Remembering: Billy Bunter
The
Magnet, 1939, Issue No. 1642
Billy
Bunter – The Fat Owl of the Remove – is without question the
most famous of the schoolboy characters that starred in the English storybooks
and comics of the early twentieth century. Bunter outgrew comics and moved to novels,
radio,
television
and the stage.
Bunter was created by Frank
Richards – one of the many pen names used by prolific writer Charles
Hamilton – and came to fame in The Magnet story paper
that ran from 1908 to 1940. He is in the Lower Fourth form of Greyfriars
School, known as the Remove, and his defining characteristics
are his greediness and dramatically overweight appearance. His character is, in
many respects, that of a highly obnoxious anti-hero. As well as his gluttony,
he is also obtuse, lazy, racist, nosy, deceitful, slothful, self-important and
conceited.
George
Orwell of Animal Farm and 1984 fame described
him as ‘a first-rate character’ in
an essay in Horizon in March 1940. Orwell believed Bunter,
‘must be one of the best-known figures in English fiction; for the mere number
of people who know him he ranks with Sexton Blake, Tarzan, Sherlock Holmes and
a handful of characters in Dickens’.
For the sake of fairness I should say that Orwell did not have a high
opinion of the school stories themselves.
Bunter’s form master is Mr Quelch (for
more about him, click here) who frequently dusts the seat of
Bunter’s tight trousers.
The
Magnet, 1940, Issue No. 1670
writing about Bunter in the Daily TelegraphInitially he was just one of the lads, a foil to the famous five of Harry Wharton, Bob Cherry, Frank Nugent, Johnny Bull and Hurree Jamset Ram Singh (known, in those pre-culturally-sensitive times by the nickname of ‘Inky’). When it came to these lads’ jokes, Bunter was invariably the butt (and he had a substantial one, forever framed in his over-tight Prince of Wales check trousers, about to be addressed by Mr Quelch’s cane).
‘A sneak thief constantly slipping into Coker’s study
to pinch biscuits, or being caught, stuck in the attempt to break into the tuck
shop, his podgy legs protruding out of the hatch, frantically flapping, the
comedy came from the pitifulness of his greed. His laughable habit was to own
up long before anyone accused him of anything.
‘“If it’s about the cake, Sir, it wasn’t me, Sir. I
didn’t know Mrs Keble was even baking a cake, Sir. And it very definitely isn't
in my desk, Sir, so there's really no point looking in it,” he would say, when
summoned to Mr Quelch’s study for an altogether different reason, perhaps to
take a long-distance phone call from his father.’
Frank Richards has long since been summons to the
headmaster’s study in the sky and cannot answer my question, but I would venture
the suggestion that he was a bit of a spanko since so many of his stories
involve at least one beating. Of course, many children’s authors wrote about
cane-wielding schoolmasters – they were a fact of life at many schools – but
none did it with so much relish
Mr. Quelch
picked up his cane.
“Bunter !”
“Oooooh !”
“You will bend over that form !”
“Wow !”
The scene that followed was painful— very painful. Mr. Quelch was justly
wrathy. The cane rose and fell; the Remove master, apparently under the
impression that he was beating a carpet. The dust rose from Billy Bunter’s
trousers. From Billy Bunter himself, rose a succession of ear-splitting yells.
Poor old Bunter was often put through his paces.
Billy Bunter in his lowest spirits. Bent
over the chair. He gave an anticipatory wiggle as he waited for the descending
cane. But he did not have to wait long.
In The Magnet many of the stories were
accompanied by the drawings by artist Charles H Chapman. Frank
Richards contrived many different ways to ensure Bunter’s tight trousers were
frequently dusted.
By schoolmasters ...
The
Magnet,1932, Issue No. 1251
By the bully of the Sixth ...
The
Magnet,1934, Issue No. 1392
By his own fellow schoolboys ...
The
Magnet,1935, Issue No. 1415
The
Magnet,1932, Issue No. 1285
Even while on vacation ...
The
Magnet,1932, Issue No. 1283
But sometimes he got a little of his own back.
The
Magnet,1935, Issue No. 1443
Here’s a flavour of Frank Richards at his finest. From
a story called ‘Saved By His Enemy’ that appeared in The
Magnet of 26 October 1935.
Whop!
“Wow!”
Whop!
“Ow-wow!”
The voice of Billy Bunter, of the Greyfriars Remove, was lifted on its top note. To judge by his terrific howls, Billy Bunter might have been suffering as severely as any member of the noble army of martyrs.
Really, it was not as bad as that.
Still, it was bad enough. Loder of the Sixth had a bad temper, and a heavy hand. He was wielding the ashplant as if he fancied that Billy Bunter’s tight trousers were a carpet, which it was his duty to beat thoroughly.
Whop!
“Ow! Beast! Stoppit!” yelled Bunter.
Bunter was in Elm Walk – the path under the ancient trees of Greyfriars School. Loder apparently had caught him there. It was rather a secluded spot, at a good distance from the House, where Bunter’s yells, loud as they were, could not be heard in the school.
“You pilfering little rotter!” said Loder.
Whop!
“Yaroooh!”
“Take that!”
Whop!
“Whoop! Rescue!” yelled Bunter desperately. “I say you fellows help!”
But there were no Remove men at hand. Had there been they could hardly have intervened. Loder of the Sixth was a prefect, invested with the power of the ashplant. A Sixth Form prefect certainly was supposed to administer moderate and reasonable punishments, for adequate cause. Loder’s whoppings were seldom moderate, and he did not always wait for adequate cause. Still, there it was – he was a prefect, and could whop a Remove junior.
Whop!
“Ow! Beast! I never had them!” howled Bunter. “Wow!”
Whop!
Two Fifth Form fellows came along under the elms, and paused to look on at the scene. One of them was Hilton, the other, Jim Warren, the new fellow in the Fifth.
Hilton gave Loder and Bunter a careless glance. But Warren frowned a little. Bunter was getting it hot and strong, in Warren’s opinion.
Whop!
“Dash it all, that’s too thick!” said Warren.
He made a step towards the executioner and his victim.
“Don’t be an ass!” advised Hilton. “You can’t interfere with a prefect! Come on!”
He strolled on his way. But Warren did not follow him. True, Loder was a prefect, and Bunter, no doubt, was a young sweep. But there was a limit, and it seemed to Jim Warren that the limit had been passed.
Up went Loder’s ashplant again for another whop.
Warren ran forward.
“Look here, Loder, stop it!” he exclaimed.
Gerald Loder, in angry surprise, stared at him. He was so surprised at the cheek of a Fifth Form fellow barging in, that his ashplant remained suspended in the air.
“I say, Warren stop him!” howled Buter. “Make him leggo! Ow!”
“What the thump do you mean Warren?” hooted Loder. “What are you barging in for, I’d like to know.”
“Don’t you think Bunter’s had enough, whatever he may have done?” asked Warren mildly.
Loder glared.
“I’ll show you whether I think so!” he gasped.
He brought down the ashplant towards the tight trousers at the Owl of the Remove, who, bent over in the grasp of Loder’s left arm, unable to escape, gave a howl of horrid anticipation.
Had that vicious blow landed, it would certainly have hurt Bunter. Loder was putting all his beef into it, just to show Warren what he thought of the meddling of the Fifth Former.
But the blow did not land.
It was too much for Warren to stand. He was well aware that it was a perilous business, interfering with a Sixth Form prefect. Neither was he a fellow to hunt for trouble. But he was not going to see that savage cut land on Billy Bunter – and he grabbed at Loder’s shoulder, and dragged him back, just in time.
The slashing cane missed Bunter.
But every bullet has a billet! Missing Bunter, the cane swept on, and was stopped by Loder’s own knee.
Crack!
It rang like a pistol shot.
Loder uttered a yell, louder than that of Bunter’s. He jumped almost clear of the ground. Then he hopped on one leg, clasping the knee of the other with both hands.
“Oh my hat!” ejaculated Warren.
Billy Bunter jumped away. He staggered against an elm, wriggling with pain, and gasping for breath.
“Ow! Yow! Wow!” moaned Bunter.
“Oh! Ah! Urrggh! Oooogh!” spluttered Loder.
“Sorry,” gasped Warren. “But___”
“I’ll make you sorrier, you meddling cheeky cad!” roared Loder. He ceased to hop and limped instead. “I’ll report this to the Head.”
Warren grinned.
“Report yourself for whacking yourself?” he asked. “But if you want to go to the Head, I’m ready, and I’ll take Bunter along with me. I fancy Dr. Locke doesn’t expect his prefects to whop a kid as you’ve been doing.”
Loder breathed fury. He was as well aware as Warren was of that. Had the headmaster of Greyfriars known a little more of the manners and customs of the bully of the Sixth, Loder would not have remained a prefect long.
“Ow! Yow! Wow!” came from Bunter. “I never had them Warren! I haven’t been anywhere near Loder’s study! Ow!”
“Get out of this Warren!” said Loder. He did not mention the Head again. “I’ll make you sorry for barging in, too. Now get out of it. I’m caning Bunter for pilfering a bag of chocolates from my study. And I’m not finished yet.”
“Oh!” said Warren, rather dismayed.
He was new at Greyfriars School that term, but he had heard all about Bunter, the grub-hunter of the Remove. Not that Bunter was, as Loder called it, a pilferer – not consciously, at all events. Bunter was drawn towards anything eatable, by an attraction as irresistible as the Law of Gravitation. If Bunter spotted chocolates or toffee, the same disappeared inside Bunter before he had time to consider the question to whom they belonged. They just went!
“I didn’t!” howled Bunter. “I never! Fellows always make out that I take things. I don’t know why! I never___ I wasn’t____”
“If you saw him, Loder____” said Warren.
“No business of yours whether I saw him or not!” snarled Loder. “I’m not accountable to a Fifth Form cad, that I know of.”
“Then you didn’t see him!” Said Warren quietly. “You’re whopping Bunter on suspicion.”
“Are you going to stop me?” hissed Loder.
“Yes, I am!” answered Warren. “Bunter’s a young rascal, but he’s entitled to justice. Even if he bagged your chocs, you’ve given him enough And you’ve no proof that he did.”
“He had to take lines to my study. I found his lines on the table and the bag of chocolates was gone.
“I never____” howled Bunter.
“And that’s enough for you to whop a kid as you’ve been doing?” exclaimed Warren angrily. ”Well, you’re not going to touch him again. Keep that ashplant to yourself, Loder.”
“Stand back!” roared Loder furiously.
He lifted the ashplant, and made a stride at Billy Bunter.
Jim Warren, with set lips and glinting eyes, stepped between them, his fists clenched. His voice came sharp.
“Put down that cane, Loder! Touch that fag with it, and I’ll knock you spinning!”
Copies of The Magnet from 1908 to 1940 are available to read or download free-of-charge from the Friardale website.
For
more on Comics or Story Papers, click here
For
more Billy Bunter, click here
Traditional School Discipline
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