Robert Ayton - The Story of Printing (Ladybird Books, 1970)

 

 

 

 

 

 

(* © Ladybird Books)

Robert Ayton - The Story of the Motor Car (Ladybird Books, 1962)

 

 

 

(* © Ladybird Books)

Robert Ayton - Arms and Armour (Ladybird, 1971)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(* © Ladybird Books)

Robert Ayton

Robert Ayton was a popular illustrator and artist with the Eagle group, best-known for his work on the historical strip 'Jack o’Lantern'. He was also the artist for around 50 volumes for Ladybird Books, which will be our subject for this week on Bear Alley. But first, a little about Ayton.

Robert Ayton was born in Bowes Park, Wood Green, on 12 May 1915, the second son (of four) of William Norton Ayton (1871-1928) and his wife Mabel Minnie (née Jones, 1886-1964). The family moved to Dagmar Avenue, Wembley, when Robert was 4 and shortly before he began attending Park Lane Primary School. Rupert Ayton, Robert's grandson, describes his grandfather as "a free spirit. I think he got this from childhood... his mother was stone deaf and lacked coping mechanisms. The four boys ran wild and one can only guess that Robert was the wildest, The deep scar over his left eye was the result of a free-for-all among the boys over a fruit bowl. Evidently Rob had his face in it when it shattered under duress. He was also a very good school boy hurdler, which takes a certain devil-may-care attitude." In later life, Rupert says, he was "a bon vivant. Full of large getures. Very outgoing. Very charming. A little flirtatious. He was always very positive and gave everyone he met a boost."

William Ayton died suddenly in 1928 when Robert was nearly 13, and the boy was offered an apprenticeship with Adkin & Sons, part of Imperial Tobacco, who had employed his father and grandfather. Robert turned down the job, despite the reversal of the family's fortunes, and instead began attending Harrow School of Art in around 1930, with occasional additional spells at St. Martin's Central School and Hammersmith School of Art.

After completing his studies he worked for several advertising agencies before going freelance, his clients including Rolls Royce. His most significant client was probably Castrol for whom he produced numerous illustrations of cars, boats and aircraft. ("I think he may have worked for Dorland's initially and perhaps directly for Castrol later on," says Rupert Ayton. "Wakefield, who owned Castrol, seemed very magnanimous and I can see him contracting with Robert directly." His advertising appeared in numerous magazines, including Flight, The Aeroplane and Popular Flying.

During 1939, Ayton met his wife-to-be, Joan K Elmes, who lived locally and had seen her husband to be from her bedroom window as a teenager. They married three years later whilst Ayton was on leave from serving in the Army as a dispatch rider in France and Germany; later, he was part of the military police, processing prisoners of war in Germany.

After his demob, the couple moved to Earl's Court and later to Barnes. In the late 1950s they began renting a house in Montacute, a village near Yeovil in Somerset. In the early 1960s, they moved again, to Brockley Elm Farm, Backwell, south-west of nearby Bristol, where Joan worked worked as a personal secretary at Bristol Infirmary. "She really made him what he was," says Rupert Ayton. "Joan gave him that boost in confidence that was behind his personality. And Robert, being a free spirit, she kept the house together. They never had any money and I think the bailiff was no stranger to them. But that is part of what made Robert who he was."

Returning to freelance work after the War, Ayton was influenced by conversations with fellow artist Norman Williams to offer his services to comics; Williams was by then working for Eagle, and found the regular deadlines and steady pay advantageous. Ayton had, in 1946 or 1947, produced a strip 'Children of the New Forest' for The Joyride Comic, a slim, cheaply produced independent published by William Foster. Now, Ayton was offered a far more substantial strip, 'Jack o'Lantern', starring a young orphan in early nineteenth century London named Jack Yorke. Escaping the orphanage, he discovers that his father is alive, but now a highwayman trying to recover his good name after being cheated of his fortunes by his brother, Humphrey. Jack saves his father from the gallows. Jack's adventures also involved him with spies, escaped prisoners and took him to France and the Napoleonic wars.

Beginning in January 1955, Ayton produced almost 250 weekly episodes of 'Jack o'Lantern' in full colour from scripts by George Beardmore. Ayton would research the strips heavily to make sure that the clothing, uniforms and settings were all authentic. His wife later recalled tramping around and photographing the village of Bosham when Ayton needed location reference material for the Jack o'Lantern story 'The Moonshiners'.

Ayton continued to work on the Eagle until 1959, tired of deadlines and keen to face other challenges, but did not cut all ties, as he continued to turn out half-pagers for Girl amongst other comic work.After a two-year break, he took on a back-cover biography for Eagle, 'The Golden Man', the story of Sir Walter Raleigh, scripted by Marcus Morris and Guy Daniel, which replaced Frank Hampson's epic 'The Road to Courage' after Easter 1961.

Beginning in 1960 he was the first of many Eagle artists to contribute illustrations to Ladybird Books, producing at least 40 title for them, and illustrating many books for the Oxford University Press, and two books for a Welsh language publisher. He also became a part-time lecturer at the West of England College of Art and produced background work for BBC Bristol, including The Animal Game, The Countryman and Ramshackle Road. In 1980 he was elected an artist member of the Bristol Savages

In 1983, Ayton moved to a small glassworker's row house in Nailsea, near Clevedon. He died there following a heart attack in Spring 1985, aged 70. He was survived by Joan, who died in 1997.

PUBLICATIONS

Illustrated Books
The Story of Flight by Richard Bowood. Loughborough, Wills & Hepworth (Ladybird), 1960.
Great Inventions by Richard Bowood. Loughborough, Wills & Hepworth (Ladybird), 1961.
Railways by Richard Bowood. Loughborough, Wills & Hepworth (Ladybird), 1961.
Ships by Richard Bowood. Loughborough, Wills & Hepworth (Ladybird), 1961.
The Story of the Motor Car by David Carey. Loughborough, Wills & Hepworth (Ladybird), 1962.
The Ladybird Book of the Weather by F. E. Newing & Richard Bowood. Loughborough, Wills & Hepworth (Ladybird), 1962.
The Story of Houses and Homes by Richard Bowood. Loughborough, Wills & Hepworth (Ladybird), 1963.
The Story of Clothes and Costumes by Richard Bowood. Loughborough, Wills & Hepworth (Ladybird), 1964.
The Story of Churches and Cathedrals by Richard Bowood. Loughborough, Wills & Hepworth (Ladybird), 1964.
The Night Sky by Mary T. Bruck. Loughborough, Wills & Hepworth (Ladybird), 1965.
The First Ladybird Key Words Picture Dictionary by J. McNally. Loughborough, Wills & Hepworth (Ladybird), 1965.
The Story of Our Rocks and Minerals by Allen White. Loughborough, Wills & Hepworth (Ladybird), 1966.
The Ladybird Book of Toys and Games to Make by James Webster. Loughborough, Wills & Hepworth (Ladybird), 1966.
A Ladybird Book of Musical Instruments by Ann Rees. Loughborough, Wills & Hepworth (Ladybird), 1966.
A Ladybird Book of Your Body by David Scott-Daniell. Loughborough, Wills & Hepworth (Ladybird), 1967.
The Story of Oil by W. D. Siddle. Loughborough, Wills & Hepworth (Ladybird), 1968.
The Story of Lighthouses, Lightships and Lifeboats by Olwen Reed. Loughborough, Wills & Hepworth (Ladybird), 1968.
The Story of Radio by F. G. Goodall. Loughborough, Wills & Hepworth (Ladybird), 1968.
Tricks and Magic by James Webster. Loughborough, Wills & Hepworth (Ladybird), 1969.
The Story of Printing by David Carey. Loughborough, Wills & Hepworth (Ladybird), 1970.
The Story of Furniture by Edmund Hunter. Loughborough, Wills & Hepworth (Ladybird), 1971.
The Story of Arms and Armour by Edmund Hunter. Loughborough, Wills & Hepworth (Ladybird), 1971.
The Story of Nuclear Power by E. H. Childs. Loughborough, Wills & Hepworth (Ladybird), 1972.
The Story of Medicine by Edmund Hunter. Loughborough, Wills & Hepworth (Ladybird), 1972.
Prehistoric Animals and Fossils by Michael Smith. Loughborough, Ladybird Books, 1973.
The Stars and Their Legends by Roy Worvill. Loughborough, Ladybird Books, 1973.
A First Book of Aesop's Fables retold by Marie Stuart. Loughhborough, Ladybird Books, 1974.
A Second Book of Aesop's Fables retold by Marie Stuart. Loughborough, Ladybird Books, 1974.
Aesop's Fables retold by Marie Stuart (omnibus; contains: A First Book of Aesop's Fables and A Second Book of Aesop's Fables). Loughborough, Ladybird Books, 1975; revised with text by Audrey Daly, Loughborough, Ladybird Books, 1983.
Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp by Marie Stuart. Loughborough, Ladybird Books, 1975.
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves retold by Marie Stuart. Loughborough, Ladybird Books, 1975.
Famous Legends Book 1: Theseus and the Minotaur [and] Perseus and the Gorgon's Head by J. D. M. Preshous. Loughborough, Ladybird Books, 1975.
Famous Legends Book 2: The Labours of Heracles [and] Jason and the Golden Fleece by J. D. M. Preshous. Loughborough, Ladybird Books, 1975.
Aladdin [and] Ali Baba retold by Marie Stuart (omnibus; contains: Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves). Loughborough, Ladybird Books, 1976.
Tales of King Arthur: The Deeds of the Nameless Knight by Demond Dunkerley. Loughborough, Ladybird Books, 1977.
Tales of King Arthur: The Knights of the Golden Falcon by Demond Dunkerley. Loughborough, Ladybird Books, 1977.
Tales of King Arthur: Sir Lancelot of the Lake by Demond Dunkerley. Loughborough, Ladybird Books, 1977.
Tales of King Arthur: Mysteries of Merlin by Demond Dunkerley. Loughborough, Ladybird Books, 1977.
Talkabout Holidays by Margaret West; illus. with Martin Aitchison. Loughborough, Ladybird Books, 1977.
Great Civilisations: The Aztecs by Brenda Ralph Lewis. Loughborough, Ladybird Books, 1978.
Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals by Graham Welfare (adapts earlier titles Dinosaurs by Colin Douglas and Prehistoric Animals and Fossils by Michael Smith); illus. with Bernard Robinson. Loughborough, Ladybird Books, 1978.
The Ladybird Colouring Book of Soldiers and Castles, illus. with Frank Humphris. Loughborough, Ladybird Books, 1978.
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, retold by Fran Hunia. Loughborough, Ladybird Books, 1978.
Read It Yourself: William Tell retold by Fran Hunia. Loughborough, Ladybird Books, 1979.
The Princess and the Pea by Hans Christian Anderson, retold by Vera Southgate. Loughborough, Ladybird Books, 1979; revised text by Nicola Baxter. Ladybird Books, 1993.
The Wolf and the Seven Little Kids by the Brothers Grimm, retold by Vera Southgate. Loughborough, Ladybird Books, 1979.
Beauty and the Beast retold by Vera Southgate. Loughborough, Ladybird Books, 1980; revised text by Audrey Daly, Loughborough, Ladybird Books, 1993.
Oxford Junior Readers series by Mike Samuda, illus. with others. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1980-81.
Junior Science: Air by John Paull. Loughborough, Ladybird Books, 1982.
Stories From History Book 1 by David Oakden. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1982.
Stories From History Book 2 by David Oakden. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1982. 

(* The bibliography was previously published here on 27 November 2009, a post I've retained as I spotted at least one person has linked to it. 'Jack o'Lantern' and 'The Great Sailor' © Dan Dare Corporation—Ayton completed the latter when his friend Norman Williams died in 1957; 'The Story of Ruth' © IPC Media; quotes from Rupert Ayton are derived from his article 'Robert Norton Ayton: The Ladybird Years' (⇒ PDF))

Jack Campbell - The Lost Fleet cover gallery

Jack Campbell is the pen-name of John G. Henry, a former US Navy officer who turned to writing in the 1990s, publishing his first SF short story in Analog in September 1997. He quickly turned to writing novels, publishing his first (Stark's War) in 2000 and averaging just over a book a year ever since—19 books up to May 2014. The books form three main series, all of which fall into the military SF category, beginning with the Stark's War and JAG in Space series. The Lost Fleet first appeared in 2006 and subsequently spun off into into two another series: The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier and The Lost Stars.

Jack Cambell has an official website. There's always Wikipedia if you want to know more about John G Hemry and The Lost Fleet series.

Dauntless
Ace Books (US) 0441-01418-6, Jul 2006, 293pp, $6.99. Cover by Pat Turner
Titan Books 978-0857-68130-0, Jan 2011, £7.99.

Fearless
Ace Books (US) 978-0441-01476-7, Feb 2007, 295pp, $6.99. Cover by Pat Turner
Titan Books 978-0857-68131-7, Jan 2011, £7.99.

Courageous
Ace Books (US) 978-0441-01567-2, Jan 2008, 299pp, $7.99. Cover by Peter Bollinger
Titan Books 978-0857-68132-4, Jan 2011, £7.99.

Valiant
Ace Books (US) 978-0441-01619-8, Jul 2008, 284pp, $7.99. Cover by Peter Bollinger
Titan Books 978-0857-68133-1, Feb 2011, £7.99.

Relentless
Ace Books (US) 978-0441-01708-9, May 2009, 320pp, $7.99. Cover by Peter Bollinger
Titan Books 978-0857-68134-8, Mar 2011, £7.99.

Victorious
Ace Books (US) 978-0441-01869-7, Apr 2010, $7.99. Cover by Peter Bollinger
Titan Books 978-0857-68135-5, Apr 2011, 393+[20]pp, £7.99.

The Mystery of William Caffyn

THE MYSTERY OF WILLIAM CAFFYN

by

Robert Kirkpatrick

William Caffyn was a publisher of penny-part serials in the 1840s who suffered a similar fate to many of his contemporaries  –  imprisonment for publishing a libel and bankruptcy  –  and who subsequently appears to have vanished without trace.  Yet he could have had a rather more illustrious career  –  Frank Jay, in his study of cheap Victorian periodicals Peeps into the Past, wrote that "he ranks next to [Edward] Lloyd in sensational literature".

Caffyn was born in the Southwark parish of St. George on 28 September 1806, the son of John Caffyn, an ostler, and his wife Ann.  He was baptised, as William Buckle Punsham Caffyn, at the parish church of St. Saviour's, Southwark, on 16 March 1821, the family's address given as Red Cross Street.  Where his name originated from, and why he was baptised at the age of 15, is a mystery.

In the 1841 census, he is shown as a bookseller living in Mile End Old Town, married to Ann, born around 1811. Unfortunately, there is no online record of his marriage. Also living with him were three children  –  Julia, aged 7;  Mary, aged 2;  and John, aged 7 months.  The only online record for any of these is for Julia's baptism, which took place at St. Dunstan's, Stepney, on 25 June 1837, with William described as a stationer.

According to the Book Trade Index, Caffyn began operating out of 31 Oxford Street, Mile End, in 1836, probably as a stationer and/or bookseller.  He first appears as a publisher in August 1844, when he advertised Bell's Life Gallery of Comicalities, a series of comic engravings by artists such as George Cruikshank and the Punch artist John Leech, which had originally appeared in the periodical Bell's Life in London (at the time the country's leading sporting newspaper).  According to Caffyn's advertisement, the original engravings cost 6,000 guineas, although he was selling them for one penny a sheet.

Three years later, Caffyn began issuing penny–part serials.  The British Library Catalogue lists five of these, and a further five titles are listed by Frank Jay (with the proviso that there were "many others"):

• Jerry Abershaw, or The Mother's Curse (by the author of 'Dick Turpin' [i.e. Henry Downes Miles])  (30 nos.) [1847-48]
• The Ruined Cottage, or The Farmer's Maid:  A Romance of Real Life (credited to Hanna Maria Jones, but likely to have been written by James Lindridge)  (78 nos.)
• Santo Sebastiano, or The Heiress of Montalvan:  A Romance of the Eighteenth Century (by Catherine Cuthbertson)  (68 nos.) 1846-47
• De Lisle, or The Shipwrecked Stranger:  A Romance of Real Life (by James Lindridge)  (49 nos.)
• The Mysteries of Old Father Thames:  A Romance (attributed to Thomas Frost)  (32 nos.) [1848?]
• Alice Leighton, or The Murder at the Druid Stones (by Thomas Frost)  (51 nos.) [1847?-48?]
• Melina, the Murderess, or The Soldier Victim  (29 nos.)
• Emma Mayfield, or The Rector's Daughter (by Thomas Frost)  (52 nos.) 1848
• David Watson, or The London 'Prentice  (24 nos.) [1848?]
• The British Log Book

All of these are dated between 1846 and 1848.  Some were published in collaboration with William Mark Clark of Warwick Lane, Paternoster Row, and George Vickers, of Holywell Street, with Clark re-issuing at least four (The Ruined Cottage, Alice Leighton, De Lisle and Emma Mayfield) in the 1850s.

In May 1849 Caffyn appeared before magistrates charged with libel, his address being given as 31 Sydney Street, Mile End, and he subsequently appeared at the Central Criminal Court on 18 June 1849.  The libel was published in a periodical called Sam Sly, or The Town, which Caffyn had been publishing since the previous year.  This was a somewhat scurrilous gossipy magazine modelled on The Town, which had been founded in 1837 by the printer Joseph Last and edited by Renton Nicholson until its closure in 1840.

The libel centred on the Rev. Robert Liddell, the Vicar of Barking, who, the magazine alleged, had had an affair with his cook.  First up in the dock was James Winch, a bookseller in Barking, who claimed that he knew nothing about the magazine's contents, but was nevertheless found guilty and imprisoned for six months.  Caffyn and two other defendants, John Tredgold and John Philip Crantz (the latter named in the Old Bailey transcript, although The Times gave his name as William Smith), pleaded guilty.  Caffyn, as the publisher, was pressed to identify the author of the libel, but explained that he was unable to do so as "There was a box in his shop to receive communications for Sam Sly, and they were all anonymous."  It was also said in Caffyn's defence that while he had been unaware of the libel when it was published, he had stopped selling the magazine as soon as he was made aware of it, and, indeed, the magazine was now defunct.  Even though the prosecution was not pressing for punishment, its main concern having been to suppress the magazine, Caffyn was fined £10, imprisoned for six months and bound over in the sum of £100 to keep the peace for three years.

Crantz, who was alleged to have opened a shop in Barking specifically to sell the magazine, was sentenced to six months in prison and bound over for three years;  and John Tredgold, who was Caffyn's apprentice, was discharged on his own recognisance of £100.  Crantz later re–appeared as the publisher of the Weekly Chronicle.

In late 1850/early 1851 Caffyn found himself in a debtors' prison.  In January 1851 he was summonsed to appear in the Court for the Relief of Insolvent Debtors, where he was described as a "Bookseller, Publisher, Newsvendor and Proprietor of a Circulating Library".  His imprisonment was, however, a ruse to clear his debts by underhand means. In March 1851 he applied to be discharged, a petition which was opposed by one of his creditors, the publisher William Mark Clark.  As The Times reported (24 March 1851), Caffyn "had allowed all his stock and furniture to be seized by a person named Twigg, to whom he had given a bill of sale on account of an alleged debt."  This, in the judgement of the Bankruptcy Commissioner, was a clear fraud.  "The insolvent and Twigg had concocted a fraudulent bill of sale and then sought, by means of a friendly arrest, to get rid of the creditors by a discharge from this court."  The Commissioner ruled that Caffyn "had the power of getting out of prison as he got in, by the aid of his friend Twigg", and Caffyn's petition for discharge was dismissed. 

Caffyn was still in prison (the White Cross debtors' prison) on the night of the 1851 census (Sunday 30 March), but that is the last we know about him.  There is no sign of his wife and children in the 1851 census, although William was shown on the Electoral Register at 31 Oxford Street, Mile End, in 1852.  After that date, the whole family has disappeared.  What happened to them is anybody’s guess.

_____________________________________________________

* Following up on Robert's feature, I managed to track down a couple of additional bits of information which are worth adding here. One thread I tried to tease was what happened to Caffyn's family, as, due to their odd and easily misspelled surname, they seemed to have disappeared entirely from any records. I did discover that Mrs Caffyn was Mary Ann Caffyn, born in Queenborough, on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, circa 1811, although I have yet to discover her maiden name.

Her children include Julia, born circa 1834, Mary Ann, born 1838, and John, whose birth seems to have been in late 1840 but unrecorded. Another daughter, Rebecca, was born in 1842. I believe Mary Ann (the daughter) may have died in 1844 and John, too, may have died as he is not to be found living with his mother in 1851. The family was listed under the name Caffin and Mrs. Caffyn's occupation was given as News Agents Shop. Daughters Julia and Rebecca were living with her at 3 Oxford Street, in the borough of St. Dunstan, Stepney, London.

It was at the St Dunstan All Saints church that Julia Caffyn and author Thomas Frost—12 years her senior—posted their marriage bans in August 1851, following closely on the heels of the death of Frost's first wife. Julia had a son (Henry Caffyn Frost) and two daughters (Julia, Alice) by Frost, and the family, including a son (William T.) from Frost's first marriage, were living in Westminster in 1861. However, Frost subsequently abandoned his wife and children and began living with his third partner in 1867. Julia, by 1881, was living with her son Harry and his wife Lillian (nee Cooper) in Grafton Street, Soho.

Some of the penny partworks published by Caffyn were subsequently reprinted by William Clark (Caffyn's former creditor), including Alice Leighton, Emma Mayfield and The Ruined Cottage.

Comic Cuts - 6 June 2014

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. After soaring past page 100 of the Countdown to TV Action index layouts early in the week, I get the feeling that the main introduction is going to run to about 140 pages and the finished book somewhere in the region of 170 pages. Ballpark figures. The good news is that I should be able to compile the back end of the book a bit quicker than I've managed with the front.

One last thing that I need: if anyone has a copy of the Thunderbirds Annual 1972, I need a scan of the cover. It's the one below. Drop me a line at my usual e-mail address, which you can find below the photo at top left.

Below is a lengthy interview (1 hour 25 mins) with Neil Gaiman and Tori Amos. It was filmed at the Conference Centre of the British Library on Friday, 16 May, the event hosted by Paul Gravett and John Harris Dunning.

Random scans this week are three from Jon Ronson, writer of the recent Frank movie based loosely on Frank Sidebottom (Chris Sievey). Ronson is an interesting writer and documentary-maker who is probably best-known for his book The Men Who Stare at Goats, about the US Army's attempts to harness psychic powers for military use. It was filmed with George Clooney and Ewan McGregor in 2009.

Talking of Frank Sidebottom, the Kickstarter project to raise money for Being Frank: The Chris Sievey Story shot past its £20,000 target to hit a final figure of just over £48,500. The extra money should allow the film's director, Steve Sullivan, the chance to license some of Frank's old TV material for the movie. Having only really come across Frank as a comic/comic strip character, I would love to know more about the man behind the papier mache mask.

Them: Adventures with Extremists (2001)
Picador 0330-37546-6, 2002.
---- [9th imp.] n.d., 328pp, £7.99. Cover photo by Julia Hember

The Men Who Stare at Goats (2004)
Picador 978-0330-37548-1, 2005.
---- [10th imp.] n.d., 277pp, £7.99.

Lost at Sea: The Jon Ronson Mysteries (2012)
Picador 978-1447-22391-7, 2012.
---- [2nd imp.] n.d., 471pp, £8.99. Cover design by crushed.co.uk

With the design work on the book coming to a climax, I'm not convinced I'll be able to keep up the pace and post every day on Bear Alley. But I do have material already lined up for the weekend, including a look at the mysterious penny blood publisher William Caffyn and a Jack Campbell cover gallery. I'm thinking about Ladybird books for next week, but only if I can get some scans done.

Commando issues 4711-4714

Commando issues on sale 5 June 2014

Commando No 4711 – Firestorm In Flanders
On the morning of the 28 June 1914 two pistol shots fired in a Sarajevo street had plunged the world into war and pitched men of all nations against one another.
   Two years later, pursuing victory at all costs, man’s ingenuity had developed more terrible weapons. Yet the war in the west remained static and soldiers old and young had to face death every day.
   This is the story of one of them, Sergeant Brian Wade.

Story: George Low
Art: Keith Page
Cover: Ian Kennedy

Commando No 4712 – Blood Beach
Four outcasts, four men despised and shunned by their fellow soldiers — because their fame and prowess as boxers kept them safe, far from the front line…
   Here is the story of how one fighting sergeant licked all four “champs” into shape, and showed them that you can’t win wars with your bare fists!

Introduction
The author of this tale, Eric Hebden, joined the Royal Artillery well before the outbreak of WW2, serving right through that conflict in an Army career spanning some 25 years. After he left the service, he took to writing, penning some 130 or so stories for Commando. He wrote for other comics, but we’ll gloss over that. The reason for mentioning these details is to give you a clue that all the books he scripted have an undisputable air of authenticity about them, an atmosphere he transferred from his Army life. It adds an indefinable extra to the story.
   I don’t know about Mr Barr or Snr Cortes’s military service but their cover and inside art certainly do justice to this classic Commando.—Calum Laird, Commando Editor


Story: Eric Hebden
Art: Cortes
Cover: Ken Barr
Originally Commando No 143 (December 1964), re-issued as No 723 (March 1973)

Commando No 4713 – Fight – Or Die!
Minutes after Flying Officer Bill Foote bailed out of his damaged Hawker Typhoon over Germany he was a prisoner-of-war. Soon he was on his way to Dunsberg castle — a place like no other Stalag…
   There his captors enjoyed a barbaric sport — in a gladiatorial arena where prisoners fought to the death against a merciless Nazi champion.
   Bill knew that his turn in the arena would come. Soon he must FIGHT — OR DIE!

Story: David Turner
Art: Morahin
Cover: Janek Matysiak

Commando No 4714 – The Last Big Gun
Jean D’Arton of the Free French Army had watched the giant railway howitzers plummet to destruction and was convinced these devastatingly powerful weapons were out of the war for good.
   Now, though, information from the Resistance suggested that the Germans had salvaged at least one of these titanic guns.
   And with the Allied invasion of France due any day now, Jean just hoped these reports weren’t true.

Introduction
A long time staff artist, Jeff Bevan painted many Commando covers, as well as illustrating for several boys papers and comics. Mr Bevan was the go-to-artist for maritime pics in particular but, like all good illustrators, he was versatile and could do turn his hand to anything.
   His covers had a fairly offbeat look about them with unusual compositions and colours. Here he has surpassed himself — a lurid, all-encompassing red, and the Railway Gun is almost 3D and practically about to edge its way out of the page. For an action cover, I don’t think you can ask for much more than that.—Scott Montgomery, Deputy Editor

Story: David Heptonstall
Art: Ruiz
Cover: Jeff Bevan
Originally Commando No 2256 (February 1989), re-issued as No 3740 (August 2004)

Alan Lomas

We have occasionally taken a look at artists who have worked for Commando about whom little is known, but today we have an author. Alan Lomas penned 32 issues in the four years between October 1973 and August 1977, with 1975 his busiest year with 10 issues appearing. The following pages are from Two Minutes to Zero from that year, but reissued in 1989 and very recently reprinted again. The artwork is by the fantastic Pat Wright, son of David (Carol Day) Wright, who drew Modesty Blaise for a time in 1979-80 but later switched to drawing cartoons and taking on advertising work.

As for Alan Lomas, he remains untraced. Did he write any other comic strips? Thirty-two issues is pretty persistent and it makes me wonder if he was just starting out as a freelancer and found better-paying work in 1977. Alternatively, he might have retired in the early 1970s and found himself with time on his hands which he put to good use writing for Commando. If anyone knows, perhaps they'll get in touch.

Stripography
Escape from Tobruk, illus. C. T. Rigby (Commando 786, Oct 1973)
Betrayed, illus. Franch (Commando 800, Dec 1973)
Revenge of the Phantom, illus. John Ridgway (Commando 818, Feb 1974)
Act of the Monster, illus. Franch (Commando 822, Mar 1974)
Massacre at Mendhi Pass, illus. Cam Kennedy (Commando 860, Aug 1974)
Hair Trigger, illus. Gordon Livingstone (Commando 866, Sep 1974)
No-Man's Land, illus. John Ridgway (Commando 896, Dec 1974)
Forward the Raiders!, illus. Victor Hugo Arias (Commando 908, Feb 1975)
Hunt the Hunters, illus. Gordon Livingstone (Commando 917, Mar 1975)
Matilda on the March, illus. John Ridgway (Commando 933, May 1975)
Two Minutes to Zero, illus. Pat Wright (Commando 937, May 1975)
Secret of the Sands, illus. Colin Watson (Commando 945, Jun 1975)
Demons of Darkness, illus. Pat Wright (Commando 964, Sep 1975)
Jungle Expert, illus. C. T. Rigby (Commando 966, Sep 1975)
Jungle Madness, illus. Ferreria (Commando 973, Oct 1975)
Battle for the Bridge, illus. Gordon Livingstone (Commando 988, Dec 1975)
The Prisoners in the Castle, illus. Boluda (Commando 993, Dec 1975)
Learn Fast – or Die!, illus. Arthur Fleming (Commando 1008, Feb 1976)
Suicide Squad, illus. Maidagan (Commando 1017, Mar 1976)
Danger Ahead, illus. Francisco Cueto (Commando 1018, Mar 1976)
Raiding Party, illus. Gordon Livingstone (Commando 1022, Apr 1976)
Misfire!, illus. Pat Wright (Commando 1044, Jul 1976)
Wagons... Ho!, illus. Ibanez (Commando 1050, Jul 1976)
Assignment with Death, illus. Olivera (Commando 1074, Oct 1976)
In the Heat of the Action, illus. Ferreira (Commando 1078, Nov 1976)
Ghost Tiger, illus. Boluda (Commando 1084, Dec 1976)
Prisoners of War, illus, Juan Dalfiume (Commando 1093, Jan 1977)
Whispering Death, illus. Galindo (Commando 1094, Jan 1977)
The Cairo Secret, illus. Gordon Livingstone (Commando 1130, Jun 1977)
Open Fire!, illus, John Ridgway (Commando 1134, Jun 1977)
Shock Action, illus. Gordon Livingstone (Commando 1140, Jul 1977)
Beyond Courage, illus. Leopoldo Ortiz (Commando 1148, Aug 1977)

Mark Thomas Cover Gallery

I've been following Thomas since the days of The Mary Whitehouse Experience. Since then we've had TV shows like The Mark Thomas Product, radio shows like It's the Economy, Stupid and The Mark Thomas Manifesto and tours like Serious Organised Criminal (also available on DVD) and Bravo Figaro, which was also published as a CD and broadcast on radio.

The current show is about Thomas performing 100 acts of minor dissent within a year. To motivate his efforts, if he fails to perform them before May 12 next year, he'll donate £1,000 to UKIP.

The show has developed over time; on Wednesday, one of the acts he discussed was a protest, two days earlier, outside the offices of the Daily Star and Daily Express, papers forever complaining about migrants—for the most part a hardworking, tax paying section of the British workforce. The Express papers, on the other hand, contribute less to the British economy than they might otherwise do. "According to Panorama, UK companies in the GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) pharmaceuticals group and the Northern & Shell media group paid interest on substantial loans from Luxembourg subsidiaries. That interest was effectively taxed at less than 1% in Luxembourg, while a deduction for the payments reduced the profits chargeable to UK corporation tax at 28%." Richard Brooks was quoted as saying: ‘The company puts its money into Luxembourg and borrows it back. It just sends money round in a circle and picks up a tax break on the way.’" This isn't the first time Richard Desmond's companies have been investigated by the media.

So you need someone like Mark Thomas who, as he says, has reached 50 and now doesn't care  about what people think of his stunts. And they are stunts ... but stunts with a purpose and stunts that often turn the law in on itself. The show at the moment is a little bitty because events are still unfolding, but Thomas has already been pretty active, working with feminist artist Tracey Moberly to make porn magazines more acceptable to feminists and surprising for their readers, helping organise a GBLT party outside the Russian Embassy in Edinburgh and involving himself with the controversial move by Royal Parks to appoint a company to start collecting payment from people playing organised sports in Hyde Park.

Thomas and others responded by organising a What's the Time Mr. Wolf? championship and, whilst they didn't get charged by the company who collects the fees it highlighted the problem and being forced to pay fees to play in Royal Parks has now been dropped. A win for all of us, not just Thomas, although we can't all take the credit.

Thomas outlines dozens of ways you can enjoy yourself at the expense of corporations, multinationals and chain outlets (but not local businesses). He slips heckles into bad novels and sells stickers for books ("Also available in charity shops"; "Staff recommendation: keep the receipt"). He's trademarked Bastardtrade, his answer to Fair Trade.

These are little things, but little acts of dissent swell over time into movements and eventually into policies from governments. Maybe not everything, but more than you'd imagine. And Mark Thomas makes it look like fun, so go and see the show and think about maybe getting involved.

(* The above was written back in September last year when we went to see Mark Thomas  live during his 100 Acts of Minor Dissent tour. The tour has now finished, as has an accompanying art show held at the Millennium Gallery, Sheffield. There was a review in The Guardian recently noting that Thomas completed his task ahead of the deadline.)

As Used on the Famous Nelson Mandela: Underground Adventures in the Arms and Torture Trade
Ebury Press 978-0091-90921-5, 2006, vii+339pp.
Ebury Press 978-0091-90922-2, 2007, vii+339pp, £7.99. Cover designed by Two Associates

Belching Out the Devil: Global Adventures with Coca-Cola
Ebury Press 978-0091-92293-1, 2008, xviii+364pp, £11.99. Cover design by Two Associates
Ebury Press 978-0091-92704-2, 2009, xviii+364pp.

The People's Manifesto
Ebury Press 978-0091-93796-6, 2010, n/p, £4.99. Cover design by Two Associates

Extreme Rambling
Ebury Press 978-0091-92780-6, 2011, 346pp.
Ebury Press 978-0091-92781-3, 2012, 346pp.