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Welcome to the web home of THE EAGLE SOCIETY.

THE EAGLE SOCIETY is dedicated to the memory of EAGLE - Britain's National Picture Strip Weekly - the leading Boy's magazine of the 1950s and 1960s. We publish an A4, quarterly journal - the Eagle Times.

This weblog has been created to provide an additional, more immediate, forum for news and commentary about the society and EAGLE-related issues. Want to know more? See First Post and Eagle - How it began.

Saturday 23 March 2013

Eagle Times Vol 26 No 1

Eagle Times 
25th Anniversary Issue
Spring 2013 Contents
  • 'A Thrill of a Lifetime in 1957' - the story of how one lucky 1950s reader, Robert Pegg, entered a competition in Eagle, and won a trip to Kenya with his father, flying in BOAC's newest airliner, the Bristol Britannia aircraft, otherwise known as The Whispering Giant
  • 'Dan Dare Pilot of the Future on Radio Luxembourg' - a review of the radio serial, sponsored by Horlicks, that aired five days a week on 208 Medium Waveband from 1951 - 1956. The article includes a story listing and is accompanied by a short article on the origins of the malted milk product known as Horlicks 
  • 'Serial Thrillers: The Adventure Serial on British Radio' - a review of Charles Norton’s new book about four immensely popular series from the Golden Age of British Radio, ie: Paul Temple, Dick Barton, Dan Dare, and Journey into Space
  • 'P.C.49 and the Case of the Circular Tins' - a further adaptation from one of Alan Stranks' famous radio stories
  • An obituary of Charles Chilton, M.B.E. (1917 - 2013), the renowned radio writer and producer, and writer of the 'Riders of the Range' strip that ran in Eagle from 1950 until 1962, plus a report on the funeral service held on 11th January, 2013, to commemorate his life
  • 'How I learned to stop worrying and appreciate the genius of John Burns' - a look at the career and varied work of one of the artists who drew 'Dan Dare' for the "new" Eagle in 1990  
  • 'When is a Hampson not a Hampson?' - on the particular challenge and difficulties of reliably attributing Eagle 'Dan Dare' artwork to its original creator and lead artist, Frank Hampson 
  • 'Charles William (Bill) Nuttall - Artist' - a former Eagle letterer (Eagle Society member David Gould) provides a biographical review of the early career of lettering artist and illustrator, Bill Nuttall, and his personal recollections of working with Bill at Eagle from the mid-1960s. 
  • 'Mann of Battle', part 1 - a look at the World War II strip that ran weekly in Eagle from 1962 - 1964, written by Alfred Carney Allan and drawn initially by Luis Bermejo, then for most of its life by Brian Lewis
  • 'Dan Dare Holiday Special (1990)' - the third in a series of articles about Eagle-related holiday specials, this one looking at the only 'Dan Dare'-specific special to be published.
  • 'Interviewing Marcus Morris' - a photo-illustrated article recounting a visit in 1987 to the home of former Eagle Editor Marcus Morris
  • 'Lion, King of Picture Story papers'  - a review of Steve Holland's recent book about Eagle's 1950s' rival  - the comic that eventually (1969) swallowed Eagle
The cover of this issue celebrates 25 years of Eagle Times and incorporates the front cover of our first issue (Spring 1988) alongside a study, by John Burns, of Dan Dare's companion, Digby. 

2 comments:

Kid said...

Can one buy individual issues without subscribing? I'd like to read the article about Bill Nuttall, because I often chatted to Bill in King's Reach Tower on my weekly (sometimes twice-weekly) visits to London back in the mid-'80s.

He used to go round old parts of London (I think) with a pal and photograph street scenes, which they then drew in charcoal or pencil. I recall him showing me the results, and also some old books which he had illustrated back in the '40s or '50s.

He always wore what looked like a blue and white-striped butcher's apron to keep his clothes ink-free, and lettered on a lightbox which had guidelines marked on it. He simply placed a piece of 'patch paper' onto the lightbox and away he went. It did away with having to draw guidelines all the time.

Nice old bloke. He always referred to me as the 'Scottish laddie'. I wanted to interview him for The Illustrated Comic Journal and spoke with his son about it (this was back in the early '90s), but publication was so infrequent that, sadly, it never happened.

Good ol' Bill.

Will Grenham said...

Kid,
Always pleased to hear from people with personal recollections!
It is possible to obtain a sample issue of Eagle Times. Follow the link How to Get a Sample Issue in the blog's Navigation panel for details. I've just updated the original post as I noticed it was a bit out of date!
Will.