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Denis Gifford on TV

Posted: 11 Mar 2015, 00:58
by Lew Stringer
From 30 years ago, a short news item from Thames News showing Denis Gifford at home surrounded by his collection:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HiYe6VdtOx0

Re: Denis Gifford on TV

Posted: 11 Mar 2015, 09:26
by amorri40
Wow what a guy! Wonder what his collection is at now :) hope he still collects the recent beano issues, imagine having a full set!

Re: Denis Gifford on TV

Posted: 11 Mar 2015, 09:50
by Phoenix
amorri40 wrote:Wonder what his collection is at now :) hope he still collects the recent beano issues, imagine having a full set!
Unfortunately, amorri, Denis passed away in 2000.

Re: Denis Gifford on TV

Posted: 11 Mar 2015, 12:31
by starscape
Unfortunately, the family of Dennis were (rumour has it) quite rightly :censored: off with his collection. It was sold pretty quickly after his death. He never cared much about condition but about collecting.

He was a friend of Bob Monkhouse, who also had a huge collection, with a similar :censored: off family.

Re: Denis Gifford on TV

Posted: 11 Mar 2015, 15:46
by Lew Stringer
Phoenix wrote:
amorri40 wrote:Wonder what his collection is at now :) hope he still collects the recent beano issues, imagine having a full set!
Unfortunately, amorri, Denis passed away in 2000.
I wrongly assumed everyone here would know who Denis was, forgetting the passage of time and that most younger collectors may unfortunately not have heard of him.

Amorri, Denis was a collector, historian, cartoonist, writer and much more. This Wikipedia entry is very informative:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denis_Gifford

If you ever come across his books they're well worth buying.

Re: Denis Gifford on TV

Posted: 11 Mar 2015, 17:26
by Kashgar
amorri40 wrote:Wow what a guy! Wonder what his collection is at now :) hope he still collects the recent beano issues, imagine having a full set!
Denis never really concerned himself with collecting full sets of anything amorri. He certainly didn't have a complete collection of Beanos at the time of his death. Denis was much more interested in collecting special issues Number 1's, Xmas issues etc not only from Britain but around the world. He was certainly the most significant figure in British comic collecting in the latter half of the 20th century and when I say comic collecting I mean the collecting and cataloguing of comics rather than adventure strip papers which Denis never really warmed to overmuch.
His collection was split up and sold by Hamer books after his death.

Re: Denis Gifford on TV

Posted: 11 Mar 2015, 21:26
by amorri40
Sorry I had no idea :( Thanks guys it seems like he had a brilliant life and got right into his hobby and is hugely respected. the wikipedia article is great, if I can accomplish 1% of that in my lifetime I would be very happy. I have previously seen his books recommended on amazon but its only now I appreciate the value of them.
I also find it sad to think of his collection being split up like that but I guess it just means they will go into the hands of fellow collectors who will take care and cherish them. I can definitely relate to a family who is frustrated by my collection so I can't imagine what it was like for him!
I would have loved the chance to browse his collection, that would be like my disneyland, did anyone here get that honour?

Re: Denis Gifford on TV

Posted: 11 Mar 2015, 21:41
by Lew Stringer
amorri40 wrote:I can definitely relate to a family who is frustrated by my collection so I can't imagine what it was like for him!
Denis lived alone. Sadly his marriage had been over a long time before that news item. I don't know what the circumstances were for the split and obviously it isn't up to us to speculate on that. (Not that anyone here was of course.)

Re: Denis Gifford on TV

Posted: 11 Mar 2015, 22:17
by Phoenix
starscape wrote:Unfortunately, the family of Dennis were (rumour has it) quite rightly :censored: off with his collection. It was sold pretty quickly after his death.
It wasn't sold all that quickly. There were fifteen separate auctions over two years. The first was on 25 February 2001, the final one on 16 February 2003. I have all the catalogues. The cover of the first one is below.

Re: Denis Gifford on TV

Posted: 11 Mar 2015, 22:21
by Phoenix
starscape wrote:Unfortunately, the family of Dennis were (rumour has it) quite rightly :censored: off with his collection.
Quite rightly?

Re: Denis Gifford on TV

Posted: 23 Nov 2016, 00:06
by irishjohnp
I've only really started collecting British comics within the last few years, since I was mainly a collector of american comics but it looks like if there was a decent book printed about britsh comics, it was most likely Denis who made it. I just picked up this book. 'Comics at War'. full of full page colour pictures. I'd highly recommend it, still can be found quite cheap too. I got mine for under a fiver on ebay! Thought a small book was going to arrive & was really happy with the size & quailty of the publication.

Re: Denis Gifford on TV

Posted: 23 Nov 2016, 00:17
by Lew Stringer
Comics At War was designed by my old mate Mike Higgs (who also drew the cover), and it is indeed a fantastic book.

Re: Denis Gifford on TV

Posted: 23 Nov 2016, 00:56
by irishjohnp
Lew Stringer wrote:Comics At War was designed by my old mate Mike Higgs (who also drew the cover), and it is indeed a fantastic book.
a job well done. :cheers:

Re: Denis Gifford on TV

Posted: 23 Nov 2016, 12:51
by philcom55
Denis wasn't always too reliable when dealing with comics from the 1960s and 1970s, but his knowledge of the war years was second to none and it shows in this excellent volume!