Girl with a monocle

[Tammyfan]

So the monocle girl in question comes from 1925? That ties in with something I read the other day, that it was very fashionable in the 1920s for women to wear monocles. I'd like to read a complete Jemima story to give me the feel of what she was like.

I am a great fan of Bessie Bunter (the version who transferred from School Friend to June and then Tammy) so I am finding this interesting. Nowadays I wonder if Bessie had learning disabilities as I can't believe her notoriously bad schoolwork was due to stupidity. She seems quite clever in other ways - especially when it comes to snitching food.

[philcom55]

Yes, I always got the impression that Bessie was a much nicer person than her horrible brother.

- Phil R.

[Tammyfan]

Yes, I always got the impression that Bessie was a much nicer person than her horrible brother.

- Phil R.

Billy Bunter was horrible? I don't know much about him (except for his odd guest appearance in the Tammy strip), so can you explain more, please?

[Bunty Girl]

My first encounter with Bessie Bunter was as a comic strip in June & School Friend, but she started life in the very first School Friend in 1919 (I think she made a few guest appearances in The Magnet before that). Frank Richards who wrote the Billy Bunter stories created her but found his workload too great with The Gem and The Magnet so other writers soon took over, Bessie was at first a carbon copy of her brother but she developed into a more sympathetic character. Mary Cadogan's books are the best source for info on Cliff House School.

You can read a Jemima Carstairs story Tammyfan, this issue of The Schoolgirl is from April 1938:

http://www.friardale.co.uk/Schoolgirl/S ... 200457.pdf

Readers of a sensitive nature beware though, some stories in these early 'comics' are somewhat un-pc!

[colcool007]

My first encounter with Bessie Bunter was as a comic strip in June & School Friend, but she started life in the very first School Friend in 1919 (I think she made a few guest appearances in The Magnet before that). Frank Richards who wrote the Billy Bunter stories created her but found his workload too great with The Gem and The Magnet so other writers soon took over, Bessie was at first a carbon copy of her brother but she developed into a more sympathetic character. Mary Cadogan's books are the best source for info on Cliff House School.

You can read a Jemima Carstairs story Tammyfan, this issue of The Schoolgirl is from April 1938:

http://www.friardale.co.uk/Schoolgirl/S ... 200457.pdf

Readers of a sensitive nature beware though, some stories in these early 'comics' are somewhat un-pc!

I never knew Bessie had been around that long. Thanks for that Bunty Girl. I had always thought she was an invention for Girl in the 50's.

[Phoenix]

My first encounter with Bessie Bunter was as a comic strip in June & School Friend, but she started life in the very first School Friend in 1919 (I think she made a few guest appearances in The Magnet before that). Frank Richards who wrote the Billy Bunter stories created her but found his workload too great with The Gem and The Magnet so other writers soon took over, Bessie was at first a carbon copy of her brother but she developed into a more sympathetic character. Mary Cadogan's books are the best source for info on Cliff House School.

There is also a 16-page potted history of Cliff House School in the 48-page booklet Cliff House-Morcove - Hockey Sticks an' all by Tommy Keen and Graham McDermott, which offers more detailed coverage of the points made about Bessie by Bunty Girl, in particular the reason why she came to be portrayed as less objectionable than her brother. As Cliff House and Greyfriars were in the same general vicinity, the girls were naturally well aware of just how objectionable Billy was.

[Tammyfan]

My first encounter with Bessie Bunter was as a comic strip in June & School Friend, but she started life in the very first School Friend in 1919 (I think she made a few guest appearances in The Magnet before that). Frank Richards who wrote the Billy Bunter stories created her but found his workload too great with The Gem and The Magnet so other writers soon took over, Bessie was at first a carbon copy of her brother but she developed into a more sympathetic character. Mary Cadogan's books are the best source for info on Cliff House School.

You can read a Jemima Carstairs story Tammyfan, this issue of The Schoolgirl is from April 1938:

http://www.friardale.co.uk/Schoolgirl/S ... 200457.pdf

Readers of a sensitive nature beware though, some stories in these early 'comics' are somewhat un-pc!

Thanks for the link. I'm printing it off now.

[Phoenix]

Billy Bunter was horrible? I don't know much about him (except for his odd guest appearance in the Tammy strip), so can you explain more, please?

Horrible? Oh indeed yes. He was like a very large ball of short-sighted lard, with a pair of glasses perched on a nose that had a remarkable ability to sniff out any other fellow's tuck, which he would inevitably steal, or scoff on the spot in whichever study he found it. When the tuck's owner accused him of being the cause of its disappearance, he would lie through his teeth, pointing out that at the time of the theft he had been somewhere else, without being able to explain how exactly he knew when the theft had been committed. He usually tried to blame someone else who may or may not have been nearby at the time, such as Herbert Vernon-Smith who, as was well known, did enjoy an occasional out-of-hours trip to the Cross Keys for the odd smoke, wager and snifter, and he was even quite likely to blame classmates like Frank Nugent and Harry Wharton, who lived by the high standards of behaviour expected at Greyfriars. He would borrow money from the unwary on the pretext that a postal order he claimed had been sent or promised had just not yet arrived, and of course wouldn't pay it back because the postal order still hadn't arrived. As far as prep was concerned, that was just something other people did. It rarely occurred to him that if he just took the trouble to do it he would not get so many lines to write out, or as many more on his tight bags delivered by Mr Quelch's cane. This was mainly because he wasn't very knowledgeable, and was pretty dim to boot. He was more or less always prepared to provide a reason or an excuse, which became less and less believable the more he developed it. So in a nutshell, he was a feckless, dishonourable, lazy, unscrupulous troublemaker, thief and liar, with no conscience. I bet that didn't come through in the Tammy strip!

[matrix]

So in a nutshell, he was a feckless, dishonourable, lazy, unscrupulous troublemaker, thief and liar, with no conscience.

So, he's just like a lot of humans!?

He would borrow money from the unwary on the pretext that a postal order he claimed had been sent or promised had just not yet arrived, and of course wouldn't pay it back because the postal order still hadn't arrived. quote]

[philcom55]

So in a nutshell, he was a feckless, dishonourable, lazy, unscrupulous troublemaker, thief and liar, with no conscience.

So, he's just like a lot of humans!

Quite. I reckon he probably grew up to be a Cabinet Minister!


My first year of Secondary education, in a school not very dissimilar to Greyfriars, was one of the most unhappy of my childhood. Separated from my old friends, and suffering all the ritual humiliations customarily visited on kids who were 'not good at games' I felt very much of an outcast and desperately wanted to find a literary role model I could identify with. At first sight the unfortunate William George Bunter, Esq. seemed to fit the bill nicely so I acquired a bunch of his Armada paperbacks and began to work my way through them.

The trouble was that the more I read the more obvious it became that the appalling Bunter had no redeeming features whatsoever. As Phoenix says, he was lazy, stupid, craven, mean, vicious, greedy and totally uninterested in anybody but himself. Eventually I was forced to admit that however worthless my own existence might be, I was at least better than him!

After that things got a lot better...!

- Phil Rushton

[Marionette]

You can see the article I was writing that prompted the whole monocle girl discussion in the first place at my blog, since I've just finished it.

[Phoenix]

In the last three black and white drawings especially, Dawn could easily be mistaken for Bobby Dazzler.

[Phoenix]

I did intend to include this cover with this morning's reply to Bunty Girl. Here it is now, so nothing lost.

[Tammyfan]

In the last three black and white drawings especially, Dawn could easily be mistaken for Bobby Dazzler.

Well, it looks like Dawn and Bobby Dazzler were both drawn by the same artist.

[Tammyfan]

Billy Bunter was horrible? I don't know much about him (except for his odd guest appearance in the Tammy strip), so can you explain more, please?

Horrible? Oh indeed yes. He was like a very large ball of short-sighted lard, with a pair of glasses perched on a nose that had a remarkable ability to sniff out any other fellow's tuck, which he would inevitably steal, or scoff on the spot in whichever study he found it. When the tuck's owner accused him of being the cause of its disappearance, he would lie through his teeth, pointing out that at the time of the theft he had been somewhere else, without being able to explain how exactly he knew when the theft had been committed. He usually tried to blame someone else who may or may not have been nearby at the time, such as Herbert Vernon-Smith who, as was well known, did enjoy an occasional out-of-hours trip to the Cross Keys for the odd smoke, wager and snifter, and he was even quite likely to blame classmates like Frank Nugent and Harry Wharton, who lived by the high standards of behaviour expected at Greyfriars. He would borrow money from the unwary on the pretext that a postal order he claimed had been sent or promised had just not yet arrived, and of course wouldn't pay it back because the postal order still hadn't arrived. As far as prep was concerned, that was just something other people did. It rarely occurred to him that if he just took the trouble to do it he would not get so many lines to write out, or as many more on his tight bags delivered by Mr Quelch's cane. This was mainly because he wasn't very knowledgeable, and was pretty dim to boot. He was more or less always prepared to provide a reason or an excuse, which became less and less believable the more he developed it. So in a nutshell, he was a feckless, dishonourable, lazy, unscrupulous troublemaker, thief and liar, with no conscience. I bet that didn't come through in the Tammy strip!

Very little of Billy came through in the Tammy strip, actually. His guest appearances were very rare. It's hard to be sure, but I think he was meant to be portrayed as the male version of his sister. The School Friend/June/Tammy Bessie was always into crafty and occasionally dishonest dodges to acquire food, get out of schoolwork, wangle trips or raise money, but good natured and loveable at heart and even trying to be helpful at times.