Sad to learn that Barrie Tomlinson died on Tuesday 21st, aged 88. Barrie, as Boys' Sport And Adventure Group Editor for IPC Magazines, was the man responsible for launching the Roy Of The Rovers comic in 1976, the new Eagle in 1982, and Scream! in 1984, plus loads of other stuff. On at least a couple of occasions on my weekly jaunts down to London, I visited Barrie in his office to talk about the Death Wish strip he wrote under the name of D. Horton (though it was Eagle editor Dave Hunt who supplied me with the scripts and art), and which I lettered under the name of... o-er, can't quite remember as I used a few pseudonyms in my time. Anyway, sad to hear he's passed away and I feel proud to have interacted with him on occasion and worked on one of his strips. He probably wouldn't have remembered me, but I'll sure remember him. Rest In Peace, Barrie, and condolences to family, friends, and fans.
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Incidentally, Barrie wrote two autobiographical books, Real Roy Of The Rovers Stuff (2016) and Comic Book Hero (2017), which are yet available via eBay and Amazon. I've just bought them, and if you ever read any of the comics Barrie was responsible for when you were a kid, I'd suggest you might want to consider doing so too.
16 comments:
On Saturday (April 26th) it will be 50 years since the death of Carry On legend Sid James. He was born in South Africa in 1913 and didn't move to Britain until 1946.
Saw him in an old b&w American movie once, CJ - with an American accent. Shame about Barrie, eh?
I wasn't really reading a lot of UK comics in 1976 but I did pick up a few early Roy of the Rovers comics which I enjoyed and would have loved if I had been a bit younger. So it was good to put a face ,(and name) to the man behind the book. I picked a few issues of Eagle in back issue bins in the early 2000s and they were also a lot a fun. End of an era.
I wasn't really a fan of Roy, though I picked up a few later issues as the comic was nearing its end, McS, but I was aware of what comics were around then, even if I was ignorant of the man behind them until much later. Like you say, end of an era.
I loved the "Hotshot Hamish" in Royal of the Rovers which I still think was one of UK comics funniest strips under Julio Schiaffino's art.
I saw a Hotshot Hamish collected edition in a charity shop once and considered buying it, but the condition wasn't good enough for me. Fred Baker wrote the scripts. Might buy one at some stage down the line.
Kid, there was a documentary about Sid James on Radio 4-Extra yesterday which included a clip of him doing an American accent in that film you mentioned.
See? And some people say I just make things up. Showed them, didn't I ?!
I see that the Times ran a quite substantial obituary for Barrie Tomlinson today (May 4th edition). Good to see such coverage for comics creators in the mainstream press. Were your weekly trips to London from the period you lived in Southsea?
For around 3 months or so, B, when I first started freelancing for IPC, I travelled up from Southsea to collect and return work at least once a week, sometimes twice. Then I returned home to Scotland and did the exact same thing for around the next two years. It's usually Steve Holland who writes the obituaries of comic contributors for The Times - was that the case here?
Meant to say, B, that I added a few photos from 1981 to the 1985 photos in my 'Pondering Pompey' post, to compare a few scenes between the years.
It doesn't say who wrote the obituary, Kid, but it does seem to be a very well-informed piece. I read it on the Times app on my iPad, and it covered a full two pages worth.
I'll take a gander at your updated Pondering Pompey post.
Steve Holland is renowned for writing incredibly well-informed pieces, B - especially obituaries. If it wasn't him, I'd be surprised, as he's usually the 'go-to-guy' for such things.
I asked Steve and, surprisingly, it wasn't him. He's only written obituaries for The Guardian and sometimes The Telegraph, never The Times. I wonder who it was?
The Roy of the Rovers comic has all sorts of cliffhangers in it that meant you just HAD to get the next issue.
I don't recall ever buying a Roy Of The Rovers comic, CN, though I think I've got a facsimile of one given away with a newspaper some years back, along with facsimiles of six other comics as well, I believe. Stories with cliffhangers brought back readers from week-to-week, which is why I thought it was a mistake to remove action strips from Buster and Whizzer & Chips, etc., as there was nothing intriguing to draw the readers in.
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