The Magnet

For other uses, see The Magnet (disambiguation).
Magnet Number 1, 1908

The Magnet was a United Kingdom weekly boys story paper published by Amalgamated Press. It ran from 1908 to 1940, publishing a total of 1683 issues. Each issue contained a long school story about the boys of Greyfriars School written under the pen-name of Frank Richards. The vast majority of the stories were written by author Charles Hamilton, although substitute writers were sometimes used; The most famous Greyfriars character was Billy Bunter, of the Remove. Most issues of The Magnet also included a shorter serial story (a variety of detective, scouting, and adventure yarns were featured), and many issues also included a newspaper ostensibly produced by the characters themselves and called the Greyfriars Herald; these parts of the paper were not written by Charles Hamilton.

Contents

History

A Magnet Guide

Red Magnet – 1908–1915

It was created by the editor Percy Griffiths, building on the success of The Gem . The early years saw the creation of nearly all of the Greyfriars characters who would populate Greyfriars for the remainder of its history.

Blue and White era - 1915-1922

The cover changed from salmon pink to blue and white, purely as a result of the unavailability of red dye due to the war. This era saw a profusion of stories written by authors other than Hamilton, one of which was the editor JN Pentelow, the only substitute writer whose work was given preference over that of Hamilton. Paper shortages reduced the size of the stories.

Blue and Orange era – 1922-1937

Blue and Orange covers were introduced and a growing proportion of stories was written by Hamilton as he came to see the Magnet as the main focus of his attention. The idea of a series of several linked stories appearing in consecutive issues started to emerge and become the key ingredient if this period, allowing increased complexity of plotting and stimulating increased literary polish of the writing. Most of the best remembered stories appeared in this period, including the Courtfield Cracksman, Methuselah, Lancaster and Brander rebellion series, in the years around 1930.

Salmon Pink era – 1937-1940

The use of long serials continued, albeit often recycling the plots of earlier years. The covers changed to salmon pink for the last four years. A decline in circulation coupled with paper shortages meant that the Magnet could not survive the Second World War. The final issue was the opening story in a new series; at least four other issues are known to have been already completed, but these were never published, and are now presumed lost.

Post closure

After 1940, the stories continued to appear in book form until Hamilton's death in 1961 and in a television series that ran from 1951 - 1961 on the BBC.

Most of the Magnets were reprinted in hardback form under the Howard Baker and Greyfriars Book Club imprints from 1969 to 1990.

Editors

  • Percy Griffiths - 1908-1911. Nicknamed 'Pushful Percy' owing to his dynamic character. He left Amalgamated Press suddenly in 1911 and nothing is known of his subsequent history.
  • Herbert Allen Hinton - 1911-1916. A military man who left to take up a commission.
  • John Nix Pentelow 1916-1919 - A cricket authority and writer who took over when many of the editorial staff were occupied with the war. He contributed many stories himself owing the shortage in supply from Charles Hamilton on other writers. His writing is remembered for one story when an established character, Courtney of the Sixth Form, was killed off.
  • Charles Maurice Down - 1919-1940. A public schoolboy, conceived the idea of the very popular Holiday Annual.

Illustrators

A large part of the appeal of The Magnet lay on the illustration of which there would typically be five per issue as well as the cover.

  • Hutton Mitchell - 1908. Produced the original drawings of Billy Bunter.
  • Arthur H. Clarke - 1908-1911.
  • C.H. Chapman - 1911-1940. First gave Bunter check trousers. Carried on illustrating Greyfriars stories after the Magnet closed.
  • Leonard Shields - 1926-1940. Often produced covers.

References

Main source

  • Beal, George (Editor) (1977). The Magnet Companion. London: Howard Baker.

Others

  • Cadogan, Mary (1988). Frank Richards - The Chap Behind The Chums. Middlesex: Viking.
  • Fayne, Eric & Jenkins, Roger (1972). A History of The Magnet and The Gem. Kent: Museum Press.
  • Hamilton Wright, Una & McCall, Peter (2006). The Far Side of Billy Bunter: the Biography of Charles Hamilton. London: Friars Library.
  • Lofts, W.O. & Adley, D.J. (1975). The World of Frank Richards. London: Howard Baker.
  • McCall, Peter (1982). The Greyfriars Guide. London: Howard Baker.
  • Orwell, George (1940). Boys Weeklies. Horizon.
  • Richards, Frank (1940). Frank Richards Replies to Orwell. Horizon.
  • Richards, Frank (1962). The Autobiography of Frank Richards. London: Skilton.
  • Richards, Jeffery (1991). Happiest Days: Public Schools in English Fiction. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
  • Turner, E.S. (1975). Boys will be Boys – 3rd edition. London: Penguin.

See also

External links

Wikipedia content modification information:

  • This page was last modified on 5 January 2009, at 20:10.

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