Wednesday 8 June 2011

Spanish Lady starts in Daily Mirror

Three exciting things this time round (well, at least for me!) including a confession from your Blog writer!

But first...yesterday, "The Wreckers" concluded in the Daily Mirror, in this superbly drawn ending and innuendo-ridden last word from Garth.

© Daily Mirror

Martin Baines, the colourist, on the Daily Mirror's reprinted Garth strips has kindly shared the latest installment - the first - in this magnificent story called the "Spanish Lady". This story has only been reprinted in a series by John Dakin in 1979 in a 900 limited edition black and white reprint, so this may be the first time many people have seen some of this art - especially those under 30 years of age - I'm now feeling very old!

© Daily Mirror
I've shrunk the version Martin sent me for purposes of internet loading, but I think it still shows how his original colouring misses out in letterpress printing, however I still love it and find he does brilliantly understate his work by not overcolouring Bellamy.

That's the first exciting thing - thanks again Martin. I owe you a pint or two!

Now, the second excitement is that coincidentally a sale on eBay comes from this very story.  I'll let the seller describe the piece of original art:

From the story 'The Spanish Lady' from 1976 which was the last complete story that he produced before his untimely death later that year. Code K122. With a great action scene showing far more detail than the much smaller printed version. There is a little discolouring of the white board where it as been framed in the past.

Artwork panels measure 135mm x 520mm. Signed with his distinctive signature and drawn on heavyweight CS10 board. The blacks are very dense, having been inked over many times - sometimes as many as eight - to give the density of black that he required.

I've copied the strip below from the John Dakin reprint - go to eBay for the actual scans - it looks to be in very good condition. I'll add an price update after the sale

© Daily Mirror
UPDATE: Sold for £181.00 with 5 bids (June 2011)
And thirdly and lastly for now, my confession!

When I came back to the job of creating this listing circa 2001 - ask me about it if you don't know - I had copies of the 2 Titan Garth paperback reprints. In the introductions written by Nick Landau, there is a handy checklist of all the Garth strips to appear. Here the problem begins...

I believed them!

In writing today's blog entry, I checked the sequence of the strips for the Spanish Lady as I was surprised by the dates I had on the website (- which I've now corrected). I remember that Ghost Town, Bellamy's favourite Garth strip, was reprinted shortly after his death on 5 July 1976, so how could Landau's dates for the Spanish Lady be right? Landau has the dates and number sequence as K65 (17/03/1976) to K160 (07/08/1976) which would make the story continue for another month before Ghost Town started. I checked a few photocopies I have of the paper and found there was something definitely wrong.

The wonderful Garth: the index by Dave Westaway and friends Geoff Wren and Ann Holmes was far more meticulous and confirmed my fear, correctly listing the dates and numbers as 17/03/1976 - 07/07/1976 - K65-K160 for Spanish Lady. So we have 96 episodes in total for this story.

This was all a terrible revelation to me and proof that I was right to (but inconsistent in) checking everything on the list before launching the website. I'm very unlikely to win the (non-existent) "Steve Holland Bibliographer Lifetime Achievement Award"but confession is good for the soul!

And if I ever get a spare day to re-vamp the website I'll also get rid of the confusing date arrangements to indicate 8 June instead of the confusing 08/06 which my American friends would see as being the 6th of August.

Tuesday 24 May 2011

Original Art: Garth on eBay - The Beautiful People

Another eBay sale for you to have a look at. This is a really lovely example of Bellamy's work. Click on the seller's name below for the eBay description

© Daily Mirror

To quote phUKone, the seller:

From the story 'The Beautiful People' from 1976. Code K23.

Artwork is absolutely pristine and is drawn much larger than the printed size. Artwork panels measure 135mm x 520mm. Signed with his distinctive signature and drawn on heavyweight CS10 board. The blacks are very dense, having been inked over many times - sometimes as many as eight - to give the density of black that he required. Hopefully the photos give some idea but obviously can't compare to the original.

UPDATE: Sold for £110.00 (May 2011) with 1 bids

Saturday 21 May 2011

Happy Birthday Frank - More life studies

Life study (Thanks to Paul Vyse)


If you click on this previous post's link, you'll see a few life studies. I have been fortunate to receive a few photos by kind people of their copies of life studies, so thought I'd add to the blog for all to see. And especially as today would have been Frank's 94th birthday and I have a suspicion he enjoyed this part of his work! My thoughts are with Nancy his widow (who will be 89 herself this August) as I'm sure she'll remember today. She's been unwell recently, and a few fans have been visiting and reporting back  We wish you well Nancy.

Life study (Thanks to Paul Vyse)


The two studies were sent to me by Paul Vyse who also owns a Radio Times piece - very beautiful - coming up in a later blog entry. If you're following the reprints of Garth in the Daily Mirror you'll be seeing how Bellamy used his experience of life studies! I must say again that I am enjoying following the newly coloured adventures day by day. The reproduction of Martin Baines' colouring, has certainly got better! Although John Ridgway's colouring is printed on superior paper in Spaceship Away, I also enjoy having newsprint in my hands

The following studies were sent to me after I contacted  Peter Labrow (Author of The Well), as he mentioned on Twitter that he owned a couple of pieces. Peter has an interesting Kindle production on Amazon UK  or Amazon US and can be contacted via his website

Interestingly the first one below (the model holding a chair back),  has a name on the reverse "The model's name is on the back of this one - Angela Mansi - as is the date 22/2/65" which is useful as this confirms that Bellamy was participating in life classes at the Studio Club in Piccadilly at that time.

Thanks to Peter Labrow



Many thanks again top Paul and Peter

Sunday 15 May 2011

Original Art on Comic Book Auctions: Thunderbirds x2

Comic Book Auctions Ltd has launched it Summer 2011 catalogue with bidding closing on Tuesday 7 June 2011 at 8 PM UK Time.

The piece that will be of particular interest to Bellamy fans is Thunderbirds original artwork (1968) from TV Century 21 No 137 - Lot number 216

Lot #216 Original art

Printed version

Thunderbirds original double page artwork drawn and signed by Frank Bellamy for TV Century 21 No 137 Sept 21 1967

The survey ship 'Palmerston' ploughs through icy seas that inexplicably start heating to boiling point. The Thunderbirds space station alerts to their S.O.S. and John Tracy launches Thunderbirds 2 and Gordon takes Thunderbirds 4 to the water. Then suddenly, 'Virgil The Sun - that light! It's - aaagh!'
The green and blue has faded from this piece, the red remains strong. Pelikan inks on board. 18 x 25 ins
£1,000-1,500

Yes, the piece is faded - don't blame the seller, we all have things displayed in our houses, that we like and the sun just keeps on shining - and therefore fading the inks. Those people who are smart (I have faded art so guess which I am!) get a laser copy and mount that and then store the piece away. When I first saw an original that had been stored properly I was absolutely shocked how vibrant the colour gradations were that Bellamy did.

UPDATE: Winning bid incl. 10% Buyer's Premium: £1,815(June 2011) 

There's also Lot # 217

Thunderbirds original artwork by Frank Bellamy from TV Century 21 No 168 1968
The Hood targets the final destruction of Tracy Island but brainwashed Brains is found alive - now he has to be electronically debriefed in the lab - but will he be rescued from the borders of insanity?
The green and blue has faded from this piece. Pelikan inks on board. 16 x 13 ins
£600-800
TV21 #168 Original art

TV21 #168 published version

UPDATE: Winning bid incl. 10% Buyer's Premium: ££968(June 2011)

But the thing that regularly hits me about FB is that he didn't do things easily. He knew the header would be added to his artwork and left space for it, but that didn't mean leaving the space blank. Some examples are more shocking than others, but look at the one above - enlarged below - 

The header is not left blank!


Here's another example from Thunderbirds

The printed header TV21 #164



The original art header



The recent Chris Bentley reprints showed this very clearly wherever the original art was shown without the lettering stuck on. (see Amazon link for details) Next time you look at Thunderbirds take a look behind the header, you'll be surprised what artwork you missed!

Monday 9 May 2011

Original Art: Garth on eBay - The Beast of Ultor


 H93 from The Beast of Ultor

UPDATE: Sold for £137.45 (May 2011) with 5 bids

To quote phUKone, the seller:


This is from his tenth story 'The Beast of Ultor' from 1974. Code H93.

Artwork is absolutely pristine and is drawn much larger than the printed size. Artwork panels measure 135mm x 520mm. Signed with his distinctive signature and drawn on heavyweight CS10 board. The blacks are very dense, having been inked over many times - sometimes as many as eight - to give the density of black that he required.

As usual I'll update this page at the end of the auction

Tuesday 3 May 2011

Frank Bellamy and the Army

Horse Artillery c.1940


The recently BookPalace reprint Frank Bellamy's the Story of World War One
showed Bellamy's later prowess at drawing military subjects. In all the oft-repeated biographies on Frank Bellamy, they mention his service in the Army. We know that during the time he spent in the Royal Artillery, he continued to hone his craft and quite a few very early pieces still exist in the hands of collectors. Most of these from his war service  show aspects of military life and one wonders why they were not taken for the National Archives with 'secrecy' orders applied to them. But the one above is not of a contemporary subject so escapes that restriction thankfully.

David Bellamy, Frank’s son, mentions (in Time View: Complete "Doctor Who" Illustrations of Frank Bellamy) that Bellamy was always frustrated that he could not be posted to Africa, which he had longed to see since childhood (instead he met his wife Nancy, a local girl!) In 1939 that Bellamy was called up as a Gunner an soon became Lance Bombardier Bellamy, (the Royal Artillery equivalent of Lance Corporal, the lowest Non-Commissioned Officer grade i.e. one above a Gunner (Private)). Over the course of the 6 years he was in the Army, he went from Corporal to Sergeant. His posting to Deerbolt Camp (now a Young Offenders Institution) was recorded in the famous Dez Skinn/Dave Gibbons interview, where he spent six months painting the walls and ceiling of an “aircraft recognition room with every aircraft in use - RAF, USAF and Luftwaffe […] from every angle imaginable.”

“Rudiments of aircraft recognition” by Eric Wilton published in 1944, contains “sixty common types of aircraft […] selected as the minimum number capable of giving the novice a really solid groundwork [and] is broken down into small categories for easy study according to systems of classification: first the aircraft are considered in relation to the work they have to do; and in the second classification they are arranged in groups based on those details of outward appearance that are conspicuous to a ground observer and give a clue to identity”.

Unfortunately all attempts to track down any photos have to date been unsuccessful. I communicated with Frank T. Smith, the author of an article on Deerbolt, back a few years ago, but as with so many contacts, this one dried up. I made contact as result of reading the article in After The Battle #113 (still available for purchase from their website)

David Britton (one of the guys who set up the touring Eagle Exhibitions - to which I contributed in a vague way, just the once) emailed me a copy of a picture he bought "at an auction of Eagle memorabilia in Gloucester (1995?). On the back was (and it still has a Post-it note with the name Gilliam Hall (former wife of Christopher Hall) and printed name-plate of Frank with his address & telephone number in Morden Surrey. It was lot 185"


I queried with him why it had Nancy's signature on it. "Yes that is Nancy's signature. I showed it to her when she was our guest at the Eagle Dinner at Launde Abbey (1998) and I asked if she could confirm it was Frank's work. She did and kindly signed the mount as additional proof."


Now one of difficulties I have found, despite having had a Dad in the forces, is learning military vocabulary, let alone identifying pictures of such subjects. Luckily David provided this "It is meant to be the Horse Artillery (my father was a member before WWII, as he was able to ride a horse) in WW I drawing a carriage containing an officer through battle-scarred countryside. It is signed Gnr (I assume "Gunner")FRANK A BELLAMY." Absolutely right David and many thanks for sharing this

I have amended the entry in the Unpublished works by Bellamy listing (from 'Lance Bombardier' to 'Horse Artillery sketch'  and added a scan under the note

Friday 22 April 2011

Pawley's Peepholes - discovered

Pawley's Peepholes
© BBC Publications

For at least 8 years I have been searching for a copy of what I thought was the "BBC MUSIC: PAWLEY'S PEEPHOLE BBC Publications for Schools & Colleges 1970". After my friend Penny told me Pawley's Peepholes was a short story by Wyndham I read the short story - she even lent the book to me. I blogged about it right at the start of this blog but received no feedback. Time marched on (for the irony - see this short story!) and I followed all sorts of booksellers' websites, hoping to find a copy - if it even existed! No joy!

Until one day recently I asked an eBayer if he had a copy and he replied:
Hi Norman I've found it on the web, I definitely haven't got it. No-one seems to have a copy except The National Arts Education Archive, they may let you photocopy it, not sure but have a try, Scott,
What a strange answer I thought, as I watch all sorts of places for anything to do with Bellamy, but wondered how he had found it and I hadn't and secondly who on earth were the NAEA??

Off I went and found them very quickly, and sent a note with trembling fingers on my keyboard and received, very quickly, a reply back:

Hello Norman
Yes, this is the booklet. If you would like me to photocopy it I will do so. It is a 28 page booklet Then you could make a donation to the Archive in lieu of copying and postage.
I look forward to hearing from you.
At this point you can imagine my sheer panic and joy. I was so close but I'd been this close before to other Bellamy pieces and not managed to get closure to the transaction.

But shortly after I received in the post 28 pages of photocopies (from which I have done scans). Being a good boy I asked how I should credit both Scott and the National Arts Education Archive (NAEA) - long may Google index this wonderful institution! - and I was told it would much appreciated if I said it came courtesy of
The Paul Mann Music Education collection, the National Arts Education Archive @YSP, Bretton Hall, Wakefield. The catalogue entry there reads:

TitleMusic session one; Pawley's peepholes
AuthorLord, David
InstitutionBBC Radio
Date CreatedN.D.
NotesMusical drama in three sequences based on a story by John Wyndham. Produced by Jenyth Worsley
Archive NumberBHPMBK00117

Well, I can fill in the date. It's definitely 1970 - it's actually on the cover, but I knew he received the commission in late 1969 from BBC Publications.

This is a  booklet used by schools in the days the BBC broadcast radio programmes (or 'wireless' as my teacher called it back then!) where we would all join in with copies of the book for the whole class. But this is actually a performance piece which was broadcast on Radio 4 from 28 April to 23 June. The music shows the parts for chorus, recorders, bongos, cymbal & tambourine, all other percussion and the piano! A collaborative education this!

Details
  • CODE:#P79 - 28 pages "Musical drama in three sequences based on a story by John Wyndham"
  • Music by David Lord
  • Libretto: Eric Allen
  • Illustrations:Frank Bellamy
  • Producer: Jenyth Worsley
  • All images © BBC Publications

The story:
The signs on the vehicles used by the time tourists in the original read:
  • Pawley's Peepholes on the Past
    •   — Greatest invention of the age
  • History Without Tears
    •   — for £1 See How Great Great Grandma Lived
  • Ye Quainte Olde 20th Century Expresse
  • See Living History in Comfort
    •   — Quaint Dresses, Old Customs
  • Educational! Learn Primitive Folkways
    •   — Living conditions
  •  Visit Romantic 20th Century
    •   — Safety Guaranteed
  •  Know Your History
    •   — Get Culture — £1 Trip
  •  Big Money Prize if you Identify Own Grandad/Ma
© Estate of John Wyndham

Anyway, to the art itself. There are 8 drawings (and we know about one unpublished - see Alan Davis' website where there's an image of the rocket-like travel device) and
the cover is classic Bellamy showing the launch station for the time machine. It is so reminiscent of the Atlantic Tunnel from Thunderbirds. One would think he was influenced by Mike Noble who loved drawing 'hardware', but of course Bellamy was in the Royal Artillery (more on this in another post) so was confident in drawing machinery too.

© BBC Publications

The people appear to have strange hair until you read the first-person story which says:
I don't know whether her hair would be her own, art and science together can do so much for a girl, but the way she was wearing it, it was like a great golden chrysanthemum a good foot and a half across, and with a red flower set in it a little left of centre. It looked sort of top-heavy. 

 I am so pleased to have pinned down one more commission by Bellamy


p.6

pp11-12

p.13

p.14

p.17

p.21

p.23



Thanks once more to Scott and the wonderful National Arts Education Archive for their help in tracking this down.

***UPDATE JULY 2023  ****

Pawley's Peepholes Summer 1967 Illustrations by Bill Burnard

Thanks to Nigel Parsons for writing and sharing the above earlier alternative version of "Pawley's Peepholes"!