Billy Bunter, the "Fat Owl of the Remove", is a fictional character created by Charles Hamilton (using the nom de plume of Frank Richards) for stories set at Greyfriars School in the boys' weekly magazine The Magnet (published from 1908 to 1940). Charles Harold St. ... A pen name or nom de plume is a pseudonym adopted by an author. ... Greyfriars School was a fictional English school used extensively as a setting in the Billy Bunter series of novels by the writer Charles Hamilton who worked under the nom de plume of Frank Richards. ... The Magnet (1908 - 1940) was a United Kingdom weekly comic published by Amalgamated Press. ...

Importance

George Orwell acknowledged the strength of the character in his essay "Boys' Weeklies" (1940): Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903[1][2] – 21 January 1950), better known by the pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...

The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, better known as The Pickwick Papers, is the first novel by Charles Dickens. ... Flag Ratio: 1:2 The Union Flag (also known as the Union Jack and Butchers Apron) is the national flag of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. ...

History

There was a previous Billy Bunter character, created by H Philpott Wright, who appeared in a series of stories in Vanguard Library from 1907 (such as "Billy Bunter's Hamper"). Hamilton was also a contributor to Vanguard, but in turn claimed to have first used the Bunter name in a rejected story of 1899.^{[citation needed]} "Inky" (Hurree Jamset Ram Singh) was created in Marvel at Netherby School in 1907, with Hamilton writing as Owen Conquest.

Although Billy Bunter later became famous in his own right, he was not particularly the "star" of the original Magnet stories.^[2] These were straightforward school stories in which virtually all of the Remove featured to some extent, especially the "Famous Five" of Harry Wharton, Bob Cherry, Frank Nugent, Johnny Bull and Hurree Jamset Ram Singh (known as "Inky").

The Magnet ceased publication in 1940, at issue 1683, due to the paper shortage and ensuing costs during war-time. There had been at least four more issues already written, but these were never published and are now presumed lost. After the war, Hamilton wrote a new series of books in which Bunter was more or less the main character. Charles Harold St. ...

Just about all Magnet stories have now been reprinted in the Howard Baker series and the Greyfriar's Book Club series, and other annuals and books, now all out of print.

Comics

After The Magnet folded, Bunter made it into comics, in Knockout, from 15 June 1940. Knockout began only in 1939 but already had a circulation of several times that of The Magnet. C.H. Chapman, the last illustrator for The Magnet, drew only the first nine Knockout strips and several other artists were tried out but none really suited until Frank Minnit came along. He had been illustrating a number of comics at the time and arrived at the editor's office just the right time. They were pleased with his beaming and bouncy Bunter which first followed Chapman's style then branched off into a style of his own, concentrating more on humour. Over not many years, Wharton, Nugent, Cherry, Bull and Ram Singh vanished to be replaced by the diminutive Jones minor who had all the good qualities that Bunter did not. However this did not stop him from being led astray by Bunter, against his better judgement. Mr Quelch stayed, at least in name, but he lost his dignity and aloofness and became a straight man in a knockabout farce which often ended with Bunter being caned. A boxer is knocked down and receives the 10-count. ...

Minnit continued producing the strip with undiminished vigour until he died in 1958. Reg Parlett took over until Knockout was knocked out in 1961 when it was transferred to Valiant comic until 1976. Bunter also appeared in many Knockout annuals, even on some covers. For use of his character, Hamilton was paid £5 a week until he died in 1961. C.H. Chapman drew a strip for the Comet comic in 1956 which featured the classical old Bunter of The Magnet and the Famous Five, consisting of twelve weeks of 2-page strips (24 pages). Bunter's appearances in The Comet lasted from 4 March 1950 until 21 June 1958, with picture stories from 9 February 1952. Issues were No. 85-135 (4 Mar 1950 - 17 Feb 1951), 186-240 (9 Feb 1952 - 21 Feb 1953), 407-496 (5 May 1956 - 18 Jan 1958), 506-518 (29 May 1958 - 21 Jun 1958) Look up valiant in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Comet Hale-Bopp Comet West For other uses, see Comet (disambiguation). ...

Television

Billy Bunter was played by Gerald Campion in a BBC television series from 1952 to 1961, 40 black and white episodes lasting 30 minutes each over seven seasons from 1952 (the BBC claims 1953) until 1961. There were also three specials made. Other than Gerald Campion, other actors were replaced over time. Kynaston Reeves/John Woodnutt/Jack Melford played form master Henry Quelch. Keith Faulkner played Bob Cherry; Michael Crawford/Michael Danvers-Walker played Frank Nugent; Barry McGregor played Johnny Bull; Anthony Valentine/John Charlesworth played Harry Wharton; and Melvyn Hayes/David Spenser played Harry Jamset Ram Singh of the Famous Five. John Rutherford played Herbert Vernon Smith, the Bounder; Philip Guard played Skinner (the Cad); John Quayle played Peter Todd; Cavane Malone played Lord Mauleverer; John Osbourne played Head Boy/Prefect Wingate; Edward Lexy played Mr Prout; Christopher Hodge played Gosling, the school porter; and John Stuart played Dr Locke, the Headmaster. Gerald Theron Campion (April 23, 1921 – July 9, 2002) was an English actor best-known for his role as Billy Bunter in a 1950s television adaptation of books by Frank Richards. ... The British Broadcasting Corporation, which is usually known as the BBC, is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the United Kingdom alone and with a budget of more than GB£4 billion. ... John Woodnutt (3 March 1924 – 3 January 2006) was a British actor. ... Michael Crawford (right) as Frank Spencer in Some Mothers Do Ave Em Michael Crawford, OBE (born Michael Patrick Dumble-Smith, 19 January 1942 in Salisbury, Wiltshire), is an English actor and singer. ... Anthony Valentine is a British actor. ... Melvyn Hayes is an English actor, born 11 January 1935. ... John Rutherford (1792 - 1866) was a U.S. political figure. ... John Quayle (December 1, 1868 – November 27, 1930) was a U.S. Congressman representing the 7th District of New York in the United States House of Representatives from 1923 through 1930. ... John James Osborne (December 12, 1929 – December 24, 1994) was a English playwright, the first of the Angry Young Men of the 1950s. ... This page is about various people named John Stuart; for the host of the Daily Show, see Jon Stewart. ...

The shows were produced at 5:40 pm and with another performance at 8 pm, the latter being changed slightly for a more adult audience and was shown on Tuesdays. The main problem with the show that while the adults including Campion (who was 29 when he started the role) were convincing in their roles, many of the boys weren't and were just background. Wharton gave no sign of leadership, Ram Singh unconvincingly reeled off metaphors and Cherry was not exuberant. But still the show was a success and gained many new Bunter fans.

Also all episodes were scripted by Frank Richards. As with many old shows, the BBC literally threw the originals away or burnt them. Now surviving is the complete third series, five episodes of the sixth series and a poor quality episode of the seventh series. There are no plans for DVDs, despite fans writing to the BBC asking for them.

Stage

There were also Christmas stage shows with a different casts :

• 1958. Billy Bunter's Mystery Christmas (Palace Theatre London)
• 1959. Billy Bunter Flies East (Victoria Palace)
• 1960. Billy Bunter's Swiss Roll (Victoria Palace)
• 1961. Billy Bunter Shipwrecked (Victoria Palace.
• 1962. Billy Bunter's Chritmas Circus (Queen's Theatre)
• 1963. Billy Bunter meets Magic (Shaftsbury Theatre)

Details for 1962: Peter Bridgmont as William George Bunter, Peter Sanders as Bob Cherry, David Griffin as Johnny Bull, Gregory Warwick as Harry Wharton, Barry Henderson as Frank Nugent, Louis Aquilina as Hurree Jamset Ram Singh, Robert Lanksheer as Mr Quelch. This play was performed at the Queen's Theatre on Monday 24 December 1962 and featured the Christmas holidays at Wharton Lodge and a circus nearby. David Griffin (born 19 July 1943) is a British actor best known for his comedy work. ... James Stewart Barry Henderson, usually known as Barry Henderson (born 29 April 1936) was a Conservative member of the United Kingdom House of Commons for two periods, February - October 1974 and 1979-87, both for Scottish constituencies. ...

Trivia since 1960's

• Enid Blyton may have borrowed the term "Famous Five" for her own series of adventure stories. Her Frederick Trotteville, aka Fatty, character from the Five Find-Outers series also shows some similarities to Bunter.

• Bunter was the model for Cyril, a mischievous but sinister schoolboy, played by Peter Stephens^[3], who appeared in the Doctor Who serial The Celestial Toymaker^[4] on BBC television in 1966.^{[citation needed]}

• In the 1980s, a chain of fast food restaurants called Bunter's experienced brief success in Britain. These restaurants prominently featured images of Billy Bunter but did nothing else to evoke the Greyfriars atmosphere, selling standard fast food when they might have offered "school dinners".^{[citation needed]}

• Billy Bunter also features in a book about boys' weeklies called Boys Will Be Boys, by E. S. Turner, which surveys comics such as Victorian 'penny dreadfuls', and others up to the 1960s.^[5]

• A large selection of Billy Bunter comic strips and some stories are featured in The Big Fat Bunter Book by Mike Higgs. Published by Hawk Books in 1989, it is 290 pages and originally cost £9.95 in the UK. ISBN 0 948248 02 5.

• Gerald Campion was asked to appear as Bunter in schoolboy uniform for the short lived BBC TV show Where Are They Now? which featured people who had disappeared from the public spotlight. However, as he believed the £10 they offered him to do so was derisory, he refused. This was revealed by an indignant Campion in a later TV interview on afternoon TV.^{[citation needed]}

Enid Mary Blyton (August 11, 1897–November 28, 1968) was a popular English childrens writer. ... The Mystery of the Disappearing Cat (1944) The Five Find-Outers and Dog (not to be confused with The Famous Five), also known as the Enid Blyton Mystery Series, is a series of childrens mystery books written by Enid Blyton and first published between 1943 and 1961. ... Doctor Who is a long-running award-winning British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The series depicts the adventures of a mysterious time-traveller known as the Doctor who travels in his TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimension(s) In Space) time ship, which appears from the exterior... Fast food is food prepared and served quickly at a fast-food restaurant or shop at low cost. ... Ernest Sackville (E. S.) Turner (born Liverpool, England, 17 November 1909; died Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, England, 6 July 2006) was a freelance journalist and author who published 20 books, and contributed to the English weekly satirical magazine Punch for more than 50 years. ... Penny Dreadful can refer to: The 19th century British penny dreadful publications. ... The 1960s decade refers to the years from January 1, 1960 to December 31, 1969, inclusive. ... Gerald Theron Campion (April 23, 1921 – July 9, 2002) was an English actor best-known for his role as Billy Bunter in a 1950s television adaptation of books by Frank Richards. ...

References

Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903[1][2] – 21 January 1950), better known by the pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist. ... The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) [1] is an online database of information about actors, movies, television shows, television stars and video games. ... The British Broadcasting Corporation, which is usually known as the BBC, is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the United Kingdom alone and with a budget of more than GB£4 billion. ... Year 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the 1966 Gregorian calendar. ... Ernest Sackville (E. S.) Turner (born Liverpool, England, 17 November 1909; died Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, England, 6 July 2006) was a freelance journalist and author who published 20 books, and contributed to the English weekly satirical magazine Punch for more than 50 years. ...

External links

• Bunterzone
• Billy Bunter at the Internet Movie Database
• Bunter's Bumper Blow-Out, an online Billy Bunter comic from "Valiant Annual 1969"
• Greyfriars, The Magnet, & Billy Bunter - Facts, Figures & Fun
• Guide to the surviving and lost episodes of the BBC television series, 1952-61

• [1]
• Details of the comics Bunter appeared in