H.W. EDITOR: ERIC FAYNE, Excelsior House, 113 Crookham Road, Crookham
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v 0 / " 0 0 / I � 0 I ,. � I / QI � ! u (.) I I () / / -H.W. EDITOR: ERIC FAYNE, Excelsior House, 113 Crookham Road, Crookham Hampshire,' England · INTRODUCTION BY THE EDITOR Our Annual seems to be understudying Tennyson's brook. "Men may come and men may go, ·but I go on for ever." - . The very thought is breathtaking that this is our 34th year. If we are spared, God willing, next year we shall reach what is called, ·though the reason eludes me, our Coral Jubilee. My very grateful thanks fo all our contributors who turn up so many onderful arti.eles every year and make it all possible, and to you, dear readers, whose love and loyalty make worth while every ounce of effort in its production. w Our thanks, too, to York Duplicating Services, and, especially to Mr. Gore Browne; for their superlative-work in'printing C .D. and its Annual during an - association which has continued between us for well over thirty years. We are so lucky with our good friends. 1980 has been a year of sunshine and shadow. The response to our 400th issue, way back.in the Spring, brought the very highest �egree of happiness. The shadow was cast by the passing to a higher life of a number of our loyal readers and friends - a few reaching advanced age, but some in the prime of life. At this time our sympathetic thoughts go out to all those who have lost de_ar ones in the past year. It only remains for me to wish you all a very Joyous and Peaceful Christmas, and may the New Year see all your brightest dreams come true. Madam joins me in these Christmas thoughts to you all, and our purr-feet office girl, the Princess Snowee, sends her special reetings to all your lovely pets. God bless you all, 1� g Yoor sincere frie l - (This Annual is privately circulated. The reproduction of the contents, either wholly or in part, without written permission from the Editor, is strictly forbidden.) OONTBH!S Page 1 - Foreword Page 2 - ·Contents Page 3 - 5 - A Rich Four Hundred Ernest Holman Page 6 - 11 - Some Thoughts on the Adventure Story W. T. Thurbon Page 12 - 15 - Set Fair For Greyfriars Leslie S. Laskey Page 16 - 17 - Christmastide has come Again Raymond Cure Page 18 - 25 - The Wheels of Fortune Jack Overhill Page 26 - 29 - Sexton Blake Library No. l's John Bridgwater Page 30 - 35 - The Visual And Aural In Hamilton Harold Truscott Page 36 - 37 - The Man Who Died Twice and The Man of Many Authors D. Harkness & Josie Packman Page 38 - 42 - The Cliff House Stories in the "Schoolgirl" Esmond Kadish Page 43 - 45 - Rex Hardinge' s 'Sixpence' Ray Hopkins Page 46 - 53 - End Of Year Assembly Leslie Rowley Page 54.- 62 - "The Public School Lives On" . Keith Hodkinson Page 63 - 69 - Elementary, Miss Watson� Mary Cadogan Page 70 - 73 - A Letter From St. Frank's Jim Cook Page 74 - 80 - Hamilton's Ghosts Roger M. Jenkins Page 81 - 105 - "Mr. Buddle's Adopted" Eric Fayne Page 106 - 108 - De Profundis Nie Gayle Page 109 - 112 - Personal Thoughts And Memories Cliff Smith Page 113 - 116 - Index to the C .D's Let's Be Controversial Series Page 118 - 119 - Too Much Detective Work - No Doubt W. 0. G. Lofts Page 121 - The Princess Snowee' s Page Page 122 - 12 3 - George Goodchild And Dandy McLean Gordon Hudson Page 124 - 125 - St. Jim's - Conservation Of Chaos R. H. Rhodes Page 126 - 127 - Thanks to ''Danny" T. Keen Page 3 . , .. A QichHundred·· Jbur : .. by ERNEST ·HOLMAN.· .:'"\ ···' ! Four hundred issues 6f Collectors': Digest· f?et me pondering on the possibility of a similar run: of quality within the Hobby. Well, 400:wi1Lhave to:·be 'approximate'" . ' ' . for �,have chosen the Magnet. period. from D�ce�ber,; 1924 to December 1932. � ·' . :: : : ._ ... : ' . .' . ·-. : . • . • - - . ' ' - - . •*' • •. - · The ffrst 'Wharton the Rebel' :series·gave full reign to Harry's _character; . there was the: unusual· holiday quarrel that saw: him spending Christmas with Jimmy· Silver (in:the BOys' Friend: he rescued Lovell from a haunted Tower); the series ended with the w:isdoni 'of Dr. Locke over�ruling the; annoyance of Mr. Quelch and saving Wharton from expulsion� 1925 was well .forward when this .s�ndid.series closed - it was still a year· in which Hamilton's contributi.ons were m�xed_up with '· . substitute stories .. All the same;. there were some interesting si nglds .,.. Bu.nteJ; , annexing·Coker' s Theatre ticket, Bunter with visions of aristocrac.y,. Smithy turning . out for Temple's eleven. · The final half of the year, however, sa� :.C.H.; in full:s:W.ing, . with the 'Ragged Dick' series, followed immediately by the highly entertaining�everr.t�:-__, surrounding ..'Bu.nter Court'. At the end of the year, Gerald Loder had his spel� as School Captain -;-.�ith poo_r old Wingate having� 'whartoriish' ·bad time before :in came · · - - · · ·- · · · · · · · ·· · ·· rig t.� ' (' , , ,,' ,( ' _ :.· . ;,··;•.· The ·substitute writers had their last .long fling in_:a contiJ?.uous spell in January andh: February; •but- then the 'real McCoy' was back with .a vengeance:. Some short· , series;: featuring James Hobson and his circus cousin, Bunter's Barring Out and .. Cecit:::Porisonby,' were followed by the India.series.- Colonel Wharton and.his.party. went to Bhailipur..;;. withi several exciting adventures, plus an interesting.sidelight on Inky's character - and; of course, the meeting with the Moonshee � (By now Leonard Shi�id�.was-,�staplish;ed as.illustrat?r.) L�ter in the year, Bob Cherry was playing , ' the ei; - Ctanf pf a Swot and he year·fin:ished With. the kidnapping of Coker� - ---: } . .. _, . : .- . � .. ·• !· 1927 produced the Game Kid and Roger Quelch series and that famous !more than-once� u reprinted)p�rt single of Bunter'st 'Brainstorm'. Then a splendid series, with the Bounder well to the fore and showing the nas iest side of his personality, dealing with Mr� Vernon-Smith's befriending of Paul Dallas. Not the least noteworthy in this series was the breaking-up of.the Redwing�Smithy� friendship, which caused,the former. to return to the se�� �l;Ilithy was to play his part quite a lot this year - he found : himself. 'olle Against the School' in-the Cap ain ·spencer stories - and, later, he per.:.. formed a good deed that � ed sm1r. Redwillg returne to Ha kscliff soon after wards and then one of the finest.of all _Magnett holiday.series was afloat. Thi!S was·the search for Black Peter' s treasure' . with the first introduction to that I great' rascal, ·: . ' . rn' · · ',T()�· · · · d · � · James Soam s ·::. ·.= Tom returned- to Greyfriars only. to c0me up against E dga:r Bright and a ;mis� understandmg� with.' Quelch. -This series brought Ernest Levison backto-his 019. school for awhile '(with some additibnal·reading on.the matter_ in tGem'). The year'� f:'.IJ.d; brought that 'out...;.of-character' �portrayal of Bunter under the influ,ence of Charles .• . -.. ·· ·, . .. Page 4 Dickens; he was soon back to normal, however, and startled Greyfriars by his insistence that the new Second Form master was an escaped convict. A really excellent single followed, with Coker as the 'Boy Who Wouldn't Be Caned' . The excellent quality of the lengthy series was now becoming established and the substitutes were finding it much harder to get in. This was amply seen in the 'High Oaks' stories, with interesting sights into the behaviour of such diverse characters as Harold Skinner, Lord Mauleverer, Mr. Quelch and Dr. Locke . The 'Crum' short series was , like the Bunter 'Dickens' story, a little out of the usual. The schoolboy hypnotist was able to make Bunter drop his aspirates; a very amusing incident in Quelch's attempt to put thi s right , with Bunter thinking the Remove Master 'off his nut' when the latter informs him that 'Horace Hung His Hat in the Hall' . Bunter next had a brief skirmish with the Caterpillar' s bike and then came two excellent series - the dramatic story of Wharton's enemy from the East, Arthur Da Costa, which featured some absorbing cricket matches; then the very delightful 'Whiffles Circus' series. Back at school, Carboy the joker turned up; the masters had their spell for a while , with Coker punching Prout and loggerheat;ls developing between Quelch and Hacker. Soames made his first re-appearance at Christmas· as the 'Phantom of the Cave' . In the New Year came that very long Hollywood series, with various adventures for Fishy, Bunter, Wharton, Mauly, Coker and Smithy. Back to Greyfriars and Loder was feuding with both Wingate and the Remove . The summer was soon upon the Magnet but the holiday of 1928 was a mixed one . The four weeks with Bob Cherry's Trike was sheer delight ; the next four weeks at Ravenspur Grange (minus Bunter� ) could not have been a greater contrast, with a succession of murders until Ferrers Locke settled things. Monty Newland was to the fore in the 'Devarney' series and then followed several very readable singles and doubles (including Prout being blackmailed). At the end of the year, came another very fine series, with the arrival of the Courtfield Cracksman. The Golden Age was now under way; we had Hiram Fish cornering pork, Hilton Popper losing his moonstone and , later, revealing himself as uncle of a new boy who wished to return to circus life. A six weeks' series featured the Brander Rebellion and then came the very dramatic and absorbing visit to China with Wun Lung and Ferrers Locke . Prout was punched yet again in the Autumn and the year ended with Ferrers Locke and the Cavandale Abbey affair.