard Press, 1932; London, John Long, 1932.
John Bartel, Jr. New York, Vanguard Press, 1932; London, John Long, 1933.
Female. New York, Vanguard Press, 1933.
Alabam'. New York, Vanguard Press, 1934; London, T. Werner Laurie, 1938.
Lady Ann. New York, Vanguard Press, 1934; London, John Long, 1935.
Nina. New York, Vanguard Press, 1935.
Kelly. New York, Vanguard Press, 1935; London, John Long, 1935.
Regards to Broadway. New York, Vanguard Press, 1935; London, T. Werner Laurie, 1942.
Tawny. New York, Vanguard Press, 1936; London, T. Werner Laurie, 1938.
Confidential. New York, Vanguard Press, 1936; London, T. Werner Laurie, 1937.
That Mrs. Renney. New York, Vanguard Press, 1937.
The Housekeeper's Daughter. New York, Vanguard Press, 1938; London, T. Werner Laurie, 1939.
Millie's Daughter. New York, Vanguard Press, 1939; London, 1939.
Murderer's Holiday. New York, Vanguard Press, 1940; London, T. Werner Laurie, 1941.
A Lady Named Lou. New York, Vanguard Press, 1941.
Joe and Jennie. New York, Vanguard Press, 1949.

Omnibus
Threesome (contains Impatiant Virgin, Confidential, Millie's Daughter). Garden City, N.Y., Sun Dial Press, 1947.
Three More (contains Tawny, Louis Beretti, The Chastity of Gloria Boyd). Garden City, N.Y., Sun Dial Press, 1947.

Non-fiction
In the Reign of Rothstein. New York, Vanguard Press, 1929.
The Autobiography of Frank Tarbeaux. New York, Vanguard Press, 1930.
Man of the World. Recollections of an irreverent reporter. New York, Vanguard Press, 1951.

Others
Now I'll Tell by Carolyn Rothstein (Mrs. Arnold Rothstein), with an introduction by Donald Henderson Clarke. New York, Vanguard Press, 1934.

Honey West

News of the death of actress Anne Francis on 2 January at the age of 80 inspired me to dig around the shelves to find the few Honey West novels I have. Honey West was one of the first female private eyes to appear on TV, based on a series of novels by G. G. Fickling, the pen-name of husband and wife team Gloria G. (1926- ) and Forrest Ellison 'Skip' Fickling (1925-1998).

The first novel was written in 1956 and published the following year by Pyramid Books. The book was a success and led to seven sequels. The Ficklings were working on the ninth novel in the series when they were approached by Dick Powell of Four Star International, who wanted to adapt the character for TV. After a year of negotiation, Honey West made her debut in an episode of Burke's Law in April 1965 played by Anne Francis. The following September, Honey's own series began, running for thirty 30-minute black & white episodes until April 1966. In her adventures she was joined by Sam Bolt (played by John Ericson) and a pet ocelot called Bruce. The novels were all reissued and sold over a million copies. Most of the series was reprinted by Mayflower in the UK (although out of order); two further novels were published by Pyramid in 1971.

The TV series earned itself a loyal following and Anne Francis was nominated for an Emmy Award. There were plans to expand the show to an hour and film in colour but ABC, on which the show was televised, decided not to renew.

Anne Francis had already had a remarkable career, appearing in films such as Bad Day at Black Rock and Forbidden Planet, and went on to appear in dozens of TV series ranging from Charlie's Angels to Dallas to Murder She Wrote. In 1994 she reprised her role as Honey West for a single episode of the revived Burke's Law.

The Honey West Novels
This Girl For Hire. New York, Pyramid Books G-274, 1957; London, Mayflower (4), 1966.
A Gun For Honey. New York, Pyramid Books G-344, 1958.
Girl on the Loose. New York, Pyramid Books G-366, 1958; London, Mayflower (6), 1966.
Honey in the Flesh. New York, Pyramid Books G-411, 1959; London, Mayflower (3), 1966.
Girl on the Prowl. New York, Pyramid Books G-453, 1959.
Kiss for a Killer. New York, Pyramid Books G-520, 1960; London, Mayflower (5), 1966.
Dig a Dead Doll. New York, Pyramid Books G-560, 1960; London, Mayflower (nn), 1967.
Blood and Honey. New York, Pyramid Books G-623, 1961; London, Mayflower (1), 1966.
Bombshell. New York, Pyramid Books R-1106, 1964; London, Mayflower (2), 1966.
Honey on her Tail. New York, Pyramid Books T2410, 1971.
Stiff as a Broad. New York, Pyramid Books T2494, 1971.


The complete series is available on DVD, as is an excellent book by John C. Fredriksen about the show.

James S. Rand

As we've not had one for a while, I thought I'd pick a random Digit book and see what I could find out about the author. I struck lucky with The Stake, which not only has a fabulous cover by Rainey but an interesting author, too.

James S. Rand was the pen-name of  Bernard George Attenborough, born in Moseley, Birmingham, in 1912, the son of George (a surveyor and architect) and his wife Lilian Elizabeth (nee Oakley). He was educated at the University of Birmingham and subsequently became a journalist in Fleet Street, working as a contract writer for the News Chronicle and Sunday Times. It was whilst on an assignment in Lisbon, Portugal, that he met his Scottish-born wife-to-be, Eileen Osborne, who had been serving in the WRAF. They married two years later in 1947.

It was a bet with another newspaper correspondent that led to Attenborough's first fiction writing. Challenged to write a story in the style of a popular thriller writer in only a few hours, he succeeded and began selling articles and short stories in addition to his journalistic work. He then became managing director of Osborne & Co. (Glasgow) Ltd., a firm of metal merchants, and moved to Cardross, Ireland. Here he wrote his first novel, The Stake, a thriller set in Spain.

From a boyhood interest in shooting and fishing, Attenborough graduated to deerstalking in Scotland and hunting big game of Africa and Central and South America. This fascination became the background for his later novels. Turning freelance in 1964, his next novel, Run for the Trees, an international bestseller, was described as "probably the finest book ever written about White Hunters in the African bush", and Viva Ramirez! involved trips to South America to research "calling" jaguars.

Attenborough moved from Ireland to Scotland in 1965 but a tragic shooting accident in 1975 in which his son was killed, led to Attenborough and his wife returning to Ireland. Attenborough wrote one further novel, The Great Sky and the Silence, published in 1979. He lived at Compass Hill, Kinsale Co. Cork, where he died in April 1982.

PUBLICATIONS

Novels
The Stake. Glasgow, William MacLellan, 1959.
Run for the Trees. London, Dobson, 1966; New York, Putnam, 1966.
Viva Ramirez! London, Joseph, 1970; New York, Bantam, 1970.
The Great Sky and the Silence. London, Macdonald & Jane's, 1979; New York, McGraw, 1980.

Mary Cathcart Borer

Mary Irene Cathcart Borer was born in London on 3 February 1906, the daughter of Archibald James Borer (a hospital secretary) and his wife Florence Mary (nee Edmonds), who were living at 106 Kyverdale Road at the time of their daughter's Christening on 29 April at St. Andrew's, Stoke Newington.

She was educated at Skinners' Company's School for Girls and University College, London, where she graduated with a B.Sc. in 1928. She then worked as a senior research assistant in the ethnological department of the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum until 1935 when she married archaeologist Oliver Humphrys Myers (1903-1966). With him she went on the Egypt Exploration Society's archaeological expedition to Luxor in Egypt under Sir Robert Mond (1935-37) but the marriage did not last and she separated from her husband after three years. She was still listed in the London telephone book as Mrs. Mary I. C. Myers in the early 1950s, when she was living at 51 Victoria Drive, Putney, and remained Mary Myers until her death.

Her first novel, Kilango, about a Kikuyu boy in East Africa, was written whilst she worked at the Welcome Museum and her experiences in Luxor inspired Taha, the Egyptian. Two further novels, The Highcroft Mystery and The House with the Blue Door, followed quickly before the outbreak of World War II.

Molly Myers, although usually credited as M. Cathcart Borer, became a scenario writer for British National Films, her first screen story credit appearing in 1940 with the comedy Old Mother Riley in Society starring Arthur Lucan and Kitty McShane.In 1942 she joined Gaumont-British Instructional Films, writing propaganda films for the British Council and the Ministry of Information, her credits including Surgery in Chest Disease, Tom's Ride and Sports Day (1943-44). She then became a script editor and writer for the Rank Organisation's children's film department in 1944-51. Her credits included Circus Boy (1947) starring James Kenney as a young boy who gains the confidence to win a swimming race for his school after spending the summer with some circus friends (many of the cast were real performers from Bertram Mill's Circus). Fortune Lane, based on a story by Gunby Hadath, was about a young boy (played by Douglas Barr) who uses his savings to visit his grandfather in Ireland.

Most of her children's movies were highly moralistic, with her young protagonists somehow earning a reward for their thoughtfulness or honesty. Borer later explained, "Towards the end of the war, conditions for children in London were at their worst. Many who had been evacuated to the country, on the outbreak of hostilities, had come back. Fathers were away, mothers working; schools were disorganized and under-staffed and there was not nearly enough discipline. The Odeon and Gaumont Saturday morning cinema clubs were re-opened and managers complained that the children were badly in need of some form of moral training. The comptroller of the Odeon group suggested that a one-reeler film be made, showing that stealing by finding was as bad as any other kind of stealing, and I was asked to write the script. When it was shown, the effect was astonishing. Managers reported that their cinemas had come to look like lost property offices with all the things children found and brought to them. It was the effect of this film, which today would seem unbelievably corny, which made me realize how we have wasted and misused the enormous potential of the screen. I have for long advocated the harmfulness of indoctrinating children (or adults either, for that matter) with scenes of crime and violence. Much has been said and written about the harmful effects of television on morals and outlook, but very little about the good it could do. It obviously does have an effect, so why not a good one instead of a bad one?"

Her other credits include Under the Frozen Falls, The Last Load, Castle Sinister, The Little Ballerina, Three Bags Full, Trapped by the Terror, The Mystery of the Snakeskin Belt, The Dragon of Pendragon Castle and The Case of the Missing Scene.

In 1950 she adapted Kenneth Grahame's The Reluctant Dragon for the BBC and, in 1951, went freelance, maintaining a prolific output of screenplays and television plays, her TV credits include The Poachers (1956), the first episode of the Gerry Anderson puppet show Four Feather Falls (1960), The Secret of the Nubian Tomb (1961) and the series The Fifth Form at St. Dominic's (1961), the latter based on the novel by Talbot Baines Reed.

She was also an occasional playwright, her most famous play co-written with Arnold Ridley, who achieved late celebrity status as Private Godfrey in Dad's Army but was, before that, a well-known playwright. Tabitha (1955) was a comedy thriller about three old ladies who decide to poison their odious landlady; the impulse to murder her deserts them at the last minute, so they are somewhat taken aback when the woman dies anyway.

In the 1960s she began to concentrate on writing non-fiction and produced dozens of popular books, many of them relating to the history of Britain, especially London and some of its boroughs.

Mary Myers lived at Robin Hill, 4 Station Road, Tring, Hertfordshire, in later life. She died on 2 December 1994, aged 87, her death registered at St. Albans, Hertfordshire.

PUBLICATIONS

Novels
Kalingo, illus. P. E. Fawkes. London, Sir I. Pitman & Sons, 1936
Adventure in August. London, Sir I. Pitman & Sons, 1937.
The Sinclair Family. London, Sir I. Pitman & Sons, 4 pts., 1937.
Taha the Egyptian, illus. Kathleen M. Blair. London, Sir I. Pitman & Sons, 1937.
The Highcroft Mystery. London & New York, F. Warne & Co., 1939.
The House with the Blue Door. London, Sir I. Pitman & Sons, 1939.
Bush Christmas (novelisation of the film). London, Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, 1947.
The First Term at Northwood. London, Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, 1948.
The Valley of the White Lake. London & New York, Frederick Warne & Co., 1948.
The Little Ballerina (novelisation of the film). London, Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, 1949.
The Secret Tunnel (novelisation of the film). London, Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, 1950.
Distant Hills. A tale of pioneering days in Africa. London, Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, 1951.
The Mystery of the Snakeskin Belt (novelisation of the film). London, Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, 1951.
The Last Load (novelisation of the film). London, Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, 1952.
The Mysterious Poacher, and The Lone Climber (novelisations of the films). London, Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, 1952.
Trapped by the Terror (novelisation of the film). London, Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, 1952.
The Birthday Present, illus. Sheila Connelly. London, George G. Harrap & Co., 1954.
The Boabab Tree. London & New York, Frederick Warne & Co., 1955.
The Dog and the Diamonds, illus. W. White. London, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1956.
Tim's Donkey, illus. Sheila Connelly. London, Longmans, 1956.
The Dragon Remembered, illus. Val Biro. Leicester, Brockhampton Press, 1956 [1957].
The Quest of the Golden Eagle, illus. Robert Hodgson. London, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1957.
Aesop's Fables, retold by Mary Cathcart Borer. London, Longmans, 1959.
Don Quixote, some of his adventures retold by Mary Cathcart Borer, illus. Pauline Baynes. London, Longmans, 1960.  Sophie and the Countess, illus. W. F. Phillips. London, George G. Harrap & Co., 1960.
Tales of King Arthur, illus. Will Nickless. London, Longmans, 1961.


Non-Fiction
Traders and Trappers. The story of Canada. London, Sir I. Pitman & Sons, 1938.
Wagons and Warriors. The colonization of South Africa. London, Sir I. Pitman & Sons, 1938.
Mankind in the Making. London & New York, Frederick Warne & Co., 1939; new edition, F. Warne, 1962.
Two Thousand Years Ago. Daily life in Palestine in the time of Our Lord. London, Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, 1948.
People Like Us. A social history of Britain. London, Michael Joseph, 1960.
Citizenship. Its rights and responsibilities, illus. Sheila Bradburn. London, Museum Press, 1962.
The City of London. Its history, institutions and commercial activities. London, Museum Press, 1962.
Africa. A short history of the peoples of Africa. London, Museum Press, 1963.
Women Who Made History, illus. Moira Hoddell. London & New York, Frederick Warne & Co., 1963.
Boadicea, illus. Pauline Diana Baynes. London, Longmans (Famous Lives 1), 1965.
Joan of Arc, illus. Pauline Diana Baynes. London, Longmans (Famous Lives 2), 1965.
Christopher Columbus, illus. Pauline Diana Baynes. London, Longmans (Famous Lives 3), 1965.
King Alfred the Great, illus. Pauline Diana Baynes. London, Longmans (Famous Lives 4), 1965.
Richard I. London, Longmans (Famous Lives 5), 1965.
Julius Caesar. London, Longmans (Famous Lives 6), 1965.
Hereward the Wake. London, Longmans (Famous Lives 7), 1965.
Alexander the Great. London, Longmans (Famous Lives 8), 1965.
Famous Rogues. London, Longmans, 1966.
Britain--Twentieth Century. The story of social conditions, illus. Norman & Lilian Buchanan. London & New York, Frederick Warne & Co., 1966 [1967].
Covent Garden. London & New York, Abelard-Schuman, 1967.
People of Medieval England, illus. Charlotte Mensforth. London, Max Parrish, 1967.
People of Tudor Endland, illus. Charlotte Mensforth. London, Max Parrish, 1967.
England's Markets. The story of Britain's main channels of trade. London & New York, Abelard-Schuman, 1968.
People of Stuart England, illus. Charlotte Mensforth. London, Macdonald & Co., 1968.
People of Victorian and Edwardian England, illus. Michael Morse. London, Macdonald & Co., 1969.
People of Georgian England, illus. William Randell. London, Macdonald Educational, 1969.
What Became of the Mamelukes?, designed & illus. Denis Wrigley. Exeter, Wheaton, 1969.
Agincourt, October 25, 1415, illus. Edward Mortelmans. London, Lutterworth Press, 1970.
The First World War. London, Macmillan, 1970.
The Boar War, October 10, 1899-May 31, 1902, illus. Douglas Phillips. London, Lutterworth Press, 1971.
Liverpool, illus. Paul Shardlow. Harlow, Longman, 1971.
A Visitor's Guide to Britain. London, Fontana, 1971.
The British Hotel Through the Ages. Guildford, Lutterworth Press, 1972.
Two Villages. The story of Chelsea and Kensington, foreword by Sir Malby S. Crofton. London, W. H. Allen, 1973
A Week in London. London, Pelham, 1973.
The American Civil War, 1861-1865, illus. Douglas Phillips. Guildford, Lutterworth Press, 1974.
Background to Archaeology. London, Pelham, 1975.
Mayfair: The Years of Grandeur. London, W. H. Allen, 1975.
Willingly to School. A history of women's education. Guildford, Lutterworth Press, 1975.
Hampstead and Highgate. The story of two hilltop villages. London, W. H. Allen, 1976.
The History of Berkeley Square. London, Berkeley Square Jubilee Association, 1977. [extract from Mayfair: The Years of Grandeur]
London Walks and Legends. London, Mayflower, 1981.
The Story of Covent Garden. London, hale, 1984.
An Illustrated Guide to London 1800. London, Hale, 1988.

Plays
Tabitha. A play in three acts, with Arnold Ridley (produced Glasgow, 1955). London, Samuel French, 1956.
Shadows of the Sands, with Arnold Ridley (produced Northampton, 1956).
Sophie and the Countess. London, Cassell (Red Lion Plays 1), 1968.
The Man in the Green Cloak. London Cassell (Red Lion Plays 2), 1968.

Associational
Circus Boy by Patita Nicholson, based on the original screenplay by Mary Cathcart Borer & Cecil Musk. London, Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, 1949.

Gulliver Guinea-Pig's Happy Christmas part 3

(* Gulliver Guinea-Pig © Bill Melendez Productions.)