| Albert Campion | |
|---|---|
| Albert Campion mysteries character | |
| First appearance | The Crime at Black Dudley |
| Created by | Margery Allingham |
| Portrayed by | Peter Davison |
| Information | |
| Aliases | the Honourable Tootles Ash, Mornington Dodd, Orlando, Christopher Twelvetrees |
| Gender | male |
| Occupation | adventurer, detective |
| Spouse(s) | Lady Amanda Fitton |
| Children | Rupert (son) |
| Relatives | Valentine Ferris (sister) |
| Nationality | British |
Albert Campion is a fictional character in a series of detective novels and short stories by Margery Allingham. He first appeared as a supporting character in The Crime at Black Dudley (1929), an adventure story involving a ring of criminals, and would go on to feature in another 17 novels and over 20 short stories. Supposedly created as a parody of Dorothy L. Sayers' detective Lord Peter Wimsey,[1] Campion established his own identity, and matured and developed as the series progressed. After Allingham's death her husband Philip Youngman Carter completed her last Campion book and wrote two more before his own death.
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Albert Campion is a pseudonym used by a man who was born in 1900 into a prominent British aristocratic family. Early novels hint that he was part of the royal family but this suggestion is dropped in later works. He was educated at Rugby School and the (fictitious) St. Ignatius' College, Cambridge (according to a mini-biography included in Sweet Danger). Ingenious, resourceful and well-educated, in his 20s he assumed the name Campion and began a life as an adventurer and detective.
Campion is thin, blond, wears glasses, and is often described as affable, inoffensive and bland, with a deceptively blank and unintelligent expression. He is, nonetheless, a man of authority and action, and considers himself to be a helpful and comforting "Uncle Albert" to friends and those in need. In some stories, he lives in a flat above a police station at Number 17A, Bottle Street in Piccadilly, London. In the early stories he has a pet jackdaw called Autolycus.
The name "Campion" may have its origin in the Old French word for "champion".[2] Another source says the name was suggested by Allingham's husband Philip Youngman Carter, and may allude to the Jesuit martyr St. Edmund Campion. Carter and St. Edmund Campion were both graduates of Christ's Hospital school. Campion's fictional college, St. Ignatius, supports the Edmund Campion connection, since St. Ignatius of Loyola was the founder of the Jesuits.[3]
'Albert Campion' is revealed early on to be a pseudonym. In Mystery Mile, his true first name is said to be Rudolph, while his surname begins with a K. In The Fashion in Shrouds he also mentions his first name being Rudolph but confides he changed it asking people to call him Albert as he didn't like the name Rudolph.
Campion has used many other names in the course of his career. "Mornington Dove" (although in the 1988 Avon edition (page 72) of "The Black Dudley Murder" he is called "Mornington Dodd") and "the Honourable Tootles Ash" are mentioned in The Crime at Black Dudley; "Christopher Twelvetrees" and "Orlando" are mentioned in Look to the Lady.
Allingham makes various references to Campion's aristocratic background, and hints at a connection to royalty in several asides. A study of the books suggests his father was a Viscount, and was already dead at the start of the series.[4] Campion's mother is mentioned several times and writes a letter in The Fashion in Shrouds, and Campion borrows a car from his older brother in Mystery Mile, but neither of them appear in person. His sister Valentine Ferris plays a central part in The Fashion in Shrouds; in that book, it is revealed that they are both estranged from most of their family. In Police at the Funeral, the venerable Caroline Faraday is aware of his true identity, and knows his grandmother Emily - she states at one point that the rest of his family blame Emily for encouraging Campion in his adventurous ways.
From Mystery Mile onwards, Campion is normally aided by his manservant, Magersfontein Lugg, an uncouth, rough-and-tumble fellow who used to be a burglar. Campion is good friends with Inspector (later Superintendent) Stanislaus Oates of Scotland Yard, who is as by-the-book as Campion is unorthodox, and in later books with Oates's protege Inspector Charles Luke.
In wartime, Campion is involved in intelligence work and after the war he continues to have a connection to the secret services.
Campion also has many friends and allies, seemingly scattered all across London and the English countryside, often including professional criminals. In the short story The Meaning of the Act Campion explains to Oates that the secret of his success is to "take a drink with anyone, and pick your pals where you find 'em".[5]
In Mystery Mile Campion is subtly shown to be in love with Biddy Paget, around whose home most of the story revolves; Campion is distraught when, at the end of the adventure, she marries an American, and his sadness at losing her is mentioned again in subsequent stories.
After a doomed passion for a married woman in Dancers in Mourning, Campion eventually marries Amanda Fitton, who first appears in Sweet Danger as a seventeen-year old and later becomes an aircraft engineer; they have a son, called Rupert. Her brother Hal recovers the family title of Earl of Pontisbright as a result of the adventures described in Sweet Danger and Amanda then becomes Lady Amanda, as the sister of an Earl.
The Campion stories are generally adventures rather than true mysteries, as they rarely feature puzzles that the reader has a chance of solving; it is the characters and situations which carry the story. Most of the novels are short by modern standards - about 200 pages long.
Two stories were adapted by the BBC in 1959 and 1960, with Bernard Horsfall as Campion and Wally Patch as Lugg. Each story was shown in 6 30-minute episodes. The 1959 adaptation of Dancers in Mourning also featured John Ruddock as Oates, Denis Quilley as Jimmy Sutane, Michael Gough as Squire Mercer and Noel Howlett as "Uncle" William Faraday. The 1960 adaptation, Death of a Ghost, featured Arthur Brough as Oates.
In 1968 The Case of the Late Pig was adapted for television starring Brian Smith as Campion, and George Sewell as Lugg.[6]. It was part of the BBC Detective (1964-1969) series which was an anthology series featuring adaptations of detective stories.
In 1989 and 1990, the first eight of the novels (excluding The Crime at Black Dudley) were adapted over two seasons, with each story shown in two hour-long episodes. Peter Davison played Campion, Brian Glover was Lugg and Andrew Burt was Oates.