Charles Hamilton (writer)
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Charles Harold St. John Hamilton (August 8, 1876 – December 24, 1961), also known as Frank Richards, was an English children's-book author.
Born in Ealing, he is listed in Guinness World Records as the most prolific author of all time with a lifetime output calculated at 72-75 million words.[1] Hamilton was so prolific that his work was famously judged to be that of several authors following a formula by George Orwell in his essay Boys' Weeklies.[2]
Much of his work was published in the weekly boys' papers of the time, and at times he was writing at least six stories each week, using over twenty different pen-names.[3]
He is most famous for his work as Frank Richards for the weekly story paper The Magnet, but he also wrote weekly tales of Tom Merry and Co. of St Jim's for The Gem (as Martin Clifford), Jimmy Silver and Co. of Rookwood School for The Boys Friend Weekly and of the Rio Kid in The Popular (as Ralph Redway), and Bessie Bunter of Cliff House for The School Friend (as Hilda Richards, supposedly Frank Richards' sister, though "Hilda" only wrote 6 issues of that paper). Also Jack Nobody/Jack Free in Spring Books: "Jack's the Lad" and "Jack of the Circus".
His most famous creation is Billy Bunter, who featured in stories set in Greyfriars School. The Billy Bunter stories were serialised in The Magnet from 1908 until the paper shortage during World War II ended its publication in 1940. After World War II Hamilton wrote a number of Bunter books, which were published by Charles Skilton and Cassell. He also wrote the scripts for the BBC's Billy Bunter television series starring Gerald Campion, which ran from 1951 to 1961.
In the 1970s Howard Baker began to publish facsimiles of every issue of The Magnet; he fell just short of completing the series at the time of his death in 1991.
Contents |
[edit] Post-War Frank Richards books published by Skilton/Cassels
- Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School 1947
- Billy Bunter's Banknote 1948
- Billy Bunter's Barring Out 1948
- Billy Bunter in Brazil 1949
- Billy Bunter's Christmas Party 1949
- Bessie Bunter of Cliff House School 1949
- Billy Bunter's Benefit 1950
- Billy Bunter Among the Cannibals 1950
- Billy Bunter's Postal Order 1951
- Billy Bunter Butts In 1951
- Billy Bunter and the Blue Mauritius 1952
- Billy Bunter's Beanfeast 1952
- Billy Bunter's Brainwave 1953
- Billy Bunter's First Case 1953
- Billy Bunter the Bold 1954
- Bunter Does His Best 1954
- Billy Bunter's Double 1955
- Backing Up Billy Bunter 1955
- Lord Billy Bunter 1956
- The Banishing of Billy Bunter 1956
- Billy Bunter's Bolt 1957
- Billy Bunter Afloat 1957
- Billy Bunter's Bargain 1958
- Billy Bunter the Hiker 1958
- Bunter Out of Bounds 1959
- Bunter Comes for Christmas 1959
- Bunter the Bad Lad 1960
- Bunter Keeps it Dark 1960
- Billy Bunter's Treasure Hunt 1961
- Billy Bunter at Butlins 1961
- Bunter the Ventriloquist 1961
- Bunter the Caravanner 1962
- Billy Bunter's Bodyguard 1962
- Big Chief Bunter 1963
- Just Like Bunter 1963
- Bunter the Stowaway 1964
- Thanks to Bunter 1964
- Bunter the Sportsman 1965
- Bunter's Last Fling 1965
[edit] Miscellaneous
Under the pen name of Martin Clifford, Charles Hamilton wrote of the (fictitious) school days of Frank Richards, author of the Greyfriars stories, in the Wild West for the Boys' Friend Weekly from 1917 until 1921.
[edit] References
- ^ [1] Guinness World Records
- ^ http://whitewolf.newcastle.edu.au/words/authors/O/OrwellGeorge/essay/boysweeklies.html
- ^ Cadogan,M Frank Richards: the chap behind the chums (1988, London, Penguin) ISBN 0670819468 p237 Appendix 3
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[edit] External links
There is an Illustrated Billy Bunter Story to read online Billy Bunters Blow Out From the Valiant Annual 1969 at [2]
- Frank Richards biographical information from a New Zealand fansite.
- Boys' Weeklies by George Orwell Essay on the genre focussing on the "Frank Richards'" stories in The Magnet.
- [3]
