Who wrote the Billy Bunter stories?
"Charles Hamilton (writer) Charles Harold St. John Hamilton (8 August 1876 – 24 December 1961) was an English writer, specialising in writing long-running series of stories for weekly magazines about recurrent casts of characters, his most frequent and famous genre being boys' public school stories, though he also dealt with other genres. He used a variety of pen-names, generally using a different name for each set of characters he wrote about, the most famous being Frank Richards for the Greyfriars School stories (featuring Billy Bunter). Other important pen-names included Martin Clifford (for St Jim's), Owen Conquest (for Rookwood) and Ralph"
"Bessie Bunter Elizabeth Gertrude Bunter, better known as Bessie Bunter, is a fictional character created by Charles Hamilton, who also created her more famous brother Billy Bunter. Billy Bunter was a central character in the Greyfriars School stories which appeared in the boys' story paper, ""The Magnet"" from 1907 to 1940 and Bessie's first appearance was in a 1919 Greyfriars story. She was a pupil of Cliff House School, a girls' school near Greyfriars. In 1919, attempting to replicate the success of ""The Magnet"", Amalgamated Press decided to bring out a new magazine for girls called ""The School Friend"" (later"
"'60s he illustrated Cassell's ""Billy Bunter's Own"" annuals. He lived in Reading, commuting daily to London by train for many years. He died in 1972, survived by two daughters, Dorothy and Marjorie. C. H. Chapman Charles Henry Chapman (1879–1972), who signed his work as C. H. Chapman, was a British illustrator and cartoonist best known for his work in boys' story papers such as ""The Magnet"" where the character Billy Bunter appeared. He later illustrated Bunter cartoon strips and several Bunter books published in the 1950s and 1960s. Chapman was born in Thetford, Norfolk, on 1 April 1879, and attended"
"papers - Billy Bunter, formerly of ""The Magnet"", initially drawn by C. H. Chapman, later by Frank Minnitt, and Sexton Blake, initially drawn by Jos Walker, later by Alfred Taylor, and definitive Blake illustrator Eric Parker. After the Second World War the title featured more adventure strips, and Matthews, who was promoted to editor in 1948, recruited artists including Sep E. Scott, H. M. Brock, D. C. Eyles and Geoff Campion to draw them. The title lasted 1251 issues, from (cover dates) 4 March 1939 to 16 February 1963, absorbing ""The Magnet"" in 1940 and ""Comic Cuts"" in 1953, before"
"a pound or two"""" on the strength of the anticipated arrival of a cheque that never materialised. Billy Bunter appeared in 1,670 of the 1,683 issues of ""The Magnet"" published during the 32-year period from 1908 to 1940. He was introduced in Magnet No. 1 ""The Making of Harry Wharton"" (1908) as a minor character, but developed into one of the principal characters of the stories as author Charles Hamilton realised his comic potential. George Orwell described him as ""...a real creation. His tight trousers against which boots and canes are constantly thudding, his astuteness in search of food, his"
"which, ""Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School"", was published in September 1947. The series was to continue for the rest of his life, the publisher later changing to Cassells. In addition, he wrote further St Jim’s, Rookwood and Cliff House stories, as well as the television scripts for seven series of Billy Bunter stories for the BBC. He died on 24 December 1961, aged 85, and was cremated at the Kent County Crematorium at Charing in Kent. . Hamilton never married, but some details of one romance are provided in a biography, and another is briefly mentioned in his autobiography. Early"
"Gerald Campion Gerald Theron Campion (23 April 1921 – 9 July 2002) was an English actor best remembered for his role as Billy Bunter in a 1950s television adaptation (""Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School"") of books by Frank Richards (Charles Hamilton). Campion was born in Bloomsbury, London, and was the son of screenwriter Cyril Campion. He won a place at RADA at age 15, and appeared in numerous films and television programmes — mostly comedies. In 1937, he appeared in Tavs Neiiendam's radio play ""Inspiration to a Poet"" on the BBC Home Service. His only major success was as Bunter,"
"of school novels include writers for boys, such as P. G. Wodehouse, Anthony Buckeridge, and prolific writer Charles Hamilton, better known as Frank Richards, who wrote the Greyfriars School series, St. Jim's and Rookwood, and others for the Amalgamated Press between 1906 and 1940, his most famous character being Billy Bunter. Writers for girls include Angela Brazil, Enid Blyton, Elinor Brent-Dyer, Dorita Fairlie Bruce, Mary Gervaise and Elsie Oxenham. School story The school story is a fiction genre centering on older pre-adolescent and adolescent school life, at its most popular in the first half of the twentieth century. While examples"
"Billy Bob Buttons Billy Bob Buttons (born 25 September 1970) the pen name of Edward Hugh Trayer, is a British-born children, young adult and adult novelist. He is the author of sixteen books to date including: ""Felicity Brady and the Wizard's Bookshop"" (""Galibrath's Will"", ""Articulus Quest"", ""Incantus Gothmog"", ""Glumweedy's Devil"" and ""Crowl's Creepers""), ""The Gullfoss Legends""""Tor Assassin Hunter"", ""Tor Wolf Rising"", ""Tiffany Sparrow"" and ""I Think I Murdered Miss"". He is published by The Wishing Shelf Press. In 2011, ""Felicity Brady and the Wizard's Bookshop"" was longlisted for the International Rubery Book Award, and ""Tor Assassin Hunter"" was a runner"
"novels were reprinted by Cassells, who took over publication of the series, which continued until 1967, the final novels being published posthumously. Billy Bunter has been adapted for radio as an audio play several times, the last occasion being a 90 minute adaptation of the novel ""Billy Bunter's Christmas Party"" broadcast on BBC Radio 4, as part of the series ""Saturday Night Theatre"", in December 1986. In the 1990s, a series of short stories adapted from the novels of Charles Hamilton were performed by ""The Goodies"" (Graeme Garden, Bill Oddie, Tim Brooke-Taylor) for BBC radio, as six 15 minute dramas"
"by Gold Hawk in paperback form. In the 1970s Howard Baker Press published over 20 Gem Volumes in facsimile form. Tom Merry Tom Merry is the principal character in the ""St Jim's"" stories which appeared in the boy's weekly paper, ""The Gem"", from 1907 to 1939. The stories were all written using the pen-name of Martin Clifford, the majority by Charles Hamilton who was more widely known as Frank Richards, the creator of Billy Bunter. The first Tom Merry story appeared in ""Gem"" number 3 dated 10 March 1907 and introduced him as a new boy at a school called"
"C. H. Chapman Charles Henry Chapman (1879–1972), who signed his work as C. H. Chapman, was a British illustrator and cartoonist best known for his work in boys' story papers such as ""The Magnet"" where the character Billy Bunter appeared. He later illustrated Bunter cartoon strips and several Bunter books published in the 1950s and 1960s. Chapman was born in Thetford, Norfolk, on 1 April 1879, and attended Kendrick School in Reading, Berkshire, where he created and illustrated a school magazine, ""The Kendrick Comet"". He studied art at the University of Reading, after which he was apprenticed to an architect."
"A radio documentary about the character aired on the 40th anniversary of the closure of ""The Magnet"" Billy Bunter was played by Gerald Campion in the BBC television series ""Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School"". The series also featured Anthony Valentine as Harry Wharton, Michael Crawford as Frank Nugent, Jeremy Bulloch as Bob Cherry, Melvyn Hayes as Harold Skinner, John Woodnutt Raf De La Torre, Kynaston Reeves and Jack Melford as Mr Quelch, Roger Delgado as Monsieur Charpentier and Kenneth Cope as school bully Gerald Loder. A total of 52 half-hour episodes was broadcast over seven series, between 1952 and 1961,"
"Mervyn Bunter Mervyn Bunter is a fictional character in Dorothy L. Sayers' novels and short stories featuring Lord Peter Wimsey. Dorothy L. Sayers (1893–1957) wrote a number of novels and short stories concerning the adventures of a fictional private detective called Lord Peter Wimsey who had his genesis in a Sexton Blake story Sayers wrote in 1920. The first Wimsey story was published in 1923, and the last by Sayers alone in 1937. Other stories based on original material were published under the authorship of Sayers and Jill Paton Walsh, the last appearing in 2013. The action of the original"
"Frank Minnitt Frank John Minnitt (3 September 1894 – 12 May 1958) was a British illustrator and cartoonist who drew for over 100 comic papers from the 1920s to the 1950s. He is perhaps best known for his depictions of Billy Bunter in the comic ""Knockout"" between 1939 and 1958. Minnitt was born in Southgate in London in 1894, the youngest of five sons of Mary Ann Smith (1854-1943) and William Robinson Minnitt (1858-1927). Educated at the Hugh Myddleton School in Islington, aged 14 he was the London Junior Boxing Champion; later, he followed his father into working for the"
"adverse comment, with reviewers noting a ""certain emptiness of the sets"" and the fact that the school seemed deserted apart from the principal characters. The show did not lose its popularity over its nine years on the air. If anything, it gained in popularity and ratings as time went by, resulting in later seasons comprising greater numbers of episodes. It eventually came to an end due only to the death, in December 1961 at the age of 85, of Charles Hamilton, who had created the character of Bunter and who wrote all of the televised scripts over the entire nine"
"The Magnet The Magnet was a United Kingdom weekly boys' story paper published by Amalgamated Press. It ran from 1908 to 1940, publishing a total of 1683 issues. Each issue contained a long school story about the boys of Greyfriars School, a fictional public school located somewhere in Kent, and were written under the pen-name of Frank Richards. The vast majority of the stories were written by author Charles Hamilton, although substitute writers were sometimes used. The most famous Greyfriars character was Billy Bunter, of the Remove. Most issues of ""The Magnet"" also included a shorter serial story (a variety"
"pen names were, in the main, all the work of one man. Hamilton was not able to continue the Greyfriars saga immediately, as the Amalgamated Press claimed ownership to all the characters except Billy Bunter who actually appeared in a Sparshott story in 1946. However, by 1947 they had relented, and Hamilton was then able to obtain a contract from publishers Charles Skilton for a series of hardback novels. The first of these, ""Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School"", was published in September 1947. It began a series that continued for the rest of Hamilton's life. In the 1950s the initial"
"stories. There is little love lost between the three, as is shown in this passage from one of the earlier stories: Their father is Mr William Samuel Bunter, a portly, largely unsuccessful, stockbroker with a severe manner; although it is noted that ""like many middle aged gentlemen, Mr. Bunter was better tempered after breakfast."" He is perpetually complaining about income tax and school fees and has little interest in his children. Written correspondence between Billy and his father consists of continual requests from Billy to supplement his pocket money; and continual refusals from his father to accede. By contrast, Billy"
"and illustration). At other times the complete story would feature on the cover. The stories where typical of the ""Boys Own"" fare of the era, with adventure, detective and western stories predominating. Several Amalgamated Press characters such as Sexton Blake, Nelson Lee, Jack, Sam & Pete and Buffalo Bill appeared, in either serials or complete stories. Later issues featured stories of Jimmy Silver of Rookwood School, written by Charles Hamilton, creator of Billy Bunter. The paper would also run an editorial page, mostly given over to the editor answering questions from readers, other short articles appeared in the paper, primarily"
"courage in aid of others; his ability to be generous, on the rare occasions when he has food or cash; and above all his very real love and concern for his mother. All these, combined with Bunter's cheery optimism, his comically transparent untruthfulness and inept attempts to conceal his antics from his schoolmasters and schoolfellows, combine to make a character that succeeds in being highly entertaining but which rarely attracts the reader's lasting sympathy. Charles Hamilton invented the character for an unpublished story in the late 1890s. He claimed Bunter was derived from three persons: a corpulent editor, a short-sighted"
"Tom Merry Tom Merry is the principal character in the ""St Jim's"" stories which appeared in the boy's weekly paper, ""The Gem"", from 1907 to 1939. The stories were all written using the pen-name of Martin Clifford, the majority by Charles Hamilton who was more widely known as Frank Richards, the creator of Billy Bunter. The first Tom Merry story appeared in ""Gem"" number 3 dated 10 March 1907 and introduced him as a new boy at a school called Clavering College. In issue number 11 Claverling was closed down and the boys and masters transferred to St Jim's, a"
"such as American junior Fisher T Fish and aspiring actor William Wibley would occasionally be brought to the fore in their own series. In this way, Bunter took his turn with the rest, in a number of stories that placed him as the lead protagonist. Some of the more notable examples include: In 1929, the editors of ""The Magnet"" persuaded Charles Hamilton to drop the character of Billy Bunter altogether for several editions and attempt a storyline in the style of an action thriller. The result was the ""Ravenspur Grange"" series (Magnets #1122 to #1125) which prompted a strong outcry"
"from the ""Magnet"" readership, dismayed at Bunter's disappearance. Billy Bunter would never be absent from the stories again. Bunter himself often uses language that contemporary readers would characterise as racist. However, this attribute applies to Bunter himself rather than the stories in general in which both the protagonists and the narrative of the Greyfriars stories are unusually firm in rejecting racism. In an age when the word ""nigger"" was not yet regarded in the same pejorative sense that applies today, the Greyfriars stories consistently emphasised the offensive nature of the term from as early as 1922 and the narratives even"
"about Africa his stories are marked by racist language and stereotypes . The moral message throughout is subtly tempered through comic characters, of whom Billy Bunter is the most famous. Bunter is the antithesis of everything the stories value, being lazy, greedy, dishonest and self-centred. His presence though is tolerated because of his extreme incompetence and (usually) an absence of outright malice. His absurd interventions deflate the high seriousness that the authority figures seek to impose, and frequently reduce their efforts to farce. The public school setting offered an opportunity to create a world where adult presence was spread thinly,"
"Bunter is particularly close to his mother, Mrs Amelia Bunter, a kindly lady who appears only briefly in seven stories. Billy's cousin Walter Gilbert (Wally) Bunter was introduced in Magnet No. 333 ""The Dark Horse"" (1914) and appears in a further 32 ""Magnet"" stories. He is Billy's exact double, excepting only for his spectacles, but is his opposite in every other respect. Other members of the Bunter family to appear briefly over the years include Billy Bunter's uncles James, George and Claude, his aunts Prudence and Claribel, his great-aunt Eliza Judith and (in a one-off story) Sir Foulkes Bunter and"
"Davie in 1919, and had a daughter Betty (1920-2009). He married Evelynne Thelma Snell (1912-2003) in 1947 and with her had a son, John Frank Minnitt (born 1950). On his death the drawing of Billy Bunter in ""Knockout"" was taken over by artists Eric Roberts and Reg Parlett. Frank Minnitt Frank John Minnitt (3 September 1894 – 12 May 1958) was a British illustrator and cartoonist who drew for over 100 comic papers from the 1920s to the 1950s. He is perhaps best known for his depictions of Billy Bunter in the comic ""Knockout"" between 1939 and 1958. Minnitt was"
"offering to analyse items thought to be authored by the Ripper. Thomas Burke contributed stories. The weekly comic paper is widely cited as being the first comic book or magazine to feature a regular character, and is also often cited as the first comic as well. ""Half Holiday"" helped established the financial viability of the medium and codified the British form to an extent visible many years later in publications such as ""Viz"". During 1908 C. H. Chapman illustrated the Ally Sloper character. Chapman was better known as the artist that drew Billy Bunter from 1911 until ""The Magnet"" folded"
"Greyfriars schoolboy Harry Wharton. Bessie Bunter was essentially a female counterpart to her brother Billy, sharing many characteristics with her brother, including her large size and large appetite. She was as unappealing as her brother Billy, being conceited, untruthful, gluttonous and obese, but she was rather more domineering than he was and would usually impose her will by nagging, or, in the case of her brothers, by administering hefty slaps to the head . Bessie Bunter Elizabeth Gertrude Bunter, better known as Bessie Bunter, is a fictional character created by Charles Hamilton, who also created her more famous brother Billy"
"Billy Budd Billy Budd, Sailor is the final novel by American writer Herman Melville, first published posthumously in London in 1924 as edited by Raymond M. Weaver, a professor at Columbia University. Other versions were later published. Melville had begun writing the original work in November 1888, but left it unfinished at his death in 1891. Acclaimed by British critics as a masterpiece when published in London, it quickly took its place as a classic literary work in the United States. The novella was discovered in manuscript form in 1919 by Weaver, who was studying Melville's papers as his first"
"included unfashionable anti-British sentiments in stories set against the background of imperial India. Billy Bunter has two siblings: a younger sister, Elizabeth Gertrude (Bessie), who attends the nearby Cliff House School, and a younger brother, Samuel Tuckless (Sammy), who is in the Second Form at Greyfriars School. Bessie first appears in the Magnet No. 582 ""The Artful Dodger"" (1919), before appearing as a regular character in ""The School Friend"" later that year. Bessie appears in a total of 116 ""Magnet"" stories. Sammy Bunter first appears in Magnet #144 ""Billy Bunter's Minor"" (1910) and appears in a further 291 "" Magnet"""
"Billy's Boots Billy's Boots was a popular British comic strip by writer Fred Baker and artist John Gillatt, later continued by Mike Western. The original Billy's Boots was an earlier humorous series, written and drawn by Frank Purcell, which appeared in Tiger between 1961 and 1963, with a similar premise to this later series. The later more serious Billy appeared in the first issue of ""Scorcher"" in 1970 , and later moved to ""Tiger"" when the two comics merged in 1974. In 1985 ""Tiger"" in turn merged with ""Eagle"" and the strip moved again, however just a year later Billy's"
"Henry Cuyler Bunner Henry Cuyler Bunner (August 3, 1855 – May 11, 1896) was an American novelist and poet. He is known mainly for ""Tower of Babel"". Henry Cuyler Bunner was born in Oswego, New York to Rudolph Bunner, Jr. (1813–1875) and Ruth Keating Tuckerman (1821–1896) and was educated in New York City. His paternal grandparents were Rudolph Bunner (1779–1837) and Elizabeth Church (1783–1867), the daughter of John Barker Church (1748–1818) and Angelica Schuyler (1756–1814). In 1886, he published a novel, ""The Midge"", followed in 1887 by ""The Story of a New York House"". But his best efforts in fiction"